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...
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Tribal exposes govt 'lie' on Posco residents
-The Times of India The filing of nomination by a tribal woman for the panchayat samiti polls at Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district, the epicenter of the anti-Posco agitation, has sparked fresh controversy over the presence of tribals in the area. Posco Pratirodhaka Sangram Samiti (PPSS) general secretary Sishir Mohapatra said, "The decision of Meena Hembram and Sara Das has belied the state government's claims that the area doesn't have any tribal population."...
More »Election Commission orders photographing of Manipur voters
-The Hindu For the first time, the 62-year old Election Commission has ordered the photographing of all voters of Manipur on January 28, when the State goes to the polls, in order to prevent rigging and impersonation. Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi and Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma took the decision on Thursday at Imphal, where they reviewed the poll preparedness with State government officials and representatives of political parties....
More »Sign newspaper ads, poll panel tells U.P. candidates by Atiq Khan
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',...
More »Who will watch the watchmen? by Minhaz Merchant
The audited balance sheets of the six largest political parties in India are hard to get and harder to decipher: they hide more than they reveal but are nonetheless worth close examination. Between them, the Congress, BJP, BSP, SP, NCP and CPM reported total income of Rs 1,046.76 crore for the year ending March 31, 2009. That was the year in which most of the funds for the 2009 Lok...
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