Exit polls patently illegal, yet happening before the eyes of EC: Ex-CEC SY Quraishi
New Delhi, Nov 19: Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Tuesday claimed that the exit polls are patently illegal and they are happening before the eyes of the Election Commission (EC).
Addressing the G V G Krishnamurty Memorial Lecture here, he asked when the conduct of exit polls is banned during the "prohibited period" -- from the day of commencement of voting for the first phase till half-an-hour after the end of polling in the last phase -- how are they being held.
He said when exit polls cannot be conducted in that period, how can be shown soon after conclusion of polls.
"There is one patent illegality happening before our eyes and the eyes of the EC with the involvement of EC," he said.
He said according to a 2009 amendment to section 126 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the conduct, publication and dissemination of results of exit poll in any manner during the prohibited period is banned.
"How is the illegality happening," he questioned.
Referring to electoral bonds, he said after six years the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.
He said the SC had no time and kept the issue on the backburner for a long period.
Quraishi was the chief election commissioner (CEC) between July 2010 and June 2012.
Addressing the gathering, he said the judiciary has to be credited for several of the electoral reforms, including the decision to make candidates disclose criminal cases against them as well as their assets and liabilities.
Referring to an index which placed India as a "flawed democracy", Quraishi said initially he was upset at the report and thought it was a "western conspiracy".
"But when I studied, I found exactly the right reasons about which citizens are concerned," he said.
"Only seven per cent of women were in Parliament (then, when the report came). Obviously that is not full democracy," he said, adding that at that time 40 per cent MPs had criminal antecedents.
"We are a flawed democracy but we have no one but ourselves to blame," he said.
Late G V G Krishnamurty was a CEC.
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Over 17,000 people went missing in Delhi in 2024: NCRB
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.
The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.
According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.
At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.
In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.
Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.
A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.
The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.
The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.
After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.
The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.
The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.
By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.
