EVM glitches reported in several areas in Delhi
New Delhi, May 12: Complaints about malfunctioning EVMs poured in from several places of the national capital on Sunday where voting is underway.
Adarsh Gupta, a resident of Matia Mahal area, claimed that at polling booths 84, 85 and 86, electronic voting machines were not working in the morning.
Aam Aadmi Party's Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti alleged that EVMs at booths 116,117 and 122 were not functioning.
"EVM in booth 132, Hauzrani is showing 50 votes without anyone casting any vote in the machine n EVMs at booths 116,117, 122 in Malviya nagar not functioning," Bharti tweeted.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said 5.5 per cent EVMs were replaced in the morning, adding that problems in EVMs were reported from Chandni Chowk and West Delhi.
"Mock polls happened in the morning and where machines were found defective they were replaced. 5.5 per cent EVMs were replaced during morning hours and that might have caused delay in start of polling," Singh said.
Mudit Agarwal, son of Congress's Chandni Chowk candidate JP Agarwal, alleged EVMs malfunctioned at some booths in Matia Mahal and Ballimaran assembly segments.
According to a police official, they received information about an EVM not working at Begum Pur in Rohini but the issue was addressed.
AAP's Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh alleged that EVMs at polling booth number 27 were not working in the morning.
"At Prithivi Park polling booth in Tilak Nagar assembly segment, EVMs had not been working since 7 am at polling booth 27. It is the same area where AAP's vote bank is considered," Singh said.
He said the Election Commission claimed that faulty EVMs are changed within ten minutes, but at ground, such claims are telling a different story.
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said voters were unable to find if their votes were cast in Najafgarh constituency.
"Voters unable to find their votes at polling booths. It is true that on large scale votes have been deleted. All these are residents of Jai Vihar I, Najafgarh," he tweeted.
Over 1.43 crore people in Delhi are eligible to vote in this election which will decide the fate of 164 candidates, of which 18 are women. There are 43 independent candidates.
While 2,54,723 voters are in the age group of 18 and 19, there are 40,532 electorate with disability who would be provided pick up and drop facility.
The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
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Nitish Kumar's son Nishant among 32 to take oath as Bihar ministers
Patna (PTI): In a major expansion of the Cabinet of Bihar's first BJP-led government, JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar and 31 others took oath as ministers on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony that was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Prominent inductees included Nishant Kumar, the son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who stepped down as chief minister last month to enter the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers, who took oath on Thursday.
Most of the inductees were those who were part of the Nitish Kumar cabinet formed in November last year after the NDA stormed back to power in the assembly polls.
The JD(U) is represented by a total of 15 ministers, 13 of whom took the oath at the Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav had taken oath in April along with Samrat Choudhary and were designated as deputy chief ministers.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, are back as ministers, and so are Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, sons of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, respectively.
