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Iraq’s PM: Burning of election warehouse, a plot against democracy

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Iraq’s PM: Burning of election warehouse, a plot against democracy

The controversy over Iraq’s parliamentary election results has deepened further after burning of a warehouse where ballot boxes were kept in Baghdad on Sunday. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose coalition stood third in the recent elections,hassaid that burning of the warehouse was part of a plot to sabotage the country’s democratic process.

According to Al-Jazeera, Prime Minister’s comments were the most high-profile indication that the fire in the Iraqi capital was deliberate.”Burning election warehouses … is a plot to harm the nation and its democracy. We will take all necessary measures and strike with an iron fist all who undermine the security of the nation and its citizens,” he added.

Prior to his remarks, Salim al-Jabouri, the outgoing parliament speaker said that the fire was intentional and called for a repeat of the election.

Read More: Iraq: Muqtada Sadr wins highest Parliament seats

The statement issued by Jabouri said, “The crime of burning ballot box storage warehouses in the Rusafa area is a deliberate act, a planned crime, aimed at hiding instances of fraud and manipulation of votes, lying to the Iraqi people and changing their will and choices.  We call for the election to be repeated.”

Iraq’s PM: Burning of election warehouse, a plot against democracy

He also called for those responsible to be brought to justice by the security forces.Jabouri has lost his seat in the recent elections.

Moreover, Kazem al-Shammari, a spokesman for the Sunni Wataniya alliance, which won 21 seats in the recent elections, was quoted  by London based al-Araby al-Jadeed, as saying that “there was no such incident in all previous election cycles, and the fire coincides with the decision to manually re-count the ballot boxes.This indicates a lot of manipulation and forgery, so the forgers sought to hide the crime by burning the boxes.”

Read More: Iraq audits EVMs, orders manual vote count

Adel Nouri, a member of the Iraqi Parliamentary Integrity Commission has also alleged that the ballot boxes were deliberately set on fire. He was quoted saying, “The criminals manipulated the results of the elections because they know that the results that were announced are not true, so they burned the ballot boxes.This crime is not an ordinary crime and not a passing incident, but a major crime and a great betrayal of the country.”

He called on al-Abadi and the responsible authorities to “open an urgent investigation to catch the perpetrators and determine the cause, so as to know who had committed this crime”.

After allegations of fraud during the May 12 elections parliament has passed a resolution for a recount of 11 million votes last week. The outgoing parliament also called for the Independent High Elections Commission’s leadership to be replaced by nine judges.

The cause of dubious fire accident was not immediately known but a local official said that boxes, part of a manual recount of votes from the al-Rusafa district in eastern Baghdad, had all been scorched.

Read More: Iraq votes for Parliament in first elections after IS defeat

Mohammed al-Rabeei, a Baghdad province council member, said,”I can tell you all the boxes and papers have burned,”

However, an interior ministry spokesman Major General SaadMaansaid that the fire had destroyed some documents and equipment but first responders on the site were trying to prevent it from spreading to ballot boxes.The warehouse is one of four at the site and contained documents and electronic equipment.

He further said, “It is possible there were also some ballot boxes in the warehouse that caught fire, but most of the important boxes are in the three warehouses where the fire has been controlled.”

Everybody was surprised when Muqtada Sadr ledSairoon coalition came first in last month’s vote, winning 54 out of 328 seats.The Conquest Alliance, led by former transport minister and secretary general of BadrOrganisationHadi al-Ameri, came in second with 47 seats while Victory Alliance, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi, could achieve the third place with 42 seats.

Former PM Nouri al-Maliki headed State of Law Coalition has won 26 seats, Nechervanbarezani led Kurdistan Democratic Party-25, Ammar al-Hakim led National wisdom Movement, also known as Al-Muwatin- 19, AyadAllawi led Iraqi National Accord (Al-Wataniya)- 22, KosratRasul Ali, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan got 18 and Usama al-Nujayfi could get 14 seats in the Iraqi parliament.

According to intelligence services, however, tests of electronic voting machines – used for the first time in Iraqi elections – produced varied results, appearing to give credence to the fraud claims.

Negotiations over the formation of a new government are expected to drag on for months as no alliance won the 165 seats required for an outright majority. In the past, similar talks lasted up to nine months.Until a new prime minister is elected, incumbent PM Haider al-Abadi will remain in office.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Farooq Abdullah accuses PM Modi of trying to divide the country over religion

Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

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Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference President said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to divide the country over religion. He also said that those who will vote for them must prepare for hell. Farooq Abdullah said Muslims cannot snatch away the rights of others.

