Lokpal Bill passed in Lok Sabha, will become law soon

December 18, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 18: The historic Lokpal Bill today took a giant step towards enactment after a 40-year wait, with the Lok Sabha passing it a day after the anti-corruption measure sailed through the Rajya Sabha with the support of opposition parties.

"It is our responsibility to complete our unfinished fight against corruption," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being pitched by his party as its leading champion for the Lokpal initiative.

Shortly afterwards, the government's key ally Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party staged a strategic walkout after slamming the Bill. The party was yesterday talked into backing down on its threat to block the Bill at any cost.

"In a democracy the people's representatives are supreme. This Bill will allow a policeman to come and harass us. Have MPs and MLAs not been convicted under existing laws?" Mr Yadav said, urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to speak up on the proposed law.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, appeared to target the ruling Congress as she criticized attempts to take credit for pushing the Lokpal Bill. She said Anna Hazare deserved credit for it.

"People are lining up to take credit, but there is an old man who keeps fasting for the bill and appeals to our collective conscience. And then the people of this country deserve credit," she said.

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has said he will call off his indefinite hungerstrike - now in its ninth day - once the lower house passes the bill.

Anna is fasting to demand that Parliament give life to the legislation, first proposed 46 years ago, in the current Winter Session which ends on Friday. But the ruling Congress' extreme zeal to ensure that happens is being seen more as a result of the massive losses it suffered in the recently held Assembly elections.

In Delhi, which it had ruled for 15 years, the Congress was felled by Arvind Kejriwal's one-year-old Aam Aadmi Party, which made a stunning debut based on its promise to fight corruption.

In general elections due by May, corruption and clean governance are expected to be top campaign issues.

The Lokpal Bill provides for the appointment of a powerful anti-graft ombudsman to investigate wrongdoing in government.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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