UP SIR: Political parties submit 128 inclusion claims in a day, max by BJP
Lucknow (PTI): Political parties in Uttar Pradesh submitted 128 claims for inclusion of voters and no objections seeking deletion from the electoral rolls till Wednesday evening, with the maximum coming from the BJP, official data showed.
A draft electoral roll was published on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). A window for claims and objections was opened thereafter for citizens who felt they were left out of the list. The window remains open till February 6.
The data issued by Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa's office covers claims and objections received between January 6 and January 7 till 5 pm.
The draft list retained over 12.44 crore voters from the previous rolls, and delisted about 2.89 crore names as booth-level officers could not collect verification forms due to reasons such as death, migration, or enrolment at another place.
According to the bulletin, a total of 5,76,611 booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties were involved in the process.
Claims for inclusion were submitted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (105), Bahujan Samaj Party (17) and Samajwadi Party (six). No party submitted any objection for exclusion during the period.
Among national parties, the BJP had the highest number of BLAs at 1,60,605, followed by the BSP with 1,53,469 and the Congress with 94,591. The Samajwadi Party accounted for 1,56,972 BLAs.
The CEO's office said that 16,18,574 Form-6 applications for inclusion were received before the publication of the draft roll, while 49,399 Form-7 applications seeking deletion were received in the same period.
The final electoral roll after completion of the SIR will be published on March 6, according to officials.
On Tuesday, Rinwa said if a voter's name does not appear in the draft roll, they must submit Form-6 to seek inclusion.
Form 6A is for overseas voters, while Form 7 is for deletion or objection, and Form 8 is for correction of details or replacement of EPIC forms, which can be submitted through BLOs, at Voter Registration Centres (VRCs) located at tehsil offices, or online via ECINet and voters.eci.gov.in.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