Farooq Abdullah also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government a threat to the survival of the country. Omar Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister cautioned the people not to divide this country on the basis of religion, otherwise a storm will unleash making the survival of the nation difficult. He said it is better to talk about uniting the country, instead of dividing its people.

He was addressing an election rally in Thanamandi area of the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. The Anantnag parliamentary constituency will go for elections on May 25. Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

He remembered an incident when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once stopped his car in Pulwama and assured a poor Hindu woman that he would give her a mangalsutra as she could not afford it. Farooq Abdullah said those who were against the INDIA bloc are against the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier sparked a controversy last month as he commented that the Congress would take away the hard-earned money of the masses and distribute them among infiltrators and those with many children.  Speaking at a rally today, the Prime Minister took a jibe at the Congress and said the governments in the past were not able to implement the Indian Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir. He was referring to the revocation of Article 370.

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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah writes to PM Modi, urges home ministry to cancel diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna

CM Siddaramaiah wrote in the letter to PM Modi that he must be aware of the serious case of alleged sexual exploitation of a number of women by the sitting Hassan Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) and the NDA candidate, Prajwal Revanna, for the same constituency for the  ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he urged the Home Affairs Ministry to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna. Earlier a day before Revanna was suspended by JD(S) amid a row over explicit videos. Revanna is believed to have escaped to Germany shortly after the first phase of elections ended in Karnataka on April 26, in which he was JD(S)-BJP’s candidate from Hassan.

CM Siddaramaiah wrote in the letter to PM Modi that he must be aware of the serious case of alleged sexual exploitation of a number of women by the sitting Hassan Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) and the NDA candidate, Prajwal Revanna, for the same constituency for the  ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Karnataka Chief Minister wrote in letter that the Congress government in Karnataka has constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate the allegations against Revanna. The SIT is working day and night to investigate the allegations of crimes against several women by Prajwal Revanna and getting him back to the country is of utmost importance so that he faces investigation and trial as per the existing law of the land.

Siddaramaiah urged PM Modi to move the Home Ministry to take swift action to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna and appropriate action must be taken using diplomatic and police channels of the Government of India as well as international police agencies to ensure the swift return of the absconding member of parliament to face the existing law of the land.

Suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually assaulting multiple women, broke his silence on Wednesday and said that truth will prevail soon. In his first response since the controversy erupted, Prajwal Revanna said on X that he is not in Bengaluru currently and has communicated the same to CID.

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Amit Shah says BJP will neither remove reservation for SCs, STs and OBC, nor will allow Congress to do so

The Home Minister alleged that the Congress’ formula was to speak lies loudly, publicly and repetitively. He advised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak lies for a family as eventually he will have to take the blame for the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday continued to attack Congress over reservation row. He was addressing a rally in Katghora town of Chhattisgarh’s Korba district to campaign for Saroj Pandey, BJP candidate from the Korba Lok Sabha seat where Shah said BJP will neither remove reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, nor will it allow Congress to do so.

The Home Minister alleged that the Congress’ formula was to speak lies loudly, publicly and repetitively. He advised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak lies for a family as eventually he will have to take the blame for the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections. Shah accused Congress of nurturing terrorism and Naxalism to win the Lok Sabha elections.

Shah further added that Congress claims if Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji gets majority for the third term, he will scrap reservation. He said the grand old party has even circulated his fake video. Shah said that have been in power for the last 10 years and PM Modi did not remove reservation, nor will he do it in the future.

The Union Home Minister further asserted Modi ji used the majority to scrap Article 370 and triple talaq, construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and introduce the Citizenship Amendment Act. He further told the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi do not belong to anyone. He said on June 4 Congress will suffer defeat and the brother-sister duo will remain safe, but Kharge ji will be blamed.

Shah further asserted if PM Modi becomes the prime minister for the 3rd straight term, then Naxalism will be uprooted in two years in Chhattisgarh.  Shah targeted the previous Bhupesh Baghel-led government in Chhattisgarh and said, The Bhupesh Kakka government encouraged Naxalism, but after the BJP came to power in the state under CM Vishnu Deo Sai and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma 95 Naxalites have been eliminated in 4 months.

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