
Rahul Gandhi demands clean, pure voter list
He said the Election Commission is silent as the truth is before the entire nation, after his charge that over one lakh votes in an assembly constituency in Karnataka were found to be fake in a research conducted by his party.
Gandhi participated in the protest march by Opposition MPs from Parliament House to the EC office, but was prevented midway by the police and detained.
They (EC) cannot talk as the truth is before the entire nation," he said as he was being taken away in a bus by the police.
"This fight is not political, but for saving the Constitution," he asserted.

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India.com
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Why is Trump not imposing extra tariffs on China just like India for importing Russian oil? Is he scared? VP Vance admits...
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Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
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The ruling came on petitions filed by two women candidates who had ranked fourth and fifth overall but were denied selection because of the gender-based allocation of seats in the 2023 JAG recruitment. The bench pointed out that in this case, one petitioner , Arshnoor Kaur, had secured 447 marks, higher than the 433 scored by a male candidate ranked third in the men's list, yet she was excluded. The court directed her induction in the next available training course, noting that her exclusion amounted to 'indirect discrimination' in violation of Articles 14 (equality), 15 (no discrimination), and 16 (equality of opportunity) of the Constitution. While the other candidate, Astha Tyagi had secured 477 markes, no order was passed in her case since she joined the Indian Navy during the pendency of the matter. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented the petitioners. 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'The practice of fixing a ceiling limit to recruitment of female candidates has the effect of perpetuating the status quo, which has been historically discriminatory to women candidates. The result of such practice is confinement of women candidates, irrespective of their performance or merit, in their gendered category, thereby being destructive of not just the constitutional scheme but also of the concept of gender-neutrality and merit,' it held. Observing that male and female JAG officers form part of the same cadre, face identical conditions of service, and are evaluated by the same selection criteria, the bench said there was no justification for separate merit lists. It directed that future recruitment be conducted through a common merit list for all candidates, with the list and individual marks made public. 'The primary job of this branch is to give legal advice and conduct cases… there is no explanation why gender-based vacancy allocation is necessary for a legal branch where the duties, training, and performance expectations are identical for all officers regardless of gender,' the court said, adding that a merit-based process would only improve the branch's efficiency. It directed the Union of India and the Army to conduct future JAG recruitments without bifurcating vacancies by gender, making it clear that if all deserving candidates happen to be women, all of them must be selected. 'To restrict the women candidates to 50% of the seats, as argued by the respondents despite they being more meritorious than the male candidates is violative of the right to equality,' declared the bench. The Army's contention that JAG officers constitute a combatant reserve and that women are not deployed in counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism roles was dismissed as misconceived. The bench pointed to existing policy changes that have brought women's field attachment and operational training 'at par' with men, as well as examples of women officers commanding convoys in militant-prone areas, serving in elite airborne and parachute units, and operating in UN peacekeeping missions in combat zones. The judgment noted that under the 2023 policy, at least 50% of the vacancies must be reserved for women to 'compensate' for their earlier non-enrolment and to raise their strength in the JAG branch to 142 officers. However, it added that women candidates figuring in the merit list beyond this 50% quota must also be accommodated, and their intake cannot be capped at that limit. 'If women can pilot Rafale jets, operate behind enemy lines, and command convoys in high-risk zones, there exists no legal or operational bar to their deployment at peace locations in the JAG branch,' the judgment said. It added; 'This court clarifies that it is not imposing its own views or predilection on the Army but is implementing the Constitution and the mandate of law. But this court agrees with the view held by many that 'no nation can be secure, when half of its population (i.e. its women force) is held back.' Quoting Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates -- 'People feared electricity when it was invented, the court observed that resistance to change cannot justify discrimination. It stressed that women were not seeking special treatment or relaxed standards, only that merit be given a chance. 'If women officers do not conform to discipline or match the standards prescribed or expected of them, the Army shall be at liberty to act as it would with regard to any errant or unfit male officer,' it said.


The Hindu
17 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Sacking of Rajanna exposes Congress' ‘anti-Dalit' face, says BJP
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