-IANS Attempts to push for poll reforms are yet to yield the desired results despite an appeal by the Election Commission to the government, a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by an activist has revealed. A response from the prime minister's office (PMO) to an RTI query indicated that little had been done on barring candidates with criminal records from contesting elections, ensuring financial transparency and making public the audited accounts...

From filling in voter information gaps to catching improprieties, the media has helped keep elections fair and transparent Our knowledge and awareness of the world today is largely determined by what the media decides to inform us. The priorities that the media sets often become the priorities of the public. In our country, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are strongly complemented by the media. No one could vouch for...

With the Supreme Court giving its nod reopening the probe into non-filing of proper accounts of election expenditure, vis-à-vis “paid news” against the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the Election Commission has fixed a fresh hearing for May 17. Most probably the EC will decide to have a daily hearing as Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi is demitting office on June 10, informed sources said. The issue was first exposed by The Hindu. Campaign advertisements in support...

-PTI Ensure that findings of the probe are kept in a sealed cover The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to proceed with its probe into the authenticity of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's spendings during the 2009 State Assembly elections, allegedly involving expenses on “paid news.” A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameshwar, however, asked the Commission's counsel Meenakshi Arora to ensure that findings of the...

The Supreme Court has taken steps to lay down a code for media reporting. This attempt at prior restraint on the media is a dangerous move with precedent from authoritarian polities. In a context where the judiciary has been lax in defending the media from attacks which seek to curb its freedom, such unilateral moves will not remedy bad reporting but rather make conditions worse for the media to play...