The need for the media to take voluntary, not paid, ownership of creating awareness for better participation of voters in the election process was recommended at a roundtable on the “Role of media in building voters' awareness” here on Friday. The recommendation was part of a national consultation on voters' participation organised by the Election Commission (EC). Other roundtables at the consultation pertained to fighting urban apathy, connecting with youth in...

No ads on government achievements at the cost of exchequer The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Chief Electoral Officers of Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry, where Assembly Elections have been announced, to direct the district election officers (DEOs) to immediately constitute district-level committees to monitor and investigate paid news. The committees should scrutinise all newspapers to locate political advertisements in the garb of news coverage appearing during the...

A six-phased Assembly Elections in West Bengal, a two stage poll in Assam and a single day poll in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry were today announced by the Election Commission, setting in motion the largest such exercise after 2009 Lok Sabha polls. With parts of the state affected by Maoists activities, West Bengal will have elections in six phases on April 18, 23, 27, May 3, 7 and 10,...

In an attempt to deal with the use of black money in elections, the maximum poll expenditure for parliamentary constituencies has been increased to Rs 40 lakh and to Rs 16 lakh for assembly constituencies. Expenditure limit varies according to the size of states. On Wednesday, law ministry issued a notification amending the Conduct of Election Rules. At present, in big states, the upper spending limit in parliamentary constituency is Rs...

Tribals of Gujarat are all set to get a new voice. With only Ganpat Vasava, the BJP MLA from Mangrol, filing his nomination for the speaker's post in the state assembly, he will be elected unopposed on Thursday. This will not only give Gujarat's its first tribal speaker, but at 39 years, he will also be the youngest in the state's history. The post fell vacant after the last speaker...