Highly irresponsible: India slams Pak Army chief Asim Munir's nuke threat
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Hans India
6 minutes ago
- Hans India
SC orders EVM recount, overturns Sarpanch election in Panipat
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has overturned the election of the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Buana Lakhu in Haryana's Panipat district after a court-monitored recount found the appellant securing the highest number of votes. A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and N.K. Singh ordered the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Election Officer, Panipat, to issue a notification within two days declaring the appellant, Mohit Kumar, elected, and allowing him to assume office immediately. The election for the Sarpanch's post was held on November 2, 2022, in which the respondent, Kuldeep Singh, was declared elected. Mohit Kumar challenged the result before the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division)- cum-Election Tribunal, which, on April 22, 2025, found grounds for recounting the votes at a booth. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned that decision on July 1, prompting Mohit Kumar to appeal to the apex court. In an order passed on July 31, the Justice Kant-led Bench directed the District Election Officer to produce all the EVMs before the Registrar of the Supreme Court. "The nominated Registrar shall recount the votes, not only of the disputed booth but of all the booths. The recounting shall be duly video-graphed. [T]he recount result shall be duly signed by the learned Registrar, the petitioner and the respondent no.1 or their authorised representative as well as the learned assisting counsel," it ordered. Pursuant to the top court's directive, the OSD (Registrar) recounted the votes from all booths, with the final tally showing Mohit Kumar securing 1,051 votes against Kuldeep Singh's 1,000. Accepting the recount, the Justice Surya Kant-Bench observed: "There being prima facie no reason to doubt the Report submitted by the OSD (Registrar) of this Court, especially when the entire recounting has been duly videographed and its result is signed by the representatives of the parties, we are satisfied that the appellant deserves to be declared as the elected Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Buana Lakhu Village, District Panipat, Haryana." However, in the interest of justice, the apex court allowed the parties to agitate the issues, if any, left to be adjudicated by the Election Tribunal, saying that "the Election Tribunal… shall accept the Report of the OSD (Registrar) of this Court as the final and conclusive report so far as the result of recounting of votes is concerned." It clarified that the direction to declare the appellant as the elected Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Buana Lakhu in Panipat would remain subject to the final judgment of the Election Tribunal. Disposing of the appeal along with all pending applications, the Supreme Court set aside the impugned Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment, as the recounting of votes had been completed following its order.
The Hindu
6 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Rahul Gandhi has tea with 'dead' voters from Bihar, thanks ECI for experience
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (August 13, 2025) said he had a unique experience of having tea with some "dead" voters from Bihar and thanked the Election Commission (EC) for it. A group of seven voters from Bihar met the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha at his residence and shared their experience of how they were declared "dead" by the EC and their names removed from the electoral rolls. "There have been many interesting experiences in life, but I never got the chance to have tea with 'dead people'. For this unique experience, thank you Election Commission!" Mr. Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. He also shared a video of his meeting with the "dead" voters. In it, Mr. Gandhi is heard telling them to move around and see Delhi as the "dead" cannot even be charged tickets. In the video, some of them told Mr. Gandhi that they came to know that they were "declared dead" by the EC during the special intensive revision (SIR), and were among the 65 lakh voters whose names have been removed from the electoral rolls of poll-bound Bihar. The group also told Mr. Gandhi that they appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday to get their voting rights back. The apex court is hearing petitions against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. In a statement, the party later said that seven voters from Bihar, all very much alive, shared tea with Rahul Gandhi today, even as the Election Commission's SIR list had them as "dead". Ramikbal Ray, Harendra Ray, Lalmuni Devi, Vachiya Devi, Lalwati Devi, Punam Kumari, and Munna Kumar all belong to Tejashwi Yadav's constituency, Raghopur. "They have been removed from the electoral rolls despite having completed the requisite paperwork for the SIR. "The Election Commission has not openly published lists of the people whom it has declared dead, migrated, etc. Our teams on the ground were able to identify these people only because they managed to informally get EC's internal report in two to three polling booths," the Congress said. These seven represent only a fraction of "unjustly" deleted voters in two to three polling booths in the constituency, it added. "This is not a clerical error — it is political disenfranchisement in plain sight. "After 'Vote Chori' was exposed in Bengaluru, it is clear that the Bihar SIR exercise is also compromised. When the living are struck off as dead, the death certificate is issued to democracy itself," the Congress said.
The Hindu
6 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Rahul tells Pune court he might face harm from followers of Savarkar and Godse
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has told a Pune court hearing a defamation case against him that he could face harm from the followers of the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Nathuram Godse, and providing "preventive protection" is the state's constitutional obligation. Mr. Gandhi, who is facing a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, claimed in an application before the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs in Pune. The case, the trial of which is yet to start, pertains to certain comments allegedly made by Mr. Gandhi against V.D. Savarkar, freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue. The application — filed before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde by Gandhi's lawyer Adv Milind Pawar — said that complainant Satyaki Savarkar had admitted that he is also a direct descendant, through maternal lineage, of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Gandhi is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and recently held a press conference in New Delhi, placing before the nation evidence of electoral fraud by the Election Commission, the application said. He also staged a protest in the Parliament premises, raising slogans such as "vote chor sarkar." "Furthermore, during the parliamentary debate on the subject of Hindutva, there was a heated exchange between the Prime Minister and Shri Rahul Gandhi, a matter well known to the public. Against this backdrop, there is little doubt that the complainant, his great-grandfathers (the Godses), those connected with the ideology of Vinayak Savarkar, and some followers of Savarkar who are presently in power, may harbor hostility or resentment towards Gandhi," the application said. "In light of the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant's lineage, and considering the prevailing political climate, there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting by persons subscribing to the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar," the application stated. Given the historical record of political violence linked to extremist factions and the complainant's political-ideological heritage, coupled with the present climate of heightened hostility, the apprehension is neither vague nor unfounded, it said, adding, "In such circumstances, preventive protection is not only prudent but is a constitutional obligation upon the state." Advocate Pawar said this 'Pursis' or application was submitted as a precautionary measure with the objective of 'legally safeguarding the fairness, integrity, and transparency of the present proceedings.' "It cannot be ruled out that certain persons inspired by the unconstitutional ideology and views of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, and possessing the same dangerous mindset as Nathuram and Gopal Godse, may pose a threat to Gandhi's life," the lawyer said. The court has already granted bail to Mr. Gandhi in the case. Reacting to the plea, Mr. Satyaki Savarkar said it was frivolous and filed with the intention of delaying the trial. "The facts mentioned in the application by Mr. Gandhi have nothing to do with the present case," he told reporters. Mr. Satyaki Savarkar has filed a complaint against Mr. Gandhi, alleging that in a speech made in London in March 2023, the Congress leader claimed that V.D. Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy. Mr. Satyaki Savarkar said no such incident ever took place, and that V.D. Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere.
