'Operation Mahadev': Special plane flew guns overnight to CFSL, Chandigarh, for confirmatory ballistic tests
After three terrorists were killed in 'Operation Mahadev' on Monday, the security establishment did not stop at simply getting them identified by family members of the two locals who had provided them food and shelter at their seasonal 'dhok (hut)' near Baisaran, a day before the Pahalgam attack.
Amit Shah directed the adoption of a more scientific route - a ballistic test at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, to match the weapons recovered from the slain terrorists with the cartridge casings recovered from the Pahalgam attack site.
The latter had been tested earlier at the same lab.
The weapons - an M-4 carbine and two AK-47s - were flown from Srinagar to Chandigarh on the special plane on Monday-Tuesday night. Forensic/ballistic experts at CFSL burnt the midnight oil, conducting test firings and generating empty shells for comparison. "The grooves and the markings from the barrels and shells matched perfectly... Six forensic experts confirmed to me on video call at 4.46am on Tuesday that these were the same rifles used in killing our innocent citizens (in Pahalgam)," Shah shared in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Amit Shah to lay foundation stone for Maa Sita Temple in Bihar's Sitamarhi on Friday
Patna: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lay foundation stone for the Maa Sita temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi, Bihar on Friday. Home minister Amit Shah reviewed will visit Bihar on Friday.(PTI) In a post on X, Shah said, 'Tomorrow is an extremely auspicious and joyous day for the entire country, and especially for Mithilanchal, when the foundation stone for the comprehensive development plan of the sacred 'Punaura Dham Temple' and its premises will be laid at the birthplace of Mother Sita in Sitamarhi, Bihar' "Additionally, to enhance connectivity for the devotees visiting here, PM Shri @narendramodi ji has approved the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Train, which will be inaugurated tomorrow," the post added. Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Chirag Paswan have hailed the scheduled foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Maa Janaki Temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, terming it as "historic." The State will face Assembly elections later in the year. Speaking to reporters, Singh said, "Last year on the land of Sitamarhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that as the Ram temple has been constructed, now the temple of Sita Mata will be built. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar will perform the Bhoomi Pujan of the temple. This is historic." Paswan also welcomed the move and lauded the upcoming foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Maa Janaki Temple at Punaura Dham in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, describing the initiative as a fulfilment of a long-cherished dream and a key step towards boosting religious tourism in the state. "It has been a wish of every Bihari for a long resolved to fulfil this dream of ours through 'Bihar First, Bihari First' and every other available platform. I have always expressed the desire for a grand temple of Mata Sita to be built," Paswan told reporters. Paswan said that the project will boost Bihar's economic development through religious tourism, citing Uttar Pradesh's experience with the Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya, He said, "It will also boost Bihar's economic development. I have said this many times that there are unlimited opportunities for religious tourism in is one such example. After the construction of the Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya, the whole region became self-reliant. I believe it is a historic step to increase the revenue generation in Bihar." Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal said, "...The people of Bihar and Mithila residents were waiting for this historic moment to come. That day is coming tomorrow. It is a very historic moment, I am thrilled. People from every household in Mithila are gathering here to witness this historic moment...I thank the CM Nitish Kumar and Union HM Amit Shah, for giving us the opportunity to witness this occasion..." While the NDA, comprising the BJP, JD(U), and LJP, will once again seek to continue its stint in Bihar, the INDIA bloc, comprising the RJD, Congress, and left parties, will aim to unseat Nitish Kumar. In the current Bihar Assembly, comprising 243 members, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) consists of 131 members, with the BJP having 80 MLAs, JD(U) having 45, HAM(S) having 4, and the support of 2 Independent Candidates. The Opposition's INDIA Bloc comprises 111 members, with the RJD leading with 77 MLAs, followed by Congress with 19, CPI(ML) with 11, CPI(M) with 2, and CPI with 2. (ANI)
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Over 100K votes ‘stolen': Rahul; EC demands signed declaration
