India U-16 football team register victory over Malaysia
New Delhi, July 26 : The Indian U-16 team registered a 2-1 victory against Malaysia in the second international friendly played in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
The match ended a 27-day long exposure tour in three different countries which included matches in China, Thailand and Malaysia, according to a statement.
After two first-half goals from Rohit Danu (21st minute) and Givson Singh (31st minute) had provided India an early edge, Malaysia managed to pull one back in added time of the second half.
After suffering a loss three days back, India started on an aggressive note. Danu tried to latch on an attack from the middle but the Malaysia defenders dealt with it.
The battle was mostly being fought at the middle of the pitch before Danu was brought down by the Malaysian defender. The referee didn't hesitate to award a penalty kick in favour of the visitors, which Danu himself converted.
Ten minutes later, Givson hit the target once again following a meticulous build-up from the midfield. A solo run from Rohit from the left of the box opened up the rival defence. He then passed it to the midfielder who tapped it home to double the lead.
Danu breached the Malaysian defence one minute to the half-time but this time his right-footer rattled the woodwork.
The second half was confined more to the midfield before India created another opportunity at the stroke of the hour-mark but the opposition goalie leapt over Danu to avert the danger.
Coach Bibiano Fernandes introduced three of fresh legs towards the fag end. Malaysia managed to pull one back in the 94th minute but it was too late for them.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
