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Uttar Pradesh civic polls: BJP was ahead of rival parties, BUT…

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Uttar Pradesh civic polls: BJP indeed was a clear winner, but...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the noise about BJP ‘sweeping’ the Uttar Pradesh civic body elections on Friday, some aspects got overlooked in the initial reports. Elections to local bodies seldom evoke such interest, but since the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the party leadership right up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi attached such significance to them, a relook at the polls would be in order.

The first is about the questions raised about the genuineness of the results: the issue of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and whether they had been tampered with. Notably, over 500 EVMs out of more than 30,000 deployed in UP civic polls had to be replaced.

While this issue has been raised by political opponents as well, their complaint cannot be dismissed simply as case of sour grapes, as the BJP alleges.

Mayawati has challenged the BJP and said her party would sweep the 2019 Lok Sabha polls if voting is done on ballot papers. “If BJP is honest and believes in democracy then discard EVMs and conduct voting on ballot papers. General Elections are due in 2019. If BJP believes people are with them, they must implement it. I can guarantee if ballot papers are used, BJP won’t come to power,” the BSP chief told mediapersons on Saturday.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also said that the BJP had performed well only on seats where EVMs were used for polling. “BJP has only won 15% seats in ballot paper areas and 46% in EVM areas,” Yadav said. He did not elaborate or provide data for his claim, though.

There were at least two specific instances which lend strength to doubts over EVMs.

Apoorva Verma, the Samajwadi Party candidate from Janakipuram alleged that EVMs were tampered with and, earlier, an independent candidate from Saharnapur, Shabana, had levelled the same charge.

Apoorva Verma said, “Har pratyashi, chahe wo BSP se ho ye Congress se ho ya SP se ho ya AAP se ho, ka ek hi mat hai ki ye chunaav radd kiya jaye aur phir se ho (Every candidate (non-BJP), wishes for cancellation of this election (UP civic polls) and everyone in unison is demading for a re-election).”

In a video doing rounds in the social media, she claims that even her vote wasn’t registered as she has got zero votes. “No impartial election is being conducted, all the elections are being orchestrated to help the BJP win,” she says.

Earlier, an independent candidate from Saharanpur, Shabana had protested: “At least my family had voted for me, how can I get zero votes?” Her husband had added, “Where did my vote vanish?”

“We at least had three votes from our family, but we must at least have had 900 votes,” claimed her husband in the video posted by an Aaj Tak journalist. “EVM me sarasar gadbadi hai,” he added.

BJP’s political rivals are not the only ones complaining. Voters, too, complained. A friend from Lucknow also said he voted Congress BJP but it went to BJP. “Same thing happened to votes cast by others in the family,” he added.

He said the EVMs had no VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) facility, although he had doubts about that, too. “It is only a matter of programming. The paper trail can be programmed to print the correct vote while the vote registered electronically can be different,” he said.

Besides, he pointed out, there were reports that the paper trail from EVMs in Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections was such that the print tended to fade away after some days. That would render a recount later infructuous.

A report in thewire.in said the BJP won the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation seat where polling was conducted through EVM machines, but it suffered heavy losses in rural and semi urban seats where elections were conducted via ballot papers.

In seven districts adjoining Ayodhya, most BJP candidates lost the local elections, the report said. Out of 33 municipal board seats in rural and semi-urban areas of Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Gonda, Balrampur,  Bahraich and Sultanpur districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won only 6 seats. The Samajwadi Party managed to win 12 seats, the BSP 5 seats, the Congress 3 seats while independents won 7 seats.

In Faizabad, Bahraich and Balrampur districts, the BJP could not manage to open its account.

“The popularity of the BJP government … could not help the party’s candidates in the rural and semi urban seats of Faizabad despite the presence of BJP MLAs from in those areas,” said the report.

In fact, APN had reported complaints about malfunctioning of EVMs from several places in the very first phase of polls on November 22. There were also complaints about entire localities missing from the voters’ list.

Complaints about such rigging part, there are certain aspects about the results that missed the eye. The easy, quick look figure was BJP winning 14 out of 16 mayor posts – in a four-way contest. Other statistics are not so rosy for the party:

  • Of the 1,300 municipal corporation posts, the BJP won 596: less than half (45.85%).
  • It won 70 out of 198 nagar palika parishad chairman posts – a little more than one-third. (35.35%).
  • The BJP got less that one-fourth of nagar panchayat chairperson posts, winning 100 out of 438 (22.83%).

True, the BJP was ahead of all its rivals:

The SP won 202 corporation wards, 45 nagar palika parishad chairperson seats and 83 nagar panchayat chairperson posts.

The BSP won two mayor posts, 147 municipal corporation wards, 29 nagar palika parishad chairperson posts, and 45 nagar panchayat chairperson posts.

The Congress won 110 municipal corporation wards, 9 nagar palika parishad chairperson posts, 17 nagar panchayat chairperson posts.

Independents did well: The independent candidates combined won the highest number of Nagar Panchayat chairman seats, 184 and Nagar Panchayat members, 3875.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Bengaluru techie suicide: Husband, in-laws treated me like a beast, says wife in 2022 dowry harassment complaint

In the 2022 complaint, Nikita alleged that her in-laws started torturing her physically and mentally for dowry. 