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made a presentation that he claimed proved there were 100,250 'stolen' votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bangalore (Central) Parliamentary constituency that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the seat in 2024, accusing the Election Commission of India of 'colluding' with the ruling party. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo) His presentation, which also included names of the voters involved, prompted an immediate reaction from the Election Commission, which asked him to send a signed declaration and oath to the effect. Claiming that a team of 40 people spent six months going through the physical electoral rolls given by the Commission that were seven feet thick in all, and presented in a non machine-readable format, Gandhi provided a break-up of the 'stolen' votes: 11, 965 duplicate voters, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid address, 10,452 voters who were part of groups of 60 or 70 voters with the same address; 4,132 voters with invalid photos; and 3, 692 voters who used Form 6. The last is primarily meant for new and first-time voters who do not find their names on the rolls, but Gandhi claimed many of those using this form were 95, 96, and 98 years old. In 2024, the BJP won the Bangalore Central seat by 32,707 votes. Gandhi claimed that while in all other assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress maintained a lead, it lost the seat as the BJP managed a lead of 114,000 votes in Mahadevapura segment. Gandhi lashed out at the apex poll body and said, 'EC was colluding with the BJP to steal elections. In one assembly segment, 100,250-vote theft took place. This is the reason why EC doesn't give us data machine-readable data.' The presentation came ahead of the Congress' rally on the issue in Karnataka. Gandhi claimed that the BJP won the 2024 election narrowly. The Prime Minister is the PM with a slender majority and needed to 'steal' only 25 seats to stay in power, he added. The BJP won 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to the opposition INDIA bloc's 234; it formed the government with the support of its allies such as the Janata Dal (United), Telugu Desam Party, and Shiv Sena. While his press conference was on, the chief electoral officer in Karnataka sent a letter to Gandhi and sought his signed declaration and oath on the data. Gandhi retorted, 'I am a politician. What I say to people is my word. Take it as an oath. EC is not denying the data. They are saying, will you say this under oath.' Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, says, 'If any person makes in connection with— (a) the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll, or (b) the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from an electoral roll, a statement or declaration in writing which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.' The BJP hit out at Gandhi, accusing him of making 'irresponsible and shameless comments' and attacking the constitutional institutions under a larger conspiracy against India's democracy and Constitution. 'The ideologically hollow Congress party is systematically attacking constitutional institutions. It cannot be ruled out that there is a larger conspiracy against India's democracy and Constitution behind this calculated deceit,' Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a post on X. Former Union minister and senior BJP lawmaker Ravi Shankar Prasad said the former Congress chief has crossed all limits of 'shamelessness' by calling EC a fraud. 'He is making embarrassing comments against a constitutional body. We condemn it. This is Rahul Gandhi's anger as the public of the nation does not vote for him,' he told reporters. 'Rahul Gandhi has crossed all limits of Modi has been winning elections since 2014, and he claims that the results were fraudulent. What do you mean by it? You are disrespecting the public of the nation.' In the course of a 72-minute presentation, Gandhi claimed his party's analysis had unearthed four ways in which votes were being stolen. One, he claimed, there were people who were enrolled in multiple booths. In Mahadevapura, according to his presentation, a man named Gurkeerat Singh Dang was enrolled in four different polling booths. Gandhi claimed there were similar instances in other constituencies in the state and in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Two, Gandhi claimed, people used fake addresses. His presentation highlighted 40,000 cases where he said fake addresses were given: either the house number did not exist or the house number is not given at all. Three, he claimed, there were too many voters living in the same house. His presentation showed that in booth number 470, 80 people lived in house number 45 and in booth 366, 46 voters shared same address in a house numbered 791. '68 voters were in a brewery: 'House no.153 beer club',' Gandhi quipped. Finally, he claimed, there was a misuse of Form 6. Soon after Gandhi's allegations, the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana asked the Congress leader to share names of electors he claimed were 'wrong' in the voters' list along with a signed declaration for poll authorities to