Before filing papers, prospective candidates enter into a tacit deal with media, says EC   Even as it is tightening the noose around the media-candidates' nexus to thwart “paid news” instances through its district media committees and expenditure observers, the Election Commission has come to know about new strategies worked out by them to break the rules. “We have received reports that such ‘paid news' transactions had taken place in some instances in...

-The Telegraph CPM leader Lakshman Seth has been accused of murder in a CID chargesheet over the disappearance of six anti-land acquisition protesters during the party’s recapture of Nandigram in November 2007. The chargesheet, submitted to the Haldia sub-divisional court around 5.10pm, also names 87 other CPM leaders and workers. “Seth has been mentioned in the chargesheet as an accused who is absconding,” a senior CID official said. Hours after the CID submitted the...

The Election Commission's model code of conduct notwithstanding, liquor flowed freely on the eve of assembly polls in Punjab on Sunday, as campaign managers of different political parties sought to lure voters.  This was especially the case in and around the industrial city of Ludhiana, where more than a million migrant workers abound in Sherpur, Samrala Chowk, Mullanpur and Dhaka colony, among other areas.  Residents in the city said liquor was brought...

-ANI Defending the decision to provide minority (Muslim) reservation, Law Minister, Salman Khurshid on Sunday said that the Central Government had powers to grant quota to backwards castes of minority communities within the Hindu backward caste quota. The Election Commission has stayed the government decision to grant 4.5 percent reservation to minorities (Muslims) in government jobs and educational institutions due to ongoing state polls. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has opposed the move, contending...

-IBN Manipur will on Saturday elect a new 60-member assembly to mark the start of make-or-break elections in five states. The staggered exercise, which ends with the vote in Goa and Uttar Pradesh on March 3, will be this year's first major test for political parties. Along with Uttarakhand and Punjab, a grand total of 137 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in the five states. Earlier, campaigning for...