
Jagan claims collapse of law and order in Andhra, demands President's rule
He alleged that YSRCP leaders and activists were being targeted through false cases, 'illegal' arrests, and an 'organised campaign of political harassment'.
Amaravati, Jul 4 (PTI) YSRCP chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday advocated the imposition of President's Rule in the state, alleging a total breakdown of law and order under the TDP-led NDA government.
He said the recent attack on Dalit sarpanch Nagamalleswar Rao of Mannava village in Guntur district in broad daylight shows the 'lawlessness' in the state and the video of that incident depicts the gravity of the situation.
The former chief minister alleged that YSRCP workers were being 'assaulted' for defying the ruling TDP and questioned whether people are truly safe under the Chandrababu Naidu government.
Meanwhile, YSRCP SC Cell president TJR Sudhakar Babu accused Naidu of insulting Dalits.
He alleged that the chief minister demeaned Dalit YSRCP supporter C Singayya, who died by allegedly falling under the wheels of Jagan Mohan Reddy's convoy at Etukuru Cross in Guntur district.
Naidu likened Singayya to a dog and resorted to disrespecting the deceased person and politicising the tragedy, Babu alleged.
The YSRCP leader also accused Naidu of showcasing 'a pattern of hurling casteist insults', and cited previous remarks by TDP leaders, ostensibly questioning Dalits' education and political rights.
Babu alleged that CM Naidu and IT Minister Nara Lokesh prioritise real estate over welfare and foster violence against Dalits, and demanded a full probe into Singayya's death. PTI MS STH NB NSD NSD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

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The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Bihar Election 2025: ECI's SIR Exercise Triggers Voter Exclusion Fears
Published : Jul 05, 2025 11:29 IST - 6 MINS READ On June 24, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced it would carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, barely four months before the Assembly election. The exercise was rolled out the next day. Bihar has 7.9 crore voters. The ECI said 4.96 crore electors, whose names figured in the electoral rolls after the last intensive revision on January 1, 2003, have to fill up and submit the enumeration form. The remaining 2.93 crore voters will have to submit documents to establish their eligibility, and of these, those born after 1987 will have to provide documents for their parents. However, if the parents of such voters figured in the 2003 roll, the relevant extract of the list will suffice. The 19-page letter that the ECI sent to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar on June 24 included a three-page order for the SIR and detailed guidelines for the exercise. The enumeration forms have to be submitted by July 25, and only the names of those people whose forms are received by that date will figure in the draft electoral roll to be published on August 1. This would be followed by the verification of the documents submitted, and claims and objections can be filed between August 1 and September 1. The final electoral roll will be made public on September 30. Also Read | Legal yet lawless: Assam's new wave of deportations follows a long tradition of expulsion politics The intensive revision is being carried out in Bihar after a gap of over 20 years. An intensive revision of electoral rolls for all or some parts of the country was undertaken in the years 1952-56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983-84, 1987-89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2004. The Bihar SIR has led to considerable disquiet. Chitranjan Gagan, spokesperson of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, said: 'The SIR is a conspiracy to deprive Dalits, backward classes, extremely backward classes, and minorities of their right to vote. There are lakhs of families which do not have the documents listed for the SIR. They will be out of the electoral roll.' The Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in neighbouring West Bengal, which is scheduled to go to the polls in 2026, has questioned the intent behind the SIR. The party alleged that West Bengal is the real target of the exercise. It has also described the SIR as a 'sinister move' to bring the National Register of Citizens (NRC) through the back door since the voters will have to prove their citizenship. Jagdeep S. Chhokar, founding member and trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms, said the SIR could result in disenfranchisement of a large number of people. 'The ECI has listed 11 documents in its SIR guidelines. One of them is the birth certificate and the other ten also perform the same function as the birth certificate. In Bihar, a large number of people would not have any of these documents. Interestingly, Aadhaar is not there in the list, while many people have it,' Chhokar said. He described migration as 'the elephant in the room' since a huge number of people have migrated out of the State to earn a living and could get excluded from the roll. 'The ECI said that enumeration forms are available on the commission's website from where voters can download them. We cannot expect a construction worker in Delhi or an agricultural labourer in Punjab to download the form,' he said. According to an analysis by the researcher Rahul Shastri of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, which was published in The Hindu on July 1, an estimated 1.76 crore people migrated out of Bihar between 2003 and 2024. With regard to documentary proof to be provided by voters, he said it would not be a simple affair in a document-scarce State like Bihar where just 2.8 per cent of the people born between 2001 and 2005 have a birth certificate. The story with regard to other documents is the same. Chhokar also said the SIR appears to have been initiated in a great hurry. 'The order for the SIR is issued on June 24, and it is rolled out on June 25. How can tasks such as printing of forms and training of Booth Level Officers [BLOs] be conducted in such a short period of time?' he wondered. The SIR, he added, deviates from electoral laws with regard to deletion of names from the roll and the criteria for registration as a voter. He said the revision could be challenged in the court over the alleged violation of law. However, the ECI insisted that the process being followed is simple and in keeping with constitutional provisions. It added that it has the constitutional obligation to ensure that only people who are citizens are included in the electoral roll. It further said in its June 24 order that since the last SIR was conducted, the electoral roll has changed significantly due to large-scale additions and deletions. It said rapid urbanisation and frequent migration of people for education, livelihood, and other reasons have become a regular trend, leading to increased possibility of repeated entries in the voters' list. The ECI claimed that it is well prepared to carry out the SIR with 77,895 BLOs already on the ground. It is also appointing 20,603 more for new polling stations. As per the commission, political parties have appointed more than 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) who will work in coordination with the BLOs. According to the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat, taking into account the 2003 cut-off date, at every polling booth with a maximum of around 1,200 voters, the BLOs and the BLAs will have to focus on verification of around 400-450 people. Also Read | Raising a finger against the ECI 'Political parties are saying that the BLO can be manipulated. But the BLO is not empowered to decide on inclusion or deletion of voters. They will submit the forms and the documents to the Electoral Registration Officers [ERO] who will have the power to include or not include. The ERO is a Deputy Commissioner, Class II level gazetted officer. There is also a provision for appeal if the documents are rejected,' he said. Former CEC T.S. Krishnamurthy, under whose tenure the last SIR took place in 2004, said the Bihar SIR is unlike those carried out in the past. As per the ECI's 2024 manual on electoral rolls, during the SIR, enumerators were sent for house-to-house verification with a working copy containing details of existing voters and a blank space provided to either amend the existing information or capture newly eligible people. Krishnamurthy, however, said the Bihar SIR is in response to the changed circumstances. 'In the recent past, questions have been raised about the credibility of the electoral roll. The SIR is meant to clean up the electoral roll,' he said. Responding to the argument that the exercise could end up being a de facto NRC, he said: 'The purpose of the electoral roll is to ensure that only those who are eligible to vote are there, that they are citizens of India and are above 18 years of age. Political parties should have no problem if non-citizens are weeded out.' It remains to be seen whether the SIR will redeem the ECI's image by providing a template for a foolproof electoral roll or ends up a recipe for disaster.


