
Congress vs EC after Oppn's protest march to Nirvachan Sadan stopped by police
As the opposition leaders marched towards the EC office, Delhi Police stopped the MPs and set up barricades. Several opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sanjay Raut, were detained enroute to the Election Commission office.
EC officials have said that Congress MPs had agreed to meet with 30 MPs, but they found ways to run away from the poll body. The Election Commission had wrote to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh scheduling a meeting with 30 opposition leaders over the issue.
Catch all the latest updates on Opposition march here
Meanwhile, the Congress has said that the party leaders would have met the Election Commission, had their march allowed to go to the Nirvachan Sadan.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
16 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Rahul Gandhi has tea with ‘dead' voters from Bihar, thanks EC for ‘unique experience'
Amid the ongoing high-voltage row over the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday thanked the Election Commission for the 'unique experience' he had of having tea with some "dead" voters. Rahul Gandhi also told the 'dead' voters to go around Delhi for some sightseeing as they won't even be charged tickets. (X/@INCIndia) The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha met a group of seven voters at his residence, who told him how they were declared "dead" by the poll body and their names were removed from the electoral rolls. "There have been many interesting experiences in life, but I never got the chance to have tea with 'dead people'. For this unique experience, thank you Election Commission!" Gandhi said in a post on X. ALSO READ | EC: Not legally bound to disclose omitted names in Bihar SIR He also shared a video of his meeting with those voters. Some of the voters are heard telling the Congress leader that they found they were "declared dead" upon checking the electoral rolls released by the EC during the SIR. These people were among the 65 lakh voters whose names have been removed from the rolls in poll-bound Bihar. WATCH: The group informed Gandhi that they appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday to get their names back on the list as the apex court is hearing petitions against the SIR exercise in Bihar. Gandhi is also heard asking them if they had ever been to Delhi earlier, and tells them to go for some sightseeing in the capital as the "dead" will not even need any tickets. Later, the Congress also said that the seven voters from Bihar are very much alive, and they shared tea with Rahul Gandhi. These voters from Bihar are Ramikbal Ray, Harendra Ray, Lalmuni Devi, Vachiya Devi, Lalwati Devi, Punam Kumari, and Munna Kumar; and all of them hail from RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's Raghopur constituency. ALSO READ | ECI targeting Rahul to cover up its mistakes: Congress "They have been removed from the electoral rolls despite having completed the requisite paperwork for the SIR. The Election Commission has not openly published lists of the people whom it has declared dead, migrated, etc. Our teams on the ground were able to identify these people only because they managed to informally get EC's internal report in two to three polling booths," the party said. It added that these seven voters represent only a fraction of the "unjustly" deleted voters in two to three polling booths in the constituency. "This is not a clerical error - it is political disenfranchisement in plain sight," it added. "After 'Vote Chori' was exposed in Bengaluru, it is clear that the Bihar SIR exercise is also compromised. When the living are struck off as dead, the death certificate is issued to democracy itself," the Congress further said.
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
18 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump Wins Fight to Withhold Billions of Dollars in Foreign Aid
The Trump administration can cut potentially billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds approved by Congress for this year, a US appeals court ruled. In a 2-1 decision on Wednesday, the appellate panel reversed a Washington federal judge who found that US officials were violating the Constitution's separation of powers principles by failing to authorize the money to be paid in line with what the legislative branch directed. The ruling is a significant win for Trump's broader effort to withhold funding from programs that have fallen out of favor with his administration, regardless of how Congress exercised its authority over spending. Trump's critics have assailed what they've described as a far-reaching power grab by the executive branch. The nonprofits and business that sued could ask all of the active judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to reconsider the three-member panel's decision.
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
18 minutes ago
- Business Standard
SC says multiple documents for citizenship in Bihar SIR are voter-friendly
The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the availability of multiple documents to prove citizenship under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls was 'voter-friendly rather than restrictive.' Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the observation during a hearing on petitions challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI's) June 24 directive ordering the SIR. Senior Advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for one of the petitioners, had raised concerns about the exclusionary nature of the verification exercise. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is hearing multiple petitions contesting the ECI's directive, which mandates that voters not listed in the 2003 electoral roll must furnish documents to prove citizenship. Individuals born after December 2004 are also required to submit citizenship proof of both parents, with additional conditions if a parent is a foreign national. The court noted that the SIR in Bihar permits any of 11 documents to be submitted to establish citizenship, whereas the earlier summary revision in Jharkhand allowed only seven documents for identity verification. While acknowledging concerns around Aadhaar exclusion, Justice Bagchi said the broader set of documents available in Bihar makes the process 'voter-friendly rather than restrictive.' Singhvi, however, questioned the "compelling need" to conduct the SIR in such a short timeframe, arguing that it could lead to mass voter exclusion. He pointed out that many women in Bihar lack matriculation or educational certificates issued by recognised boards, which are among the 11 approved documents. Legal scope of ECI's powers debated Justice Bagchi highlighted that Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act grants the ECI some flexibility to conduct a special revision 'in such manner as it may think fit,' subject to limitations. He posed a question to the legal counsels on whether this provision gave the ECI 'residuary discretion' to introduce additions such as enumeration forms or extra documentation for the revision process. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, also appearing for the petitioners, countered that Section 21(3) 'cannot take away my right to adult suffrage under Article 326 at any cost,' nor the right to vote under Section 62 of the RP Act. 'This is a battle between a constitutional entitlement and a constitutional right,' Justice Bagchi remarked. Allegations of EC website changes after Rahul Gandhi's remarks Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), submitted that the ECI removed the searchable list of electoral rolls from its website after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the poll body of aiding 'vote theft' on August 4. 'The searchable list was available till August 4,' Bhushan told the court. The Bench also clarified that it would not take up matters related to the SIR in West Bengal, as the state Assembly elections are scheduled for 2026. 'Bengal can wait. Nothing is happening now,' the court said. The hearing is expected to continue on Thursday.