Election Tracker LIVE: SC Issues Notice to EC on Plea of 21 Opposition Parties Over VVPATs

Congress is all set to forge an alliance with the estranged uncle of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, sources have said. The party likely to give to the party 10 to 12 seats. Sources have revealed that Shivpal Yadav had met Priyanka Gandhi few days back in a closed-door meeting in Delhi where the alliance was firmed.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also asked Election Commission to appoint a senior officer to assist the court and posted the matter for next hearing on March 25.

SC Issues Notice to Election Commission on VVPAT petition | Supreme Court issues notice to the Election Commission on plea of 21 Opposition parties seeking direction that 50 per cent EVM results are matched and crosschecked with VVPATs before the declaration of results in the upcoming General Elections.

Supreme Court issues notice to the Election Commission on plea of 21 Opposition parties seeking direction that 50 per cent EVM results are matched and crosschecked with VVPATs before the declaration of results in the upcoming General Elections. pic.twitter.com/YP1aTHJu46

— ANI (@ANI) March 15, 2019

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra slammed the BJP while endorsing Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's earlier statement in which he said that the "law shall apply to everybody". Citing the Enforcement Directorate investigation against him, Vadra wrote in a series of tweets, "Since there are no wrong doings by me or my companies, n all allegations are baseless n the BJP government is simply misusing the agencies, as a means to malign me Surely most of them should be interrogated too."

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Backs Out of BJP Alliance | Meanwhile, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) has decided to back out of it alliance with BJP over a disagreement on the seat sharing arrangement. An official announcement will be made at noon today. Sources say that the BJP had asked for seven assembly seats and the lone LS seat, which the SKM did not agree to. The news comes only a week after the two parties decided to form an alliance in the state. 

Fadnavis and Thackeray will address elected representatives and party workers at Amravati on Friday morning and in Nagpur around 2pm.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray are expected to begin their joint state-wide tour today, from Vidarbha. Both the leaders are scheduled to address elected representatives and party workers at Amravati on Friday morning at around 11 am and at Nagpur around 2 pm. However, due to the bridge collapse incident, the rallies could be affected.

In a meeting with the Election Commission in February, Opposition parties had raised doubts about the credibility of electronic voting machines, though the EC has repeatedly denied allegations that the machines can be tampered with. Dismissing the apprehensions, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had said that the country would not revert to using ballot papers for elections.

Apart from Naidu’s TDP, the parties that have approached the apex court include the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Derek O’Brien for the Trinamool Congress, Farooq Abdullah for the National Conference, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The decision to approach SC was taken in the meeting at Sharad Pawar’s residence. 

The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a petition moved by 21 Opposition parties asking it to pass a directive that electronic voting machines be made tamper-proof. The parties want mandatory verification of 50 per cent votes by paper trail before announcement of results in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had declared in an opposition meet in February that the parties will move SC against use of EVMs. Naidu is the lead petitioner in this case.