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
India negotiates from position of strength, not under deadlines: Piyush Goyal on US trade deal after Congress jab
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal asserted that India prioritizes national interests in trade negotiations, contrasting it with the Congress-led UPA era. He highlighted recent trade agreements with Mauritius, UAE, Australia, EFTA, and the UK, emphasizing India's current strong negotiating position. Rahul Gandhi criticized PM Modi regarding the Indo-US trade deal amidst concerns over deadlines and US claims about India-Pakistan relations. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said India negotiates from a position of strength and not under accused the Congress of "negotiating and signing agreements that were not in the national interest" during the UPA government's remarks come a day after Goyal stated that India would accept a proposed trade deal with the US only when it is fully finalised and in the national to reporters here, Goyal said, "India does not negotiate under deadlines. We negotiate keeping national interest in mind, and national interest is paramount in all our engagements across the world."He added, "After the Modi government came to power, we have signed free trade agreements with Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and the four-nation EFTA (European Free Trade Association) grouping-Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein-and now with the UK last month."According to him, India continues to engage with other developed nations, including the EU bloc of 27 countries, the United States, Oman, Peru, and Chile."Today, India negotiates from a position of strength. We are self-confident and can compete with anybody in the world. This is not the weak India under Congress and the UPA, which signed agreements that were not in the national interest," he Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Indo-US trade deal, after Goyal claimed that India would not enter into an agreement "under deadlines."The Congress has been attacking the Prime Minister "for remaining silent" and not countering US President Donald Trump's repeated claims of bringing a halt to hostilities between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror had reportedly set a deadline of July 9 to finalise the trade agreement with India.


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'Rudali' speech: Devendra Fadnavis takes sharp swipe at Uddhav Thackeray
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel In a veiled swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said he delivered a "rudali" (professional mourner) like speech at the joint "thanked" MNS president Raj Thackeray for crediting him in reuniting the two Thackeray in the day, the Thackeray cousins shared the public stage at a victory rally in Mumbai to celebrate the rollback of two GRs issued earlier by the government introducing Hindi as a third language from class 1 in state the gathering, Raj Thackeray, in a lighter vein, credited Fadnavis for bringing together the two cousins which even Bal Thackeray couldn't do."Balasaheb Thackeray must be blessing me. I was told it was supposed to be a 'vijay' (victory) rally, but it turned out to be a 'rudali' speech," Fadnavis said in a veiled reference to Uddhav."Rudali" refers to a female professional mourner in certain regions, particularly in Rajasthan, where they were hired to publicly express grief during funerals, especially in upper-caste said no word was spoken about Marathi at the event and the speech (delivered by Uddhav) focused on how his government was toppled and how they can regain power."The rally was not Vijay utsav but a 'rudali' darshan," the chief minister stated that despite ruling the Mumbai civic body for 25 years, they (the undivided Sena) failed to bring in development."Conversely, under Modi's leadership, we have transformed Mumbai. We gave Marathi people their rightful homes at BDD and Patra chawls (tenements), which made them (Uddhav-led) jealous," he chief minister said he was proud to be Marathi and Hindu. "All Marathi and non-Marathi people are with us".