Russia supports India's candidacy for permanent member of UNSC
Moscow (PTI): Russia on Wednesday said it supports India's aspirations to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and also praised New Delhi's deft handling of the contentious issues at the G20 Summit as a "true triumph" of its foreign policy.
The Security Council has 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members. India has long been seeking a permanent membership at the UNSC, strongly calling for reform of the United Nations in line with the changing realities of the world.
The five permanent members are the UK, China, Russia, the US and France.
"We support India's candidacy for joining" the UN Security Council as a permanent member, Lavrov said after holding talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar here. Jaishankar is on a five-day visit to Russia.
Lavrov said the G20 Summit that took place in New Delhi earlier this year was a "true triumph of India’s foreign policy; it was a triumph of multilateral diplomacy, which has become possible, to a decisive degree, because the G20 Chair did not allow making the outcome document unilateral. The outcome document reflects the balance of interests".
"This is a model of how to work within the G20 and, by the way, in the UN and the Security Council,” he said.
In G20, India managed to bring together nations with starkly divergent views on Ukraine. The G20 joint declaration that avoided direct criticism of Russia for its war against Ukraine is being described as a significant diplomatic win for India, the host of the summit.
The declaration garnered unanimous support from all G20 member nations, without a single dissenting note, with the key players, including the US, the UK, Russia and China, praising the outcome.
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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.
