'CEC himself a logical discrepancy, national shame': Kapil Sibal flags 'abuse of power' in Bengal
New Delhi (PTI): Former law minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of working in cahoots with the BJP to make the party win the West Bengal elections, saying he is a "national shame" and it is his "vocation" to make sure that the BJP emerges victorious.
The Independent Rajya Sabha MP also came down heavily on the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission (EC) over the massive deployment of security personnel for the Bengal polls to be held in two phases on April 23 and 29.
Questioning the use of the logical discrepancy argument for "disenfranchising" people in Bengal, Sibal said, “They did not use this in Maharashtra and Haryana but are using it in West Bengal.”
"They are using the logical discrepancy argument to disenfranchise voters, meaning if there is a less than 15-year gap between the voter and his/her father, his/her name is deleted, if there is more than 50 years difference, the name is deleted… And all this is done through AI,” Sibal said at a press conference here.
It is the chief election commissioner who is the “logical discrepancy” in this country, Sibal said, adding that nothing that the top poll official says is “logical”.
"His discrepancy is stamped all over West Bengal. It is a shame that we have an election commissioner of this nature. It is an absolute national shame. It is also a national shame that nobody is doing anything about it,” Sibal said.
Accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of being in cahoots with the BJP, Sibal said the CEC's "vocation" is to make sure that the BJP somehow wins the election in West Bengal.
Taking a dig at Yogi Adityanath for reportedly attributing a quote by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to Swami Vivekanand, Sibal said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister has no idea about history and the Constitution as he only knows about bulldozers and other such things.
“Parties contest elections, not the government. But here the government is fighting the election. As many as 5,000 people from Gujarat are being taken to West Bengal in special trains.
“Those who wanted to go home were baton-charged, while a special train was run to take BJP people to Bengal,” the Rajya Sabha MP alleged.
If the Railways is taking BJP people to West Bengal, it is a straight forward violation of the Model Code of Conduct, Sibal said.
“It is shocking. It seems there is a state of emergency in West Bengal outside the Constitution of India. In this emergency, 2,400 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been placed there, which means 2.4 lakh CAPF personnel that comes to one CAPF person for every 100 people," Sibal said.
It seems the CAPF and the Election Commission, not the BJP, are fighting this election, Sibal said, terming it a “gross abuse of state machinery”.
“These many CAPF personnel would not be there in Jammu and Kashmir. And all this is happening while violence is going on in Manipur. What is happening to our country?" the senior advocate asked.
"Everybody is quiet, no institution is responding. Do we expect the chief election commissioner (Gyanesh Kumar) to respond… They are the ones who are fighting the elections for the BJP,” Sibal alleged.
Referring to certain controversial statements by senior Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and Home Minister Amit Shah in the poll-bound state, Sibal said the kind of speeches they are making is unbelievable.
"There is a woman (Mamata Banerjee) standing against you and you have put the entire strength of the country. This is very dangerous for democracy," Sibal said.
He also alleged that the entire official strength of the country is being used to destabilise the environment in West Bengal.
"Where does the CEC get these powers from? As many as 483 officers have been transferred. Nobody in this country has unlimited power,” Sibal said.
Asked about the outcome of the Bengal polls, Sibal said as per the feedback that is coming in, Mamata Banerjee would emerge victorious despite all of BJP’s efforts.
West Bengal is set to vote in the first phase on Thursday amid an increasingly polarised battle in which issues such as corruption and jobs have ceded space to identity, citizenship and the controversy over deleted names from electoral rolls.
The opening round of the two-phase election covers 152 of the state's 294 seats - including all 54 in north Bengal’s eight districts and several in Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly.
The first phase could determine whether the BJP can still rely on north Bengal as its principal gateway to power or whether the Trinamool Congress has managed to regain lost ground.
The second phase of elections would take place on April 29 and the results would be declared on May 4.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
