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Karnataka Congress leader seeks Supreme Court judge-led probe into 19 lakh ‘missing’ EVMs

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Senior Karnataka Congress leader and MLA H.K. Patil called on Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri on Sunday and sought a probe into the issue of 19 lakh “missing” Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A delegation led by Patil submitted a memorandum to the Speaker, demanding that the probe has to be conducted by the Special Committee headed by a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Patil stated that he had submitted 2,750 pages of documents in this regard. The document comprised the RTI replies by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and issues that have been taken up by the courts.

Addressing press conference after submission of documents, Patil expressed his anger over inordinate delay in taking up petitions by the courts regarding election petitions and EVMs.

“There has been debate in the country and the issue is surrounded by too much of confusion. The ECI should organise ethical hackathon in Vidhana Soudha (Legislative Assembly),” Patil said.

“I have raised issues related to financial transactions that are taking place within the Election Commission. I have also discussed about voters being paid through digital platforms,” he asserted.

“In backdrop to this, we have urged to form a special committee headed by a Judge of the Supreme Court to look into the matter of 19 lakh missing voting machines. I have provided inputs of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) submitted by RTI activist Manoranjan Roy,” the Congress leader told the mediapersons.

“EVMs which are older than 15 years should not be used. There had been a committee report in 2007 on how to dispose old EVMs. From 2007 to 2018, for 12 years, the Election Commission turned a blind eye to this recommendation,” Patil said, adding that the Speaker should issue summons to the Election Commission and resolve this matter.

National News

‘Join TMC, Become Citizen’, Amit Malviya takes jibe at Trinamool, Bengal CM

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Kolkata, April 28: BJP’s Information Technology (IT) cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal Amit Malviya, on Monday, used an innovative cartoon with the tagline “Join TMC, Become Citizen” to accuse the West Bengal government and the ruling Trinamool Congress of making the state an open field for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Malviya has said the cartoon is in connection with the recent arrest of an illegal Bangladeshi infiltrator, Ahammed Hossain Azad, by the Enforcement Directorate officials. Investigation revealed that Azad was not residing in West Bengal illegally but was also involved in money laundering, as well as arranging fake Indian identity documents for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

In the cartoon, a portrait of a woman (arguably featuring West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is seen behind a counter with the hoarding — “Seva Kendra- One stop for every document”.

The counter window has three taglines, namely — “Welcome New Voters, Join TMC, Become Citizen”, “AADHAAR, Voter ID, Ration, Pan”, and “No document required, no question asked”.

The counter board contains an additional tagline — “Special Assistance available for Rohingyas & Bangladeshi”.

Since the beginning of the new year, there have been several incidents of arrests in connection with operations being conducted in the state. Those arrested were involved in arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Last month, Kolkata Police filed a charge sheet in the case of the forged passport scam at a lower court in Kolkata, where it was mentioned that of the 130 individuals mentioned in the document, 120 are Bangladeshi residents and the remaining are Indian nationals.

The main charges against the Bangladeshi nationals are that they paid huge money to secure fake Indian passports.

The charges against the accused Indian nationals are that they played the roles of facilitators for arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for these infiltrators.

Earlier, Kolkata Police arrested Abdul Hai, a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector of the city police. The details of Hai’s involvement in the matter were also mentioned in the charge sheet.

It contained details of Hai’s financial gain through these 52 police verification clearances, where he was the on-ground inquiry or verification officer.

The cops investigating the fake Indian identity document rackets have identified a specific pattern.

Any infiltrator illegally crossing over to the Indian territory contacts the local agents, and after showing willingness to pay out hefty amounts for getting fake Indian identity documents, is first provided with safe shelters in different villages adjacent to the borders with Bangladesh in the state, both land and coastal.

Thereafter, the agents arrange for fake ration cards for them, which is the first step for making other identity documents. By virtue of the fake ration cards, other identification documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhaar cards are acquired. The last step is getting fake passports based on these fake identity documents.

