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Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Rahul alleges malpractice in voting: Maharashtra Cong to ‘reach out to every household to apprise people of wrongdoings'
Intensifying the nationwide protest against the alleged malpractices in election process launched by party leader Rahul Gandhi, the state Congress on Tuesday said it would appraise people in the state of the 'wrongdoings by reaching out to every household'. 'Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has proved the wrongdoings in the election process of the country. The Election Commission (EC), instead of responding to the queries raised, has served notice to him. The state Congress will further intensify the protest in Maharashtra,' said Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra. He said the BJP and the Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi are finishing democracy. 'Free and fair elections are becoming impossible in the country. We had raised it in the Maharashtra Assembly election when we noticed a big change in voters' choice compared to three months prior to that during the Lok Sabha elections last year,' he added. 'The malpractices seen during the Maharashtra Assembly elections were also witnessed in the Haryana Assembly elections and now it is likely to be repeated in the Bihar elections,' he said. The EC does what the BJP-led Union government says and the BJP is busy defending the EC for the wrongdoings, said Chennithala. 'The state Congress will reach out to every household on the issue of malpractices in elections. We will do a signature campaign and tell the public about vote cheating,' he said. The Congress leader said the Mahayuti government is postponing local body elections deliberately so as to use funds of civic bodies to manage its finances as the government is facing a serious financial crisis due to its wrong schemes. The Congress has not taken any decision on a pre-poll alliance for the forthcoming civic polls, he said, adding the party leaders are still discussing it. Chennithala said the closeness of two cousins MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was not a cause of concern for the Congress. 'MNS is not in our alliance. We don't know anything about the MNS and Sena (UBT) alliance, so we cannot comment on it. We don't have any issues if cousins are coming close but the alliance of their parties will be a political issue. We will discuss if it actually happens,' he said. State Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal said BJP rule in the country is destroying democracy and the party has chalked out a six-month programme to protest against it. 'The BJP always talks of a Congress-free country but 40 per cent of its leaders are imported from the Congress,' he said.
Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘EC made me grandma': First-time voter Minta Devi shown as 124 years old in Bihar electoral rolls
The Election Commission has made me a grandma, said Minta Devi, suppressing a laugh, on a day opposition MPs led by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra staged a demonstration in the national capital with her name and photo printed on their shirts. If the draft electoral rolls in Bihar were to be believed, the 'first time' voter, at '124 years', could well be the oldest in the state, where more than 7 crore electors will be exercising their franchise in a couple of months. 'How can I be blamed for the goof-up? I had filled up my enumeration form online, after having waited in vain for a visit by the booth-level officer,' said the 35-year-old, whose name is now trending on social media. However, the Siwan district administration has issued a statement, claiming that the would-be voter of the Daraunda assembly segment has been contacted and remedial steps were taken well before the anomaly made headlines. According to a statement issued by the collectorate of Siwan, 'An application was obtained from Minta Devi on August 10 for rectifying the error, to which her attention was drawn by the BLO. It will be dealt with during the claims and objections phase (of special intensive revision of electoral rolls)'. The matter has come to light at a time when parties opposed to the ruling NDA are assailing the special intensive revision (SIR), in the Parliament as well as the Supreme Court. Minta Devi, however, is enjoying a good laugh. 'I am thrilled that, finally, at the age of 35, I may get a chance to cast my vote. Many polls have passed since I became eligible but somehow my name never made it to the voters' list. If the EC has made me a grandma (daadi bana diya) in the process, it is fine with me. I have nothing to fear. I had stated my year of birth as 1990, the same as in my Aadhar card. I cannot help it if in the draft rolls 1990 has been made 1900,' she told reporters. Meanwhile, social media was left abuzz with users raising doubts over two centenarians, both women, figuring in the voters' list for another assembly constituency. The election officials were left coming out with statements asserting that Farzana Khatun and Asha Devi, both voters of Pirpainti assembly segment in Bhagalpur district, were, in fact, 120 years old. The EC, however, did not respond to the claim, in a section of the media that the two centenarians were also registered as 'first-time voters'.
Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Open to review of RTI rules, says Karnataka Govt after legislators allege misuse
With several legislators cutting across party lines alleging misuse of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Karnataka Government said on Tuesday that it was open to reviewing the rules under the Act to prevent harassment and blackmailing of officials. The discussion on the RTI Act followed a question raised in the legislature by Congress MLA Mahantesh Koujalagi, who sought to know whether the Government would initiate action against those misusing the legislation by targeting officials. Responding on behalf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government can amend rules framed under the Act. 'If we come to know about the misuse, we can take action. If harassment can be prevented by reviewing the rules and if it benefits the genuine RTI activists, we can discuss,' he said, noting that the Government would think about steps to limit the misuse of the RTI Act. Koujalagi suggested the Government hike RTI fees as a measure to curb the misuse, adding that RTI applications were being filed through proxies. 'Multiple applications are filed by some people just to harass officials. The cost per page is fixed at Rs 2. This is causing the problem. For BPL applicants, there is no fee for up to 100 pages. This is leading to a lot of misuse,' he said. Patil noted that the Government had blacklisted 26 RTI activists, apart from dismissing State Information Commissioner Ravindra Gurunath Dhakappa after the Lokayukta arrested him for allegedly taking a bribe from a blacklisted RTI applicant. BJP MLA Sunil Kumar alleged that some activists were not allowing any government work to be carried out. 'They collect the information and share it with the Lokayukta. Even public work is not happening because of these RTI activists. We should make some rules,' he said, suggesting a limit for the number of applications a person can file.
