Polls will be held through ballot papers in Rajgarh if 400 persons file nominations: Digvijaya Singh
Agar Malwa, Mar 31: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who is contesting from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, on Sunday said he was making efforts to get 400 people to file nominations so that polls will be held through ballot paper.
He said this after asking people during a corner meeting in Kachnariya village in Susner if they wanted elections to be held through EVMs or ballot papers.
Responding to the crowd shouting ballot paper, Singh said, "There is only one way for this (election through ballot paper). If 400 candidates fill nomination forms. I am preparing for this. Candidates in the general category will have to submit security deposit of Rs 25,000, while those in reserved categories will have to give deposit of Rs 12.500," he said.
This way, Rajgarh will see elections through ballot papers, Singh said, adding "let us see what happens".
Each EVM can have a maximum of 384 candidates, including NOTA, per constituency. A total of 16 candidates, including NOTA, can appear on one ballot unit and 24 such units can be connected simultaneously to the control unit.
Singh was speaking during the first day of his eight-day 'Vayda Nibhao Yatra' foot march.
Singh has routinely opposed the use of EVMs for polls and has attributed its presence for the victories of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Incidentally, in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, a BJP leader from Durg had written to the Election Commission seeking action against former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is the Congress candidate from Rajnandgaon, for speaking about such a move to overwhelm EVMs.
In the letter, the BJP leader accused Baghel of telling party workers that "if more than 384 candidates contest from one seat then the EC will be forced to conduct polls through ballot papers".
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.
They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
