Parliament Monsoon Session LIVE Updates: EC grants appointment to Opposition MPs for interaction
Opposition gears up for march to EC: The Opposition INDIA bloc is set to march to the Election Commission (EC) headquarters in Delhi on Monday, in order to protest against what it calls large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls in Bengaluru 's Mahadevapura constituency in the 2023 Assembly polls.
Centre to introduce Income Tax Bill: The Centre will introduce an updated version of the Income Tax Bill after incorporating changes suggested by the Select Committee in the Lok Sabha on Monday. 'To avoid confusion by multiple versions of the Bill and to provide a clear and updated version with all changes incorporated, the new version of the Income Tax Bill will be introduced for the consideration of the House on Monday,' sources said. The Select Committee, chaired by Baijayant Panda, had suggested a host of changes in the Income Tax Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 13.
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Economic Times
8 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Not scared of EC officials, poll body indulging in 'vote chori' through SIR: Rahul Gandhi
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Remove Ads In a scathing attack on the Election Commission after its press conference, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the poll body is colluding with the BJP to carry out "vote chori openly" in the name of Special Intensive Revision in Bihar and asserted that he is not sacred of EC a gathering here at the end of the first day of his Voter Adhikar Yatra which began from Bihar's Sasaram this afternoon, Gandhi also said while he was asked to submit an affidavit after his press conference exposing "vote chori", no such demand was made from BJP leader Anurag Thakur who made similar claims in his Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha also alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was a way to steal votes of the people of the alleged that the Modi government brought in a law in 2023 to ensure that no one can take action against an election commissioner as the EC is "helping" the BJP and "indulging in vote chori" along with them."Today they (EC) held a press conference. I want to ask them why did the government change the law on CCTV footage of election process."Do you know that no case can be initiated against the election commissioner. In no court in India can there be a case against the election commissioner. This law was made in 2023. Why was this law made? It was made because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah want to ensure that no one can take any action against the EC as it is helping them and is indulging in voter chori along with them," Gandhi asserted that the INDIA bloc will not let "vote chori" happen in said that it is a fight to protect Ambedkar's Constitution and the principle of 'one person, one vote'."The EC declared living people dead, those who have voted in previous polls, their names have been deleted. I asked a person why 'your name was removed, he said there is an order from above, whose order, Narendra Modi and EC'. They have deleted the votes of 65 lakh people, why? Because they want to help Adani and Ambani, they want to steal your money," Gandhi former Congress president alleged that after taking away land and resources of the people, "now they want to take away the last thing that is left with you, the right to vote", he said."The EC is doing this openly. They say 'we will delete voters and not show you the voter list'. But we will show you the power of the people of Bihar," Gandhi said while addressing the gathering."Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the people of EC must hear this, neither am I scared of you nor Teajshwi Yadav and Bihar. We will put forward the truth of vote chori before everyone," he urged the people to fight for the right to vote and the in a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "EC declared living people dead. EC also removed from the voter list those people who had just voted in the Lok Sabha elections. EC once again refused to give digital, machine-readable voter rolls. EC is now making excuses after excuses for not giving CCTV footage.""Earlier vote theft was done stealthily, now it is being done openly in the name of SIR," he his remarks at the end of day 1 of the Voter Adhikar Yatra, Gandhi also said they started the yatra in Bihar with a purpose."For some years people had suspected that their is some fraud in the polls and stealing of elections is taking place. In Maharashtra, while we won the Lok Sabha polls, just four months later the BJP swept the assembly polls," Gandhi said."When we investigated, we found that between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, one crore voters were added by the Election Commission through magic," he wherever new voters were added, the BJP won, he added."Our votes did not go down and remained the same. The BJP got all the new votes. We asked the EC to explain to us where did these one crore voters come from but they refused. We asked them to give CCTV footage and they refused. We asked for machine-readable voter list but they refused," he said they then selected the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat and under it got analysed one assembly segment data."We took four months and found out that the Bangalore Central seat was stolen by the BJP and and EC," he said and claimed that one lakh voters were found to be fake."EC asks me to submit an affidavit but when Anurag Thakur says the same thing that I have said, it does not ask for an affidavit from him," he claimed that the EC got to know that INDIA bloc has found out how 'vote chori' happens and then they came up with a new tactic of addressing a press conference in Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Gynaesh Kumar said the electoral roll revision is aimed at removing all shortcomings in voter lists and it is a matter of grave concern that some parties are spreading misinformation about it and firing from the EC's shoulder .The CEC rejected as "baseless" the allegations of double voting and "vote theft" and asserted that all stakeholders are working to make SIR a success in a transparent manner.
