Latest news with #Sarode
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Adv Asim Sarode opposes reusing assembly voter lists in local polls
Written by Shubham Kurale Advocates Asim Sarode and Shriya Awale have raised concerns about the state government's plan to reuse voter lists from last year's legislative assembly elections for the upcoming local body elections, calling the decision a continuation of 'corrupt electoral practices'. The concern was raised when the State Election Commission (SEC) requested to use the same voter lists that were employed during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. 'These lists have already been questioned in multiple court cases, with documentary evidence suggesting irregularities. Using the same voter lists would be repeating a corrupt experiment that relies on bogus voter information,' said Sarode. 'While the SEC handles the local body elections, they are required by law to use the final electoral roll prepared by the Central Election Commission. The scale of legal challenges to last year's state assembly election is unprecedented. Out of 288 assembly constituencies, around 100 seats have had their results challenged in the High Court through election petitions,' added Sarode. Moreover, a discrepancy in voter registration numbers was alleged during the press conference. 'The state had 9.73 crore registered voters in the 2024 legislative assembly elections, while the voter registration that followed was 9.80 crore. So if the old list is used, as many as 7 lakh new voters will be deprived of exercising their right to vote,' said Awale. The advocates alleged that the election officials were instructed to bypass the legally mandated procedures mentioned under the Voters Registration Rules of 1960 about adding or removing names from voter lists, compromising the transparency. 'Maintaining the same voter lists in the upcoming local body elections in which they were changed or prepared in such an opaque manner is a fraud on honest citizens in broad daylight. It would be a betrayal of the Constitution,' added Sarode. (The author is an intern at The Indian Express)
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Rs2,300 Crore in Pending Bills Stall Key Projects Across Nagpur Circle
Nagpur: Several key undertaken by the (PWD) in the Nagpur circle have come to a standstill due to the non-clearance of bills amounting to Rs2,300 crore. The has claimed that the state government has not cleared bills for the last two years, pushing contractors into severe financial distress."Currently, the stand at around Rs2,325 crore in the Nagpur circle, comprising Nagpur, Gondia, and Bhandara districts. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Contractors are suffering, as many have taken huge loans to complete these projects. With funds not being released, their debt continues to mount," Subodh Sarode, president of the Nagpur Contractors' Association, told to data shared by the association, Nagpur district alone has pending bills amounting to Rs1,525 crore, including Rs1,174 crore related to works on roads, bridges, and road-over-bridges (RoBs) under various categories. Gondia district has a pendency of Rs501 crore, while Bhandara district's dues stand at Rs298 February this year, contractors went on a statewide strike over pending payments, following which the government released some funds in March. However, the association claims the release was inadequate. "The government released only about 8% to 10% of the total pending dues, and some contractors haven't received a single rupee. Although we have put the protest on hold, the situation remains grim," Sarode said."Contractors are only working on projects that would suffer further losses if delayed by the rains. While the government continues to approve new projects, it must first clear the old dues. Otherwise, new contractors will also get caught in the same debt trap," he attempted to reach PWD's superintending engineer Janardhan Bhanuse, for comment, but he was unavailable. However, several senior PWD officials confirmed that pending bills have affected many projects."The situation is serious. The government must clear the backlog to ensure the timely completion of projects. It should also consider pausing new project approvals until the existing pendency is resolved," said a senior PWD official, adding that even banks involved in the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) projects are now exposed to financial risk.
