MP: Digvijaya Singh moves HC over EVM after poll defeat; notice issued
Indore (PTI): The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notices to BJP leader Rodmal Nagar and the Election Commission (EC) seeking their responses on a petition challenging Nagar's election from the Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat.
The petition was filed by Congress' Digvijaya Singh, who lost to Nagar in his home constituency by a margin of 1.46 lakh votes. In his petition, the Rajya Sabha member has questioned the credibility of the system of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and urged the HC to declare the BJP leader's election void.
Justice Hirdesh of the Indore bench of the high court issued notices to the Election Commission and Nagar on Wednesday. The single bench then listed the matter for further hearing on September 17.
Singh’s petition said that following the directions of the Supreme Court on April 26, the EC had issued an administrative Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on June 1 for testing and verification of “burnt memory and microcontroller of EVMs”.
According to the petition, the SOP stated that a technical SOP would be issued separately for necessary compliance, but it has not been done so far, raising doubts over the “suitability” of the testing and verification process of EVMs.
The petition alleged that the EC did not comply with the relevant directions of the Supreme Court and defaulted in implementing them, which “affected the election result of Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency to a large extent”.
In his petition, Singh also questioned the maintenance of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) units and the process of inserting election symbols in their “flash memory”.
The petition claimed that no information is available about the “source” and “sanctity” of the applications or software used to insert election symbols in VVPAT units and the laptop or computer used for the purpose.
In his petition, Singh has urged the high court to declare Nagar’s election as the Lok Sabha MP of Rajgarh void. He has also sought information from the EC about the entire record of the elections held in this constituency as well as the hardware and software related to the EVM system.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