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Bengaluru techie suicide: Husband, in-laws treated me like a beast, says wife in 2022 dowry harassment complaint

Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash’s suicide has sent shockwaves accross the nation. Amid this, details have emerged of his wife’s 2022 police complaint alleging harassment and assault for dowry. 

In her complaint filed on April 24, 2022 in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur, Nikita Singhania alleged that her husband Atul Subhash used to beat her up and started treating the husband-wife relationship like a beast. She mentioned her husband, his parents and brother-in-law as accused. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged under the provision of Dowry Prohibition Act. 

In the 2022 complaint, Nikita alleged that after her marriage, her husband and in-laws demanded Rs 10 lakh as they were not satisfied with what her parents gave them. She further alleged that her in-laws started torturing her physically and mentally for dowry. 

She added that despite sharing her ordeal with her parents, they advised her to listen and keep living with it. Nonetheless, she said that the situation did not improve, and her husband started to threaten and beat her. She claimed that her husband started to beat her after drinking alcohol and started treating the husband-wife relationship with her like a beast. She further asserted that her husband used to transfer her entire salary from her account to his by threatening her. 

Nikita further claimed that repeated harassment by her in-laws led to the deterioration of her father’s health, who died on August 17, 2019, due to a stroke.Nikita Singhania, who is from Jaunpur, got married to Atul Subhash, a Bihar native from 2019. They lived in Bengaluru and used to work there. 

Atul Subhash, who worked for a private firm in Bengaluru, died by suicide on Monday, alleging harassment by his wife and her family members. Subhash left behind a 24-page suicide note detailing emotional distress from marital issues and multiple cases filed against him by his wife.

Following, a case of abetment of suicide has been registered against Nikita and her family members. In the suicide note, Subhash mentioned that Nikita’s claim of her father passing away due to shock after his family demanded a dowry of Rs 10 lakh was false. He also alleged that Nikita’s father died due to a heart-related ailment.

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Delhi Elections: Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP delegation meets EC over voter deletion issue, submits proof

The former Deputy Chief Minister further claimed that a large number of applications have been made to delete voters’ names from the electoral rolls, including those of people who have been living in the same area for years.

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Delhi Elections: Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP delegation meets EC over voter deletion issue, submits proof

Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party delegation on Wednesday met the Election Commission to present evidence on the alleged deletion of voters’ names in the electoral rolls ahead of the Delhi assembly elections.

Speaking to the media, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that  today they met the Election Commission and submitted before them 3000-page evidence on how BJP is conspiring to cut votes of people of the national capital. He added that votes of the poor, SC and Dalits are being cut. 

The former Delhi Chief Minister stated that they told EC how a BJP member did the work of cutting the votes of 11,000 people in the Shahdara area. He mentioned that they have requested the EC to stop this mass deletion of names before elections and FIRs be registered against those who have applied mass deletion of names. The Election Commission has said that no mass deletions will be done before elections, he continued.

Arvind Kejriwal also mentioned that in cases of voter deletions, a field inquiry will be carried out by the Booth Level Officer (BLO), accompanied by representatives from various political parties.

Earlier on Wednesday, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia at a press conference alleged that the BJP had submitted a large number of applications for the deletion of voters names from the electoral rolls.

The Senior AAP leader said that when it has become impossible for the BJP to defeat AAP in Delhi, and when it has become impossible to stop Arvind Kejriwal, they are trying to defeat AAP by cutting votes. 

The former Deputy Chief Minister further claimed that a large number of applications have been made to delete voters’ names from the electoral rolls, including those of people who have been living in the same area for years.

The AAP,  which is aiming for a third consecutive term, has accused the BJP of attempting to manipulate the voter rolls to influence the elections.

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No-confidence motion: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge says Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar a government spokesperson

The Congress Chief explained that the INDIA bloc was compelled to bring the no-confidence resolution due to the prevailing circumstances.

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Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday launched a scathing attack at Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, calling him the biggest government spokesperson. The Congress President said that the biggest reason for disruptions in the Rajya Sabha is the Chairman itself. 

Recently, the INDIA alliance has submitted a notice to bring a motion in Rajya Sabha for the removal of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Speaking about the opposition parties’ motion, Mallikarjun Kharge pointed out that no resolution had been brought to remove the Vice President since 1952 as the person occupying the post were unbiased and beyond politics and always ran the House as per the rules. However, today, there is more politics than rules in the House, he continued.

He further claimed that the Rajya Sabha Chairman does schooling like a headmaster.  He maintained that from the opposition side, whenever important issues are raised, as per rules the Chairman does not allow the House to have the discussion in a planned way. He mentioned that time and again opposition leaders are stopped from speaking.

Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Vice President Dhankhar’s fidelity was towards the ruling BJP instead of the Constitution and consitutional tradition.

He added that the Chairman is also working as a spokesperson of the government for his next promotion. He also asserted that he has no hesitation in saying that the biggest disruptor in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself.

He also claimed that the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s actions had damaged the dignity of the country. The Congress Chief explained that the INDIA bloc was compelled to bring the no-confidence resolution due to the prevailing circumstances.

He concluded that the Opposition have no personal enmity or political fight with him, but want to tell the countrymen that they have taken this step to safeguard democracy, the Constitution, and after giving it a lot of thought.

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