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Maharashtra

Nitish Rane only practices politics of hatred. Raees Sheikh criticizes Rane for controversial statement on buying from Hindu traders only and accuses him of spreading religious hatred.

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Mumbai: After Maharashtra Fisheries Development Minister Nitish Rane made a controversial statement on buying goods only from Hindu shopkeepers, Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East Raees Sheikh accused Rane of spreading religious hatred among communities. He also challenged Rane to tell who Syed Adil was, the man who was martyred while saving tourists in Kashmir. The Sheikh was referring to Rane’s controversial statement in which Rane had openly advised Hindus to ask about the religion of shopkeepers and buy commodities only from Hindu traders. If there is any doubt about the religion of the shopkeeper, they should be asked to recite Hanuman Chalisa, said Rane, who made the statement during a meeting in Dapoli in Ratnagiri district on Saturday, April 26.

MLA Raees Sheikh said, “The firing by Pakistani terrorists on tourists in Pahalgam on April 22, asking them about their religion, is condemnable. No Muslim in the country supports this cowardly attack. As Muslims, we stand in support of the actions against the country and Pakistan in this matter.” Sheikh added that a local Muslim, Syed Adil Hussain Shah, was martyred while fighting the terrorists and saving the tourists. “After the April 22 attack, local Muslims provided free taxis, food, and accommodation to the tourists, all these services were provided by local Muslims. Prayers are being offered for the deceased in every mosque and dargah of Jammu and Kashmir, then why is Minister Nitish Rane not talking about this?” MLA Sheikh asked. “Making meaningless inflammatory religious statements neither makes one a follower of religion nor a leader. There is no place for religious politics in India. Rane has forgotten his ministerial oath. Such statements are not supported even by his own party. Minister Rane should listen carefully to the speeches made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat,” the MLA advised Rane, adding that India is a secular country, Sheikh added, “Unlike Pakistan, we do not run the country on the basis of religion, so Minister Nitish Rane’s statement is equally condemnable. Nitish Rane’s business is to do politics of hatred, no one took his statement on halal meat seriously.”

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Maharashtra

A case of gang clash registered in Vakola. Attempt to spread rumors on social media failed, declared a conspiracy and rumor to give religious color.

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Mumbai: The attempt to give a Hindu-Muslim color to the group clash in Vakola Santa Cruz area of ​​Mumbai failed when the police registered a case of rioting in the case of group clash and started searching for the accused. According to the details, at 9:30 last night, Muslim youths were standing, at the same time, youths from another group were also standing here. A minor dispute arose between the two and this dispute took the form of violence, but an attempt has been made on social media to present this matter as a dispute over Hindu-Muslim Pahalgam and burning of the Pakistani flag, while the police have categorically denied it. The police have said that these youths often have small and petty disputes and this youth is also from the area. In such a situation, the police have made strict security arrangements as a precaution and the situation is completely under control.

According to the police, a group clash broke out over a minor issue, after which the situation is now under control, but tension remains, while there has been no Hindu-Muslim violence or conflict here, sectarian elements are trying to spoil the situation, which the police are keeping an eye on. The police said that a case of rioting has been registered after the group clash. The police have registered a case under sections 1889, 115, 191 of the BNS and the search for the accused is also underway. After registering the case, the police are now identifying the accused from the CCTV footage of the area and teams have been formed to arrest the accused. No case has been registered for the Pahalgam terrorist attack or the burning of the Pakistani flag, nor was it a case of this nature, but by giving it a religious color, sectarians in Vakola had spread such a rumor on social media to spoil the atmosphere, which the police have foiled. Advocate Yash Mishra has gone viral on social media in which the violence has been described as the opposition of Muslim youth to the protest of Hindu organizations against the Pahalgam terrorist attack and the accusation of rioting and violence in opposition to the burning of the Pakistani flag. The same police has called it completely false and a rumor.

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