-The Indian Express Bangalore: It was a Lok Sabha byelection fought and won by fulfilling a basic, daily need. In the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency in the suburbs of the city, winning Congress candidate D K Suresh offered the people a straightforward deal- bottled drinking water dispensed through innovative "water ATMs". Suresh, the brother of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, set up 33 water ATMs, dispensing kiosks attached to reserve...
More »SEARCH RESULT
EC may allow Freebies in manifestos if targeted at weaker sections -Bharti Jain
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Accepting the argument of political parties that poll promises or "Freebies" are related to the Directive Principles of State Policy, the Election Commission is considering a pragmatic set of guidelines that would allow Freebies as long as they are targeted at the economically and socially weaker sections, religious minorities, women and populations living in remote, border or insurgency/disaster-hit areas. Directive principles are broad policy guidelines considered...
More »Of politicians and some verdicts -N Gopalaswami
-The Hindu Court rulings on Freebies, elections and caste-based rallies, and the CIC order on political parties are a beginning towards cleansing politics but whether they can achieve the desired result is debatable The slew of judgments from the higher judiciary in the period of just about a month or so has been like manna from heaven on the parched earth of electoral reforms. First, the Supreme Court frowned upon Freebies, which...
More »How to define a ‘Freebie’? EC in a fix over SC order -Bharti Jain
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Even as the Election Commission plans consultations with political parties in the first week of August on a recent Supreme Court order seeking framing of guidelines for parties' poll manifestoes, senior commission officials are in a dilemma on how to define a "Freebie" in the first place. The poll watchdog plans to sound out all recognized national and state parties in the first week of August...
More »Election Commission to call for an all-party meet to frame guidelines for election manifestos -A Vaidyanathan and Shamik Ghosh
-NDTV The Election Commission will call for an all-party meeting to frame guidelines for election manifestos after the Supreme Court last week directed the poll panel to regulate content of the promises made by political parties. "Freebies promised by political parties in their election manifestos shake the roots of free and fair polls," the Supreme Court had said on Friday. In a statement, the Election Commission today said a "meeting of all recognized national and...
More »