Releasing its fourth and final list of 38 candidates on Sunday, the AAP has become the first party in the city to declare candidates for all 70 assembly seats in Delhi, even before the announcement of the assembly elections by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The adjustment in by-poll dates aims to ensure higher participation and smoother conduct of the polls across the three states, the ECI said.
The development comes days after the Congress wrote a letter to the poll body, accusing Shukla of clear bias against opposition leaders.
Issuing notice to the Central government and the poll panel, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra tagged the petition along with already pending matters on the same issue.
In the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting for 57 constituencies spread across eight States and Union Territories (UTs) was held on Saturday.
According to the Election Commission of India’s most recent enrolment statistics, out of the total of 4.9 crore registered voters, approximately 2.35 crore are under the age of 40. As many as 11.74 lakh of them are first-time voters, which is 2.39 per cent down from 2.7 per cent in 2017 and as much as 3.5 per cent in 2012.
During every election, some small fries are caught ferrying cash, liquor etc. but effective action like disqualification of the candidate or deregistration of the political party is never taken against parties and candidates at whose behest the electoral laws are broken. Also, all political parties, when in power, have tried their best to hide the identities of their donors, so that allegations of quid-pro-quo cannot be proved against the Government.
The SC has said that the Constitution has vested enormous powers on "fragile shoulder" of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The officers concerned have also been advised to notify all news bureaus, media houses and radio and television channels on the advisory.
Comprehensive planning, reviews and follow-ups by the Election Commission of India (ECI)involving the active participation of enforcement agencies have led to record seizures in the ongoing Assembly elections in the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
