-The Hindu   The Director-General (Expenditure) of the Election Commission of India, P.K. Dash, said on Thursday that an elected legislator could face disqualification as well as criminal proceedings — which could lead to a prison term of six months as well as a fine — if he/she resorts to “paid news” in any form of media during the coming elections to the Punjab Assembly. Mr. Dash, who was chairing a workshop with...

-Express News Service   The parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal bill has recommended “appropriate representation” for the weaker sections in the search committee.   The standing committee on law and justice has, however, maintained that the choice of the ombudsman “has to achieve the selection of the best and the brightest at the entry point”. The committee, which adopted its final report this evening, has suggested that the search panel must include “certain sections of...

Declaring that the “Supreme Court will remain the Supreme Court, and cannot be converted into Parliament”, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia today refused to “prematurely” intervene in the setting up of an independent regulator to monitor safety of nuclear plants, saying it was a policy decision, with a Bill already pending in the House. Efforts by advocate Prashant Bhushan, a Team Anna member, to...

JANGU, 40, a Dalit labourer in Paraspur village in Gonda district, 120 km northeast of Lucknow, displays his job card in complete disbelief. “My job card was made three years ago and shows three payments. But I was never given any work, so how was the payment made?” he asks, puzzled. The first entry shows a payment of Rs 1,400 but he received a paltry Rs 100. He never went...

Expenditure incurred on advertisements to be recorded in ‘shadow expenditure register' Advertisements inserted by candidates contesting the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will have to be signed by them as well as by two witnesses in order to differentiate these from paid news and deter the candidates from having their way. The district election officers would ensure that the expenditure incurred on the advertisements was recorded in the ‘shadow expenditure register',...