Thick-skinned: Mohan Yadav slams Rahul Gandhi for repeated attacks on institutions
Yadav took aim at Gandhi's continued allegations against institutions, saying, "On the contrary, he repeatedly puts institutions in the dock. Despite being punished by the Supreme Court for statements like Chowkidar chor hai, he did not change his language and attitude".The chief minister added, "Don't know from where he has started talking about chori-chori".These comments come a day after Mohan Yadav accused Gandhi of being an "urban Naxal", while speaking to India Today TV.Yadav also sought to underscore the resilience of India's democratic framework. "The world's largest democracy is strong because of the Election Commission. The Election Commission has passed every test".He implied that Gandhi's allegations, rather than fostering transparency, actually target and weaken public trust in foundational institutions.This escalation follows Rahul Gandhi's ongoing "vote chori" campaign, in which he accuses the Election Commission and the BJP of electoral malpractice. Gandhi's claims have been publicly rebuked by the poll body.On August 14, the poll panel dismissed the use of phrases like "vote chori" calling them "dirty phrases" that fuel misleading narratives.It pointed out that India has upheld the principle of "one person, one vote" since 1951–52 and demanded Gandhi produce proof—specifically via a written affidavit—rather than general accusations that, in their words, "colour all the electors of India as 'chor' without any proof.- EndsMust Watch
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Hindustan Times
18 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Delhi: Protests continue over SC order on dogs
Protesters gathered at Central Park near India Gate on Saturday evening against the Supreme Court's recent order to shift all street dogs in the city to shelters. Animal lovers during a protest against the recent order by the Supreme Court to authorities in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) to start picking up stray dogs from all localities and relocate the animals to dog shelters, at Connaught Place(PTI) Protesters, largely animal rights activists and dog lovers, said they had assembled around 6pm with banners and were assaulted by Delhi Police personnel at the site. 'Security personnel came to us and asked us to leave. All the exits of Central Park were shut and only one exit gate was open. While we were leaving through the only exit gate, they started assaulting us, even women. We were stuffed inside a few buses and later released at Jantar Mantar and Jhandewalan at around 7–7.30pm,' Divya Puri, co-founder of the Karan Puri Foundation, said. Purported videos circulated on social media by the group showed uniformed officials hitting protesters and dragging them into buses. Activists said women were also subjected to verbal abuse and assault. 'The protesters were gathered peacefully. The police deployment was as much as the people gathered there. They abused and assaulted us and tried to tear our clothes. Is gathering peacefully also banned now?' asked Tarana Singh, another activist. A senior Delhi Police officer, meanwhile, said holding protests inside Central Park is prohibited and the gathering had no permission to do so. The protesters allegedly charged at officers first and the police retaliated, the officer added. An FIR under Section 223 (disobedience of order by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered against the protesters, the fifth such case in connection with similar demonstrations. Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said Section 163 (issuing orders in urgent cases of nuisance) of the BNSS has been imposed in New Delhi area because of the ongoing parliament session. 'We are bound by law to take action when there is a protest at places which are not designated for protests,' he said. When asked about videos of a female sub-inspector hitting a protester inside a detention bus, the first officer claimed that an inquiry was initiated and it was found that the protester had struck first, following which the SI retaliated.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
What are the challenges confronting the EC?
The story so far: At a press conference on August 7, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission (EC) of massive electoral roll manipulations in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka. Mr. Gandhi's presser capped a series of allegations of deliberate voter roll discrepancies by the EC beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly polls. This, coupled with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which is under judicial scrutiny, has put the poll body in the eye of a storm. What is the mandate of the EC? The Election Commission of India is a permanent constitutional body. The Constitution has vested in the EC the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and the legislature of every State, and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. Originally, the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). It was expanded to include two Election Commissioners (ECs). Why has there been a controversy about the appointment process? Parliament passed a new law governing appointments to the EC, namely the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. In accordance with the new law, the ECs are selected by a three-member selection committee, comprising the Prime Minister, a Union Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Opposition had objected to this, saying the committee gave little room for dissent as the Prime Minister and the Union Minister are part of the government and could rule 2:1 in favour of their candidate. Why is the EC's role in the spotlight? Last year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had alleged that lakhs of new voters had been added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls in the time period between the Lok Sabha polls in May and the Assembly elections in October. The Congress had made the same allegations about Haryana, and later the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that voter rolls were tweaked in Delhi before Assembly polls. Even as the EC was grappling with these claims, CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced the SIR in Bihar which aims at cleaning up electoral rolls. The EC said the SIR exercise will be carried out across the country. At his press conference, Mr. Gandhi alleged large-scale discrepancies in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka which he claimed helped the BJP win the seat. Mr. Gandhi said his party had carried out an investigation which spanned over six months before reaching this conclusion. He claimed that the voter list had manipulated