K Chandrasekhar Rao, Harish ask Telangana HC to suspend report on KLIS
The two leaders urged the court to restrain the state government from acting on or implementing the report, which was submitted on July 31, 2025, by the Commission.
The Congress government had set up the Commission to examine alleged negligence, irregularities and lapses in the planning, design and construction of the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages, which form part of the Kaleshwaram Project. The Commission was also directed to identify responsibility for the alleged lapses.
In their petitions, KCR and Harish said the report contained adverse findings against them and was released to the public through a press conference and PowerPoint presentation on August 4, 2025, without giving them notice as required under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
They further alleged that the government had repeatedly publicised the report without supplying them a copy.
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Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- Indian Express
In Bihar 2003, Election Commission took longer, allowed EPIC, checked citizenship selectively
DEFENDING THE ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) not only held up the 2002–03 roll as the benchmark of voter eligibility, but strongly backed its three-month timeline, and refused to accept the Supreme Court's suggestion to consider the voter ID card as proof of eligibility. However, the Commission's instructions during that 2002–03 intensive revision paint a different picture, according to former ECI officials and Chief Electoral Officers who oversaw the last exercise. Consider the following: * In 2002-03, seven states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab — had eight months, more than double the time allowed now, to complete the process. * No proof of citizenship was sought then from existing electors in 2002 rolls. * The Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) was the backbone of verification of existing voters then. In effect, with these criteria and not where one of 11 documents are required, the process for those who got on the 2003 list — about 4.96 crore — was, in both letter and spirit, much more inclusive. An email sent to the Election Commission for its comment did not elicit a response. These differences lie at the heart of the petitions now before the Supreme Court. The petitioners argued that the three-month window (June 25–September 30, 2025) is unreasonably short in a state headed for polls in October–November, where many voters struggle to procure documents. They also contended that the ECI is straying into questions of nationality, which is beyond its mandate. The Court will resume hearing the matter on Friday. Three aspects of the 2002–03 exercise which sit uneasily with the Commission's defence of the Bihar SIR: * Compressed Timeline: In its counter affidavit before the Supreme Court, the ECI dismissed concerns over timelines as 'misconceived, erroneous and unsustainable,' and said its order provides 'adequate time' for completion. 'The last such exercise was undertaken in Bihar in 2002-2003, and the period of enumeration was from 15.07.2002 to 14.08.2002. The current SIR has an enumeration period from 25.06.2025 to 26.07.2025. Thus, the allegation that ECI is conducting the exercise hastily is misconceived,' it said in the affidavit before the apex court. The Commission's claim on the one-month enumeration (or door-to-door verification) window is factually correct, but incomplete — the 2002–03 revision had stretched over eight months. 'The ongoing SIR exercise in Bihar — starting with training, door-to-door verification of electors, collection of eligibility documents, scrutiny of claims and objections, and ending with final publication of rolls — must be completed in just 97 days. By contrast, the last intensive revision in Bihar and six other states stretched from May 2002 to December 2002, lasting eight months,' said a retired ECI official associated with the 2002–03 intensive revision, on the condition of anonymity. In 2002–03, the intensive revision spanned 243 days; 74 days for preparing a preliminary list of electors based on existing rolls, training enumerators, conducting pre-enumeration surveys, and rationalising polling booths; 31 days for house-to-house verification, also known as the enumeration phase; 60 days for preparing and printing draft rolls; 15 days for claims and objections; and 61 days for disposing of these claims, making additions, deletions and corrections. The current exercise, by contrast, has been compressed to 97 days: one month for training enumerators, conducting pre-enumeration surveys, rationalising polling booths and carrying out the enumeration itself; publication of draft rolls three days later on August 1; one month for filing claims and objections; 25 days for their disposal and for deciding on enumeration; and final publication on October 1 — barely weeks before the likely announcement of poll dates. * Year 2003 as 'Probative Evidence': Equally significant is the 2003 cut-off itself. The Commission has argued that electors on the rolls until that year should be presumed citizens since they 'have gone through the intensive revision of 2003 and remained so far in the electoral rolls, demonstrating probative evidence of eligibility.' 'Thus, their eligibility, as enumerated under Article 326 of the Constitution of India, is presumed, unless any other input is received otherwise,' the ECI said in its counter affidavit before the SC, calling the 2003 cut-off 'valid and non-discriminatory.' While relying on the last intensive revision as probative of citizenship, the 2002–03 exercise itself did not require electors to produce such proof. 