The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it is contemplating foolproof methods to ensure that electronic voting machines (EVMs) are not misused or tampered with as is being feared in some quarters.
Appearing for the poll panel before a bench of justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi, a senior counsel said the EC was taking various steps in consultation with technical experts and eliciting  प्राप्त करनाthe views of all recognised political parties on the issue.
On the EC's submissions, which were made on Thursday, the apex court adjourned till January 22, the hearing on Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy's petition for a direction to the poll panel that in future elections, EVMs should have a paper trail and issue a paper receipt to each voter.

 Transsexual persons can now enroll as voters in a hassle-free manner. This follows the modified guidelines issued by the Election Commission to chief electoral officers of the states.

For the first time, the Commission has recognised transsexuals and modified the Form of Oath or Affirmation for the applicants by incorporating the words "chela" meaning disciple and guru or teacher at relevant places. A senior official said in Hyderabad that if Transsexuals are not accepted in some families even a Guru or a teacher can endorse the applicant for registration as a voter. This will facilitate registration of transsexuals in the electoral rolls.

The communication by the Election Commission has been circulated to the district collectors and district election officers for implementation.

 Syed Naseem Ahmed Zaidi will be the new Election Commissioner. He is a 1976-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. A official communique issued in New Delhi today says he has been appointed in the vacant post in three-member Election Commission, which was caused due to the demitting office by then Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi on June 10 of this year.

After the retirement of Qureshi, VS Sampath took charge as the CEC. HS Brahma is the other elelction commissioner.

Sixty-year-old Zaidi superannuated last month as the Civil Aviation Secretary. A native of Uttar Pradesh, Zaidi had earlier worked as Director-General of Civil Aviation and was India's representative in the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Chief Election Commissioner, CEC, V S Sampath today said that national level consultations are on for early implementation of electoral reforms. Briefing the media after taking over as the 18th Chief Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi today, Mr. Sampath said, consultations were held by the Law Ministry and Election Commission in this regard.  He said, discussions were also held at the regional level, to know the opinion of the public, legal luminaries and other stake holders in the electoral process. He said, as the new CEC, he would strive towards expediting electoral reforms. Mr. Sampath said, the Election Commission is preparing for the elections to the offices of the President of India and the Vice President of India which will be notified soon. He said, the Commission is also engaged in the preparations for the forthcoming elections in the States of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya. Mr. Sampath said, the Election Commission will soon visit the poll bound states to take stock of the preparedness. Mr. Sampath said, the priorities for action set by him include clean electoral rolls, free registration for eligible persons and removal of ineligible persons from the voters list. He said, efforts woud continue to cleanse the electoral process from the influence of crime and money power. He said, care should be taken by political parties to keep the legal expenses for rallies, posters and vehicles within the limit. The new CEC said, illegal expenses bribery of voters in cash and kind will be checked.

Outgoing Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi hoped that paid news will be made a cognizable offence. Mr Quraishi also hoped that some major electoral reforms pending for almost two decades will now become a reality soon. In a wide-ranging interview with PTI, Mr Quraishi also rejected suggestions of giving statutory status to the Model Code of Conduct, arguing that upsetting the current system will have unwelcome repercussions.

On suggestions for having a collegium for appointment of the CEC, Quraishi suggested a different formulation. He said that a mechanism of credible consultations be set up for appointment of Election Commissioners instead, and not the CEC.

Mr Quraishi added that the ECs' appointment be made through wider selection and the senior-most among them be made the chief as a rule. Mr Quiraishi demits office on June 10. 

The Election Commission of India has sought Information and Broadcasting Ministry's support for necessary awareness and outreach activities to bring every eligible youth on electoral rolls by National Voters' Day in January next. 

In a letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, the Chief Election Commissioner, CEC, S Y Quraishi has asked her to direct the media units of her ministry to get in touch with Chief Electoral Officers of states that are going to polls next in achieving this goal.