Mint
36 minutes ago
- Mint
Centre working on framework to help panchayats become financially-autonomous
New Delhi: The government is working on a framework to help village councils (panchayats) generate their own revenue and become financially autonomous, carrying out development works without relying on funds from the Centre or states. The Union Panchayati Raj ministry has set up a panel, consisting of senior officials from various state governments, which is tasked with formulating a blueprint that can act as a guide for states and Union territories (UTs) in creating and amending their model OSR (Own Source of Revenue) rules. "We have constituted a committee comprising senior officials from various state governments, to prepare a model OSR framework of panchayats, which can serve as a benchmark for the states in formulating and amending their OSR rules," Vivek Bharadwaj, secretary, ministry of panchayati raj, said. The template, to be shared with states and UTs, aims to plug the gaps in existing regulations and guide local bodies in mobilising revenue, which mainly comes from taxes, fees and other charges. The development assumes significance, as nearly a dozen states and UTs don't have OSR rules. The 22 states and UTs that have already formulated the rules need to update them, said Bharadwaj. Own Source Revenue (OSR) refers to the revenues that panchayats generate on their own, from sources such as property tax, water charges, market fees, trade licence fees and building permit fees. OSR rules help regulate, standardize, and empower panchayats to collect and manage the revenues efficiently. The OSR rules are crucial to panchayat as they empower them to function independently and also reduce over-dependence on central and state grants. Additionally, they support local development projects with locally-generated funds. According to Bharadwaj, there are 11 states and UTs that have not yet framed OSR rules. These include Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Ladakh and Lakshadweep. Twenty two states and UTs have already developed and implemented OSR-based regulations, allowing panchayats to levy and collect taxes, fees, tolls, or other local sources of revenue. Among these states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Some States have detailed guidelines on fixing OSR rates. In many instances across the states, it has been observed that much more efforts need to be made towards fulfilment of these requirements. "Financial rules related to OSR generation were prepared long ago in states, and hence have been suffering from various deficiencies like use of incomprehensible legal jargons and lack of updating," Bharadwaj added. Panchayats, which act as grassroots-level bodies to implement government programmes and for achieving the sustainable development goals, get grants from the Centre, state governments, as well as raise their own revenue in a limited way through internal sources like local-tax revenues and user charges. "Self-sufficiency is an ideal state for gram panchayats as they can have more funds to carry out developmental works. However revenue collection is conditional as it depends on economic activities in a particular area," said Sri Hari Nayudu, economist, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. "Most of the time we are dependent on state government grants for developmental works, since most of us doen't know how to increase revenue. The proposed rules can guide us in that direction," said Gurcharan Singh, Panch-Charik Patti Sarkar, a rural local body in Moga district of Punjab. In 2021-22, the average per capita OSR collected by panchayats at all-India level was ₹ 100. Also, the average OSR for gram panchayat was ₹ 230,000 per year, with 42% of gram panchayats having less than ₹ 100,000 revenue per year. "The key reasons behind low revenue collection are over-dependence on grants, underutilization of tax powers, weak administrative systems and trust deficit with citizens which limit the revenue," said an economist who requested not to identified.
India.com
37 minutes ago
- India.com
‘Stealing Not Considered Sin, But Calling Someone Thief Is': Opposition Slams EC Over Authentication Appeal
Congress-led opposition parties hit back at the Election Commission on Sunday, over its appeal to authenticate their "vote chori" claims by filing a supporting affidavit and also termed its elaborate media address on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) controversy a mere eyewash. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, flanked by senior EC officials, held a press conference in the capital and claimed that deliberate attempts were being made to fearmonger and misguide the voters of Bihar, apparently by opposition parties. It also stated that such fearmongering won't deter it from pursuing and implementing laid-down protocols. Replying to the CEC's presser, Congress accused it of being partisan towards the ruling party, while the RJD said that its clarification was devoid of any substance. Congress leader Pawan Khera, in a strong rebuttal, said: "Stealing is not considered a sin, but calling someone a thief is? Stop the theft, and we will stop calling you thieves. Why hasn't anyone given an account of one lakh votes from Mahadevapura?" Further accusing it breach of privacy, he said: "(BJP leader) Anurag Thakur is carrying digital voter lists of six constituencies—where did he get them from? Isn't that a breach of privacy? Did the Election Commission issue him a notice? No. But when it comes to CCTV footage, you say it violates privacy..." RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said: "No answers were given. Not a single question was answered. Maybe someone told them to hold the press conference because it was becoming embarrassing. So, they went ahead, but what was achieved? Which question did they actually answer? Forget the political parties—the voters are not convinced by your behaviour and conduct." "Logic cannot be used to justify opacity. Opacity means lack of transparency. The biggest concern is that the Election Commission appears neither impartial nor neutral. This should be a matter of serious concern for you." Purnia MP Pappu Yadav said, "The EC has no understanding of the Constitution or Babasaheb's (B.R. Ambedkar) ideas. After indulging in theft and robbery, will they speak about the Constitution?"
