Rush Hour: EC announces third phase of SIR, VD Satheesan to be next Kerala CM & more

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The Election Commission announced the third phase of the special intensive revision exercise of voter rolls, which will take place in 16 states and three Union Territories. With this, the exercise will have covered voter lists in all states and Union Territories, except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The poll panel said that in these three places, the exercise will be conducted later on account of the ongoing Census and adverse weather.

There are currently 36.7 crore voters in the states and Union Territories covered in the third phase of the exercise. Nearly 59 crore electors have been covered in the first two phases.

During the first two phases, concerns were raised by opposition parties and activists that such a revision process could arbitrarily disenfranchise several voters. Read on.

The Congress picked VD Satheesan as the next chief minister of Kerala, 10 days after the Assembly election results were announced on May 4. The Congress-led United Democratic Front won 102 seats in the 140-member Assembly, defeating the Left Democratic Front after a decade in the opposition.

The race for the chief minister’s post was...

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