Quraishi has also appreciated the ministry's support in helping increase voters' participation in the recently-
concluded assembly elections in five states of Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The CEC has written that he was looking forward to even higher level of cooperation from Information and Broadcasting ministry in the coming assembly elections in Gujarat,Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi today said that practices like paid news syndrome and use of money power have emerged as new challenges in the management of elections.

Addressing the third Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies of the SAARC countries in New Delhi, Quraishi said it was important to curb such practices to ensure free and fair elections to strengthen democracy in the SAARC region.

He said that voter education had assumed greater importance as an area to maximise participation by people in the electoral process.

Dr Quraishi said the three-day conference was aimed at discussing good electoral practices and sharing of ideas among member countries. During the conference, India will make a presentation on the use of information-technology in conducting elections in the country.

The Chief Election Commissioner said that SAARC countries were holding a beacon of democracy to the world. He expressed the hope that they would emerge as the leader in the democratic world as 60 to 70 per cent or over 1 billion of the total electorate reside in the region. 

Mr Quraishi called for using innovative methods and strategies to deal with new problems in election management and administration.

Speaking on the occasion, Election Commissioner V S Sampath emphasised on the need for continuous exchange of experience and expertise between the SAARC electoral bodies.

The Election Commission (EC) has decided to relax the Model Code of Conduct, on an experimental basis, by allowing partial implementation of developmental schemes in those districts where bypolls will be held on June 12. The EC order came after various states, where by-elections are being held, gave representions stating that the enforcement of model code affects the developmental works in the entire district, while only a part of the district may be involved in the election process.

The Election Commission has now decided on an experimental basis that the model code shall now be applicable only in respect of areas falling in the Assembly constituencies / Parliamentary constituency going for bye-election and not to the entire districts in which such constituency is situated.
The Commission however, said that all other existing instructions
on Model Code of Conduct on matters like tours of ministers, vehicles, advertisements, use of government guest houses, and all prevailing Commission’s instructions including transfers of officers etc. shall continue to remain applicable to the entire districts in which the
constituency having the bye-election is situated.

The EC had earlier issued instructions for enforcing provisions of Model Code of Conduct in its entirety with the stipulation that such provisions of the code will be enforceable in the districts in which the Assembly/ Parliamentary constituency is situated.

he Supreme Court today upheld the criteria of the Election Commission, EC for granting symbols to unrecognised registered political parties. A three-judge bench comprising justice Altamas Kabir, S S Nijjar and Jasti Chelameswar upheld the panel's symbol order by a two to one majority. Justice Chelameswar wrote the dissenting order against the EC's symbol order.

The court passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by state political parties challenging the symbol order of the EC. According to the EC's order, permanent symbol is granted to those political parties which have garnered atleast five per cent votes in assembly elections or have managed to win two assembly seats or one seat in parliamentary elections from the state. 

Several parties including, then Praja Rajyam Party, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam had approached the apex court in 2008 against the EC's decision to change their symbol from what was allotted to them previously.

In Myanmar, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has announced that its candidate pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won a seat in the country's lower house of Parliament. The announcement has not been confirmed officially so far. Agency reports say that supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers soon after. The report said, thousands of supporters began wildly shouting upon learning the news.

The country held a landmark vote for 45 Parliamentary seats on Sunday. The NLD competed in the first election since 1990.

For the first time international observers have been allowed to monitor the elections. India has deputed two senior election officials and its Ambassador to Myanmar to oversee the elections.

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi spent over 15 years under house-arrest after the military overturned her party's landslide general election victory in 1990.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader Tariq Anwar today expressed concern over alleged use of money power in the elections to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand.

When asked about the recovery of nearly two crore rupees in the State, Mr Anwar told reporters outside Parliament that it is not a healthy practice for democracy. He said that the Election Commission should enquire into the matter.

On the other hand, BJP spokesman, Shahnwaz Hussain also expressed concern and said that such type of practice is harmful for democracy.