Congress demands counting of all VVPATs in LS polls
Bengaluru, Mar 15: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday demanded that all Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) should be counted, during the counting of votes.
He was responding to a question about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent statement that people are demanding that the upcoming elections be held using ballot papers and not EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines).
"This has been our demand since the beginning... You count VVPAT hundred per cent, that is our demand," Kharge told reporters here. "Only a few VVPATs, you are counting. We are demanding that all the VVPAT should be counted. It will be very easy to know. It is not going to cost much."
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VVPAT is an independent system attached with the EVMs that allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended. When a vote is cast, a slip is printed containing the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate and remains exposed through a transparent window for seven seconds.
Thereafter, this printed slip automatically gets cut and falls in the sealed drop box of the VVPAT.
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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.
