-Economic and Political Weekly The right to information, much like the right to vote, is rooted in the same fundamental right, with the offices of the chief information commissioner and the Chief Election Commissioner, respectively, operating at the same level of autonomy, towards the enforcement of these rights. The proposed amendments to the Right to Information Act, which reportedly seek to downgrade the status of the chief information commissioner and information...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The choice of six Institutes of Eminence—three each in the public and private domains—has sparked controversy, particularly over one of them, but how did the committee arrive at its picks—and so quickly? Did the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) that assessed all 113 eligible institutes follow selection guidelines to the letter? A close examination of the process followed suggests perhaps not. On the other hand, EEC chairman...

-TheWire.in Former CEC S.Y. Quraishi, in whose term paper audits for EVM machines were tested and introduced, questions the failure of the system in the recent by-polls despite all-weather tests. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday declared that the reason behind the malfunctioning of a large number of voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines during the recently held by-elections to the Kairana and Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituencies was due to the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Concerned over hate campaigns and defamatory attacks in social media that have come to dominate political discourse during elections, eight former Chief Election Commissioners (CECs) on Monday suggested that the Election Commission tackle them at source by persuading sites such as Twitter and Facebook to block them “in public interest”. Alternatively, they suggested, the poll panel could engage with the parties to convince them to practise...

-Scroll.in The committee goes on to list the ‘basic elements’ that make an individual indigenous to Assam. The transfer of agricultural land should be restricted to people indigenous to the state, a committee appointed by the Assam government in February 2017 for “ensuring the protection of land rights of indigenous people” has recommended in a report submitted in January. The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has said that it...