-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties and candidates will now have to account for every penny spent on the use of social media for their poll campaigns. The Election Commission on Friday issued detailed guidelines to regulate internet campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc, asking candidates to declare their social media accounts and all political parties to pre-certify advertisements before they are posted on social media websites. The instructions also require...

-The Hindustan Times Last winter, two men were hanged to death in India's jails, indicted for crimes of terror. On August 8, another man, Maganlal Barela- a little-known tribal cultivator, charged with killing his five little daughters - was scheduled to hang in the Jabalpur Central Jail. Human rights lawyers chanced to read of his hanging in an online news item the evening before his execution was fixed, and rushed to meet...

-Outlook The Election Commission today cautioned all printing presses of legal action on failing to publish their details on political banners and hoardings printed by them, as a part of the Model Code of Conduct for the ensuing assembly elections. Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said all printing presses should comply with section 127A of the Representation of the People Act and publish their names and addresses on the banners and hoardings...

-The Hindu Questions over advisability & validity of ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers cited as reasons Five days after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi publicly censured the government, the Union Cabinet, at a brisk 20-minute meeting on Wednesday evening, decided to withdraw the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, as well as the Bill that sought to amend the Representation of the People Act on which it was based. Union Minister of Information and...

-The Hindu The ordinance seeking to amend the Representation of the People Act interferes with the exercise of judicial power Bill LXII of 2013, namely, The Representation of the People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 is pending before Parliament. I examine here whether the Bill, when passed as an Act or its provisions promulgated as an Ordinance, will be unconstitutional or not. Declared principle The constitutional principle applicable in a situation analogous to...