Karnataka Dy CM Parameshwara claims BJP manipulated EVMs
Bengaluru, May 24: "Some of our leaders and I personally feel EVMs have been manipulated by BJP. Many Congress leaders lost at places even where Congress had a stronghold," Parameshwara said.
Newly elected Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party had manipulated Electronic Voting Machines in the recently concluded state assembly elections.
Addressing reporters a day after taking oath of office, Parameshwara said: “Some of our leaders and I personally feel EVMs have been manipulated by BJP. Many Congress leaders lost at places even where Congress had a stronghold. We will complain to EC. We urge them to move back to ballot paper.”
The Election Commission (EC) used Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in the election to the 224-seat assembly.
On election to the Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly seat, Parameshwara announced that the JD (S) will support the Congress candidate. The Election Commission had deferred the election in RR Nagar after nearly 10,000 voter cards were discovered in a flat in the area. The BJP demanded the EC to countermand the election, claiming that the Congress was behind the scandal. A police case was filed against Congress candidate and sitting MLA Munirathna. The election for Jayanagar seat was also postponed after the death of BJP candidate BN Vijaya Kumar. Elections to the two assembly seats will be held on May 28.
In reply to a question on how he landed the deputy chief minister post, Parameshwara said his caste has nothing to do with it. “I don’t think I got the post of deputy chief minister because I am a Dalit. It is by chance that I am a Dalit,” he said.
Before results for the Karnataka Assembly were announced, then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he wouldn’t mind making way for a Dalit chief minister.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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.
Women's quota bill would have ensured defeat of democracy, Constitution: Aaditya Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said that the passage of the women's quota bill would have ensured a "total defeat of democracy", alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states.
Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories.
"The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs," he wrote.
The legislation should have been called "Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill", the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats.
"Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government," he wrote.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
