Here are five key takeaways from the press conference held by the Election Commission of India.The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The assembly elections to states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will also be held simultaneously. Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on April 19, and in Andhra Pradesh on May 13. Elections to the Odisha assembly will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.The election commission said it will go beyond the usual censures and be ruthless to political parties and candidates who violate the model code of conduct. Political parties have been asked to hand out MCC guidelines to all the star campaigners. The CEC also pointed out that, in the digital world, everything that comes out of one’s mouth is being documented. It also introduced the cVIGIL app. CEC Rajiv Kumar responded to concerns regarding the rigging of EVM machines and maintained that EVMs are “100% safe”. He said that the courts in India looked into various complaints against EVMs 40 times and rejected all the charges every time. The CEC said the commission was in favor of ‘complete transparency’ in the funding of political parties, but people who contribute to parties should not be harassed. He was commenting on the prohibition of electoral bonds by the Supreme Court. “In a democracy, there is no space for hiding things,” he said. The ECI will soon launch a fact checking website called Myth vs Reality to counter election-related fake news. “We will try and join the issue instead of being in the background if someone is trying to do a fake kind of narrative which is disturbing the level playing field, which is disturbing the public order, which is not based on facts and which has crossed the line of criticism,” the CEC said.
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