Karnataka poll date leak: EC sets up panel to probe
New Delhi: The Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat on Tuesday caught by surprise when he learnt during a news conference that a BJP leader had already made public the election dates in Karnataka, even before he could do it.
The CEC was yet to read out the poll schedule when reporters drew his attention to the tweet by the BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, who had already posted that Karnataka would go to polls on May 12.
The EC later constituted a committee of senior officers of the commission to investigate the matter and submit its report within seven days.
"Certain things may have leaked for which Election Commission will take appropriate action," he told reporters.
"It will be investigated. Be assured, legally and administratively befitting action would be taken," added Rawat, as several mediapersons repeatedly asked him for the commission's reaction to the unprecedented leak of the election dates.
"Karnataka will vote on 12 May 2018, counting on 18 May 2018," Malviya posted on Twitter at 11.08 am - almost 15 minutes before the CEC officially announced the schedule. He got the date of polling correct, but the date of counting wrong. The CEC said that the votes would be counted on May 15.
The BJP IT cell chief, however, deleted the tweet after it triggered a controversy.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
