Morning Digest | Centre likely to appoint new Election Commissioners by March 15; SC to hear SBI’s plea in Electoral Bonds case today, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on March 11, 2024

Government likely to appoint new Election Commissioners by March 15

The two vacancies in the Election Commission (EC), created by the surprise resignation of Arun Goel and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey, are likely to be filled by March 15, sources indicated. A high-level selection committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising a Union Minister and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, is likely to meet on March 14. Keen to fill up the vacancies at the earliest, sources told The Hindu that the Opposition leader has been sounded out about a change of date to advance the meeting date by a day or two.

Electoral bonds: SC to hear SBI's plea seeking extension to disclose details on March 11

The Supreme Court will on March 11 hear the application filed by the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking extension till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties before the scheme was scrapped last month. In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, a five-judge constitution Bench scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the Election Commission of the donors, the amount donated by them, and the recipients by March 13.

In re-constituted National Commission for Scheduled Castes, govt. ensures a place for Madiga member

With the Lok Sabha election around the corner, the Union government has chosen to constitute the most-recent National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) by ensuring the presence of at least one member from the Madiga community, one of the most populous Scheduled Caste communities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Madiga community has argued that despite being among the most populous of the SCs, they are routinely crowded out of benefits and reservation by the relatively dominant Mala community. 

Uttar Pradesh Congress passes resolution for candidature from Gandhi family