Centre amends Electoral Bond scheme to open a fresh one-week window for sales of such bonds starting Nov. 9

Centre amends Electoral Bond scheme to open a fresh one-week window for sales of such bonds starting Nov. 9

Weeks ahead of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls, the Centre on November 7, 2022 amended the Electoral Bond Scheme to grant itself the power to spell out an extra fortnight of electoral bond sales in years when States and Union Territories with a legislature have polls, and used the power to open a fresh … Read more

View: Silence over labour reforms during state elections signals a deeper shift

photo

Services today account for close to 60% of our GDP, while manufacturing, typically the catchment area for trade unions, is about 18-19%. Synopsis In a scenario where access to oxygen cylinders, medicines, hospital beds is near impossible, none of the usual issues — GDP guesstimates, spiralling inflation, plunging index of industrial production, the schizophrenic stock … Read more

EC flags instances of star campaigners, leaders not wearing masks while campaigning

photo

Amid rising coronavirus cases, the Election Commission on Friday flagged instances of star campaigners and political leaders not wearing masks while campaigning, and asked them to follow in all seriousness the guidelines on COVID-appropriate behaviour issued by it last year. In a letter to leaders of all recognised political parties, the poll panel said, “It … Read more

View: Much like the high-pitched campaign, even the average voter in Nandigram has become unabashedly vocal

photo

China may have split the Communists of Bengal but they never made it to state elections. However, Pakistan and even the Rohingya of Myanmar have surreptitiously crept into Nandigram’s election agenda. “Arrey dada, Pakistan mane Moselman, bujhlen na. Pakistan bolley lokey khaye,” I get my first tutorial on the lay of the land at the … Read more

EC designates 91 seats as sensitive, works to curb money influence

photo

New Delhi: As many as 91 constituencies in Bihar are learnt to have been designated as ‘expenditure sensitive’ by the poll panel less than three weeks before the state goes to polls to elect 243 members to the state assembly. Over 200 ‘expenditure sensitive pockets’ have also been identified in the poll bound state by … Read more