CM Chouhan, Congress' Nath among early voters in Madhya Pradesh Polls
Chhindwara/Bhopal (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Congress president Kamal Nath on Friday voted in their respective constituencies after polling began in the state in the morning.
Chouhan along with his wife Sadhna Singh and their two sons cast their votes in village Jait, part of the Budhni assembly seat in Sehore district, from where he is a BJP candidate.
Before heading to the polling booth, Chouhan offered prayers at a temple in the village.
Nath, his son and Lok Sabha MP Nakul Nath and daughter-in-law also cast their votes at Shikarpur in the Sausar assembly seat of Chhindwara district, the home turf of the state Congress chief. Nath is the Congress candidate from Chhindwara assembly seat.
Prominent among those who voted early in the polls also include home minister Narottam Mishra, sports and youth welfare minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, industries minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, former minister and Congress leader Jitu Patwari and MP's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's son and former minister Jaivardhan Singh, who is contesting from Raghogarh, also cast his ballot along with his family members.
Polling began at 7 am across all 230 constituencies, including 47 reserved for ST and 35 for the SC, in the state, a poll official said. A total of 2,533 candidates, including 2,280 males, 252 females and one third gender person, are in the fray.
Women were seen standing in queues at various polling booths, including in Hoshangabad and Dindori, state BJP president VD Sharma told PTI on the way to cast his vote.
"Ladli Behnas are turning out in large numbers to vote across the state," Sharma said, referring to the BJP government's flagship Ladli Behna' scheme.
Voting will continue till 6 pm in all the polling stations except those in Naxalite-affected areas of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts where it will end at 3 pm, the official said.
At a polling booth in Datia district, poll officials made arrangements for voting in candlelight after the power supply was interrupted. It was restored after about 10 minutes, an eyewitness said.
A total of 64,626 polling stations have been set up in the state. Among these, 64,523 are main booths and 103 associate (sahayak) stations, where the number of electors is more than 1,500, CEO Anupam Rajan said.
As many as 5,60,58,521 voters, including 2,87,82,261 males, 2,71,99,586 females and 1,292 third gender persons, are eligible to exercise their franchise. The total number of voters also includes service and overseas electors, Rajan informed.
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36 ex-judges slam Opposition move to impeach Justice Swaminathan
New Delhi (PTI): Thirty-six former judges on Saturday gave a call to people, including parliamentarians, to denounce opposition leaders' move to impeach Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, saying such an attempt, if allowed to proceed, would cut at the very roots of democracy and independence of the judiciary.
On December 1, Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam.
The single-judge bench said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.
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The order sparked a row, and on December 9, several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of the judge.
Taking serious exception to the move, the former judges in a joint statement said this is a "brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society".
"If such an attempt is permitted to proceed, it would cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary," they said.
"We therefore call upon all stakeholders -- Members of Parliament across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society, and citizens at large -- to unequivocally denounce this move and ensure that it is nipped in the bud at the very inception," they added.
The statement emphasised that the judges must remain answerable to their oath and to the Constitution of India, not to "partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation".
"The message from all constitutional stakeholders must be clear and firm: in a republic governed by the rule of law, judgments are tested by appeals and legal critique, and not by threats of impeachment for political nonconformity," it said.
The statement was signed by former Supreme Court judge Krishn Murari J as well as ex-chief justices and former judges of different high courts.
The statement said the opposition party's move is not an "isolated aberration". It fits into a "clear and deeply troubling pattern" in India's recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests, it added.
"The unprecedented bid in 2018 to initiate impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the sustained campaigns of vilification directed at Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S A Bobde and D Y Chandrachud while they were in office," the statement noted.
"The targeted attacks now being mounted against the incumbent CJI, Justice Surya Kant, whenever a judgment/remark displeases a political constituency, are all manifestations of the same trend," it said.
"This is not principled, reasoned criticism of judicial decisions; it is an attempt to weaponise impeachment and public calumny as instruments of pressure -- a practice that strikes at the heart of judicial independence and the basic norms of constitutional democracy," the statement added.
