EC to hold press conference on August 17 amid allegations of voter fraud
New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) will hold a press conference on Sunday, August 17, at 3 pm at the National Media Centre in New Delhi. This comes at a time when the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is beginning its ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, reported the Deccan Herald.
The poll body also criticized the opposition parties over inaccuracies in the voters’ lists, stating that had they raised the issues earlier, they could have been resolved much sooner.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, will address the media. They are expected to speak about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar and the opposition’s allegations that the EC is working with the BJP to ‘steal’ votes. Normally, the EC holds press conferences only to announce election schedules.
In a statement, the EC said that political parties should have raised objections to errors in the voters list during the “Claims and Objections” period that follows the publication of draft lists.
The Commission added that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), usually Sub Divisional Magistrates, and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are responsible for preparing accurate rolls, and errors could have been corrected earlier if pointed out at the right time.
“It appears that certain political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) failed to review the electoral rolls in time and did not highlight any errors, if present, to the SDMs/EROs, DEOs, or CEOs. Only recently have some parties and individuals raised concerns about mistakes in the rolls, including those prepared in earlier elections. If such issues had been brought up at the proper time through the proper channels, the concerned SDMs/EROs could have rectified the errors, if genuine, well before those elections,” it stated.
The EC stated that India’s election system for Parliament and Assembly polls is a “multi-layered, decentralised framework” as laid down by law. Electoral rolls are prepared and finalised by the EROs with the assistance of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are entrusted with ensuring the accuracy of the voters’ lists.
It noted that draft electoral rolls are shared with political parties and uploaded on the EC website, with a month’s window given for filing claims and objections. Once the final voters’ list is published, both digital and physical copies are again provided to all parties and made available online, along with a two-tier appeal mechanism. “Utmost transparency is the hallmark of electoral roll preparation in accordance with the law, rules, and guidelines,” it added.
The EC and the Opposition have been at loggerheads over the conduct of elections for some time, a dispute that has risen with the announcement of the SIR in Bihar, which is slated to be expanded nationwide in the coming months.
Allegations of vote theft in the Lok Sabha elections were also raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who, along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, is set to lead the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ while simultaneously questioning the credibility of Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The issue has gained attention after the Supreme Court asked the EC to provide details of around 65 lakh voters whose names were removed from the draft rolls prepared after the SIR, along with the reasons for the deletions.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, will lead the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar. The 1,300 km march will cover 22 districts between August 17 and September 1.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the opposition would continue to oppose what it sees as the EC’s bias. He called the yatra a “historic march” aimed at protecting voting rights. CPI(ML)L General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also criticised the EC, saying earlier claims about detecting large numbers of illegal immigrants on voter rolls had turned out to be false, with only three such cases reported in Parliament.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