'In the 2002–03 revision, enumerators visited households with lists drawn from existing rolls and verified whether the names of adult Indian citizens already on the list were still ordinarily resident. They corrected or added particulars where needed, but electors were not asked to produce proof of citizenship,' recalled a former state CEO associated with the last intensive revision across seven states in 2002-03, who did not wish to be identified. In fact, the 2002–03 instructions made clear that enumerators were not to determine citizenship. Their role was limited to verifying qualifications of age and ordinary residence. For checking nationality, there were only two exceptions. First, in the case of first-time electors seeking registration, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) could, if he or she felt the need, seek documents to satisfy the question of citizenship. The ERO was also directed to ensure that no person who had been declared a foreigner, or whose name had been deleted as such by any tribunal or authority under a central or state law, was included in the final rolls, even if their names appeared in the existing electoral roll of 2002. Second, in areas with a substantial presence of foreign nationals, as flagged by the state government, the 2002–03 guidelines prescribed additional safeguards. Existing electors in these areas did not have to prove citizenship. However, enumerators could add new names only if they belonged to households already on the rolls or if they possessed an EPIC. All other applicants had to apply separately. In new cases, the ERO was responsible for verifying citizenship under relevant laws, conducting fair hearings, and considering a range of documents — passports, birth or citizenship certificates, NRC entries. * EPIC Card: In the 2002–03 intensive revision, the voter ID card or EPIC was the backbone of verification of existing electors — enumerators were told to check it at every household and correct the particulars on that basis. 'They were ordered to ask electors or their family members to produce the card, match the EPIC number in the list with the one on the card,'' said a former state CEO who did not wish to be identified. Two decades later, the Commission has taken a different position. In the ongoing Special Intensive Revision in Bihar, it didn't accept the Supreme Court's suggestion to consider EPIC cards as proof of eligibility for existing electors of Bihar. 'That it is submitted that the EPIC cannot be treated as proof of eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), 2025, as pursuant to Rule 21(3) of the RP Act, 1950 read with Rule 25 of the RER, 1960, the said revision constitutes a de novo preparation of the electoral roll. The EPIC cards are prepared on the basis of electoral rolls. Since the electoral roll, itself, is being revised, the production of EPIC Cards will make the whole exercise futile,' the EC said in its counter affidavit. An intensive revision of the electoral roll is a de novo preparation of the roll from scratch through house-to-house verification by Electoral Registration Officers. The ECI announced a nationwide special intensive revision starting with Bihar on June 24, and said it was needed due to 'significant change' in rolls since 2003, driven by urbanisation, migration for work and study, and voters registering at new addresses without deleting old ones, leading to duplicates. Officials also point to repeated complaints from political parties, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation of manipulation in Maharashtra.
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Time of India
Rs 16,000 cr Musi project now Rs 1.5L cr in Cong regime: KTR
Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao has alleged that the Congress govt is preparing to "plunder" public funds under the guise of the Musi river beautification project. He stated that while the former BRS govt , led by K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), laid all the groundwork and prepared a master plan, the current Congress govt has inflated the project's estimates to facilitate a massive scam. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Addressing the media, KTR said that it was the KCR govt that brought Godavari river water to Kondapochammasagar, near Hyderabad, through the Kaleshwaram Project. He also reminded the public that in 2022, the KCR govt had approved a proposal with a budget of 1,100 crore to bring Godavari water from Kondapochammasagar to Gandipet. KTR further explained that the BRS govt undertook and completed the construction of 36 sewerage treatment plants (STPs) to treat the 2,000 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage that flows into the Musi river. He added that the previous govt also completed beautification of a five-kilometre stretch in Nagole and established a Shilparamam on the banks of the Musi at Uppal Bhagayat. While the KCR govt prepared a master plan and a detailed project report (DPR) with an estimated cost of 16,000 crore, the Congress govt has now inflated the estimates to an astounding 1,50,000 crore, KTR alleged. He warned that BRS would expose and prevent this "plunder of public money".
News18
6 hours ago
- News18
ECI meets Janata Dal (Secular) delegation in Delhi
New Delhi [India], August 21 (ANI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi held an interaction with a delegation from Janata Dal (Secular) on Thursday at Nirvachan Sadan. JDU(S) delegation was led by its National General Secretary and Authorised Representative, KR Shivakumar. The Election Commission of India said that the meeting is a continuation of the interactions being held by ECI with the Presidents of various National and State Political Parties.'These interactions provide for a long-felt need for constructive discussions, which enable National and State Party Presidents to share their suggestions and concerns directly with the Commission. This initiative aligns with the Commission's broader vision of further strengthening the electoral process in accordance with the existing legal framework, with all stakeholders," the poll body said in a release. During the past 150 days, a total of 4,719 all-party meetings were conducted, including 40 meetings by CEOs, 800 by DEOs, and 3879 by EROs, engaging over 28,000 representatives of various political parties, ECI said. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Hasan on Thursday said that through Special Intensive Revision, an attack has been carried out by the Centre on the Constitution. 'From the very first day, the opposition has been continuously raising the issue of SIR, but we have not received any assurance from the government, nor has there been any discussion. When such a significant issue is before us, all other topics pale in comparison. Through SIR, an attack has been made on our country's Constitution," Iqra Hasan said. A press conference was held by the Leader of the Opposition, to which the Election Commission responded, but we know what kind of responses those were. The Election Commission did not answer even a single question," she added. The INDIA bloc has intensified its protest against the 'vote theft" allegations on the Election Commision of India and the Special Intensive Revision in opposition parties protested against the revision of voter lists since the commencement of the Parliament monsoon session on July 21. The Monsoon Session of Parliament was adjourned sine die on Thursday. (ANI)