entries, including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations. Following this, Mr. Gandhi reiterated his demand for machine readable voter rolls to be provided to all political parties for proper verification. The EC stated it has not been providing machine readable or 'text-searchable' voter lists for concerns over cyber-security. The Supreme Court (SC) had upheld it in a petition filed by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in 2018. When was a revision announced in Bihar? On June 24, the EC ordered a SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, barely five months before the Assembly elections. As per the SIR orders, every voter in Bihar who had not been listed in the 2003 voter rolls would have to submit documents proving their date and place of birth to determine whether they were Indian citizens. Those born after 1987 would also have to submit proof of their parents' date and place of birth. However, after the completion of the first phase of the SIR exercise, the EC released a draft electoral roll on August 1, which saw a drop in the number of voters in Bihar by 65 lakh. There were 7.89 crore voters registered in the 2025 electoral list before the SIR exercise; after the recount, it slid to 7.24 crore electors. The EC said that most of these 65 lakh 'missing' voters have died; are registered in two locations; have migrated out of Bihar; or are untraceable. Civil society organisations, Opposition parties as well as NGOs approached the Supreme Court challenging the SIR process. What has the SC directed EC to do? In an interim order on August 14, the Supreme Court directed the EC to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of the 65 lakh electors not included in the draft roll. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi instructed the EC to provide reasons for the deletion — death, migration, untraceability, duplicate registrations — against each name. The court also asked EC to accept Aadhaar as proof of identity for an elector to include his or her name in the rolls. 'That it has taken the Supreme Court to nudge the EC towards following basic norms of natural justice and fairness in the Bihar SIR exercise reflects poorly on an organisation which takes pride in collecting and counting every last vote. While errors can creep into voter lists over time, the answer to that is not mass disenfranchisement as the EC is attempting,' said Alok Kumar Prasanna, Advocate and Co-Founder of Vidhi Centre for Public Policy. What about migrant voters? Migrant voters still have to return to the place where they are on the rolls to vote. This is a huge cost and depresses turnout, notes Mr. Prasanna. 'There is no simple solution to this currently. The solution will have to be cheap, secure and transparent to work. Solutions which work in richer societies and for richer migrants will not work for poor migrants from States like Bihar,' he added. What has been the political fallout? After Mr. Gandhi's press conference, the Opposition upped the ante and tried to hold a march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters. They courted arrest when stopped. The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament has also been virtually paralysed over demands for a discussion on the Bihar SIR. The government has, however, not conceded to the Opposition's demand. The issue has brought Opposition parties together and protests are likely to continue when Parliament reconvenes on August 18. 'To protect the voters of this country and democracy whatever has to be done we will do,' Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha told The Hindu.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
West Bengal teacher who lost job after SC verdict dies of ‘stress-induced' stroke
A teacher who lost his job after the Supreme Court's recent cancellation of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching appointments died on Friday (August 15, 2025) allegedly following a stroke and consequent brain haemorrhage. Subal Soren, 35, was a teacher of political science for classes 11 and 12 at the State-run Bagalaseni High School in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district, according to Suvojit Das, a spokesperson for the 'untainted' teachers' forum, Jogyo Shikkhok Shikkhika Adhikar Mancha (JSSAM). He was also a member of the Adivasi community and hailed from Sarki village in Mohanpur. Mr. Soren was notably one of the petitioners named in the review petition filed at the Supreme Court seeking a review of its April 3 judgment. The apex court, on April 3, had upheld the Calcutta High Court's cancellation of job appointments from 2016, citing a 'vitiated and tainted' recruitment process by the West Bengal School Service Commission. Protests had erupted among the sacked teachers across the State over their demand for the segregation of 'untainted' candidates and the reinstatement of their jobs without re-examinations. The apex court directed the West Bengal government to complete a fresh recruitment process for assistant teachers' positions by December 31 this year, till when the sacked teachers have been allowed to work with full salaries. Mr. Soren had been a prominent figure at the forefront of the agitations and had been present in multiple instances when police clashed with protesting teachers. 'Subal Sir had no prevailing ailments. He suddenly fell very ill around Monday and was transferred to a private medical hospital in Kolkata a few days later. He suffered a stroke from the unbearable mental agony of having lost his job. This is the mental and physical toll that this sudden job loss is taking on us,' Mr. Das told The Hindu. Mr. Soren was declared dead around 8 in the morning on August 15. He is survived by his wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. After his passing, fellow teachers who had been agitating for the last many months gathered near the hospital at the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass to pay their respects. 'We organised a memorial march from the hospital gates to Ruby Crossing with his remains on Friday afternoon, to honour his contribution to our movement. However, the police tried to hinder our march and even tried to speed off with the body despite us having consent from Mr. Soren's family,' Mr. Das alleged. He added that teachers had to lie down on the road in front of the ambulance to prevent them from taking away the corpse prematurely from the hospital premises. However, the Kolkata Police, in a statement, claimed that these allegations are false. 'Legal action is being initiated against those responsible for spreading such misinformation,' the statement said. Subsequent clashes with the police had also allegedly taken place at Debra, where Mr. Soren's body had been taken for the last rites.