initiate 'necessary proceedings' in the matter. The Karnataka CEO in a letter to Gandhi said: 'You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated.' In largely similar worded letters, the Maharashtra and Haryana CEOs told Gandhi that his party did not file any appeal or second appeal before poll authorities claiming flaws in the voters' list. Responding to Gandhi's claim about duplicate voter entries across states, the CEO of Uttar Pradesh said that names flagged by the Congress leader were not found in the state's electoral rolls. '...we searched for the names of Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh on the CEO said in a statement, adding that while both names appear in the Mahadevpura assembly seat of Bangalore Urban, 'the names of the above voters are not mentioned in Legislative Assembly 173 Lucknow East and Legislative Assembly 390 Varanasi Cantt of Uttar Pradesh.' The Congress' claims are set to escalate the tussle between the Opposition and EC amid the controversy surrounding the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter list in poll-bound Bihar. The Congress leader hinted that the party might take the issue to the Supreme Court. He also threatened that EC officials will not be spared if the Opposition comes to power. 'We are saying, if the EC now doesn't give us electronic voter data of last 10-15 years, they are partaking in the crime.' 'I think judiciary needs to get involved with this,' Gandhi added. Condemning Gandhi's remarks, BJP lawmaker Sambit Patra accused him of 'selective outrage' over his recent allegations against EC. 'Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party never did any press conference on those states where they won the public of the nation is seeing this selective the Election Commission of India is compromised, as he says, then how can they celebrate their victory on 99 seats in the Lok Sabha is the peak of Rahul Gandhi's frustration,' Patra told reporters. BJP MP from Bangalore Central PC Mohan termed Gandhi's allegations 'just another drama'. 'Rahul Gandhi drops an atom bomb of allegations, but still can't produce a single explosive proof. If 100,250 votes were stolen in Mahadevapura, why wasn't a case filed in court within 45 days instead of holding a press conference one year later?' he said on X. (With inputs from Vrinda Tulsian and Smriti Kak Ramachandran)
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Lone candidate in fray? SC weighs NOTA option
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine a proposal to make 'none of the above (NOTA)' choice available to voters even when a single candidate is in the fray to enable them to express their approval of him/her, and countermand the elections if NOTA votes exceed votes polled by the candidate. Despite Centre and EC terming NOTA, put in place based on SC's 2013 judgment, a failed idea for the poor response it received from voters, a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh said, "It is an interesting question. It is true that elections in India are keenly contested. But imagine a situation where the voters do not want the single candidate in the fray, who would otherwise be elected unopposed, to be their representative in the assembly or Lok Sabha?" Justice Kant added, "If there is resentment among voters against the single candidate, then the voters will come out in numbers and choose NOTA. If NOTA votes exceed the votes garnered by the single candidate in the fray, then what should be done? This may be academic, but a very interesting question which may require judicial deliberation." Attorney general R Venkataramani said it was purely a non-plausible concept in the Indian context. For EC, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said NOTA had never impacted an election since its inception. Every winning candidate has so far got higher votes than NOTA even though some of the losing candidates had secured less than NOTA votes, he said. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 Most Beautiful Female Athletes in the World Click Here Undo by Taboola by Taboola However, he said EC would scrupulously conduct elections as mandated by law and the orders of the SC. Additional solicitor general S D Sanjay asked the bench what would happen if an election was countermanded because of NOTA getting more votes than the single candidate in the fray, and a similar situation emerged in the fresh election. Responding to a PIL on the issue filed by 'Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy', EC in its affidavit said candidates getting elected unopposed from a Lok Sabha constituency was very rare. Since 1991, there has been only one such instance, Dwivedi said. "Since 1971 till today, that is in the last 54 years, there have been six uncontested elections in total. In the 20 general elections since 1951, there have been only nine uncontested elections," he added. "Treating NOTA as a mandatorily contesting candidate in all direct uncontested elections does not find place in the statute and the same would require legislative amendments in the provisions of Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961," EC said.
