Tag: Election commission

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of dragging Army into politics for electoral gains. He said that his party never resorted to any kind of marketing using the Army despite the fact that he himself studied in a military school. Attacking the BJP further, Akhilesh Yadav said that the saffron party is known for spreading hatred and can do anything for electoral gains now that Lok Sabha election is around. "BJP can do anything. BJP can go to any level for votes. They have not even spared cows and Ganga." The instructions came after the photograph of a hoarding displaying pictures of Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman as well as senior BJP leaders was circulated on social media and came to the EC's notice. However, it was not known where the hoarding had been put up. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Sunday said that the BJP is walking down a dangerous path by "using the military" to conceal its own "failures". He asserted that the EC's circular preventing the use of armed forces in election campaign was much needed.

Political parties often say they aren't able to find women candidates, but activists say it's an "insult" to scores of women party workers who support them. Scores of people from all walks of life gathered in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday, demanding that the Election Commission make political parties give 50% of their tickets to women in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This was organised by non-partisan political collective Shakti, which was formed to enable more women to join politics. Tara Krishnaswamy, the co-convener of Shakti, said, “Our parliament has a dismal 11% of women, and [almost] 90% are men. These men are sitting and passing laws on what should be the tax on sanitary napkins etc. But the typical question that comes up is -- you know, we are not able to find women candidates. But suddenly when it comes to giving tickets they don’t find any women at all? The event also emboldened people who wish to get into politics, but are afraid to do so. 20-year-old Shalom Gauri, who will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election, says that an event like this gives her the confidence to speak. “I’ve always been interested in politics, and Shakti has given me the confidence to speak about it openly because it was always a bit scary before.

Vote Leave has been fined £61,000 and reported to the police by the Electoral Commission after the watchdog found “significant evidence” of coordination with another campaign group, BeLeave. The watchdog said it had imposed punitive fines on Vote Leave because it said the group had refused to cooperate fully with its investigation and declined to be interviewed. Its former chief executive, Matthew Elliott, had previously alleged it was the Electoral Commission that had refused to cooperate. The commission’s full report said Vote Leave repeatedly refused to attend interviews. The commission made two further offers of interview dates but said Vote Leave “began to repeat procedural questions we had already answered”. The documents made available were then found to be incorrect or incomplete. He said Vote Leave was contesting the claims and accused the watchdog of “a highly political agenda”. He said his group followed “the letter of the law and spirit of the law” and alleged that the commission had not interviewed senior figures from Vote Leave. The investigation also found the campaign group Veterans for Britain inaccurately reported a donation it received from Vote Leave. It said Vote Leave had repeatedly made it clear it was willing to be interviewed.