‘Neglecting minorities in state Budget is not a good sign’
Former minister HK Patil writes to leaders
Bengaluru, July 06: Former minister and senior Congress leader HK Patil said that no particular programme was announced in the budget for the welfare of the minority community which is instrumental in electing the secular parties in the 2018 election, and it was not fair.
Patil expressed his displeasure in a letter written to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar, state Congress incharge KC Venugopal and Housing Minister DK Shivakumar.
The budget should have had special programmes for the minority community and the poor in that community. Along with the programmes announced in the last budget, the Chief Minister should have announced some programmes for the welfare of the minorities in this budget keeping in mind the changed political scenario, he said.
Patil also urged the Chief Minister and others to announce a few programmes during the debate on the Budget before approving it and compensate the lacking. People of north Karnataka had their own expectations on the budget. In the previous government, several new taluks were announced and most of them were in north Karnataka. People were expecting that this budget would have a special programme to provide basic infrastructure to all those new taluks. But their expectations were not fulfilled, he said.
Regarding north Karnataka, the programmes announced in the last budget were once again repeated in this budget and no new programmes which can respond and fulfill the needs of the people of north Karnataka were announced in the budget of the coalition government, he averred.
This budget hurt the feelings and expectations of north Karnataka people. It was the duty of the coalition government to respect the feelings of those people. In view of this, the Chief Minister should announce special programmes in his answer before approving the Budget in order to alleviate the regional imbalance to ensure justice to north Karnataka, he demanded.
Convene coordination committee meeting
The Congress governments between 1999 and 2004, Congress-JDS government between 2004 and 2006 and in Congress government between 2013 and 2018, had tried to alleviate the regional imbalance through various programmes. It was better to announce some special programmes to develop the north Karnataka. It should be discussed in an emergency meeting of the coordination committee and find solutions, Patil appealed Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah in his letter.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
