Extra EVM machine found in UP official's vehicle, 2 suspended
Muzaffarnagar (UP), Feb 19: Authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district have recommended action against a zonal magistrate and suspended a police constable and a home guard for alleged negligence during poll duty in the Kairana assembly constituency.
Superintendent of Police Sukriti Madhav said an extra EVM machine was found in the vehicle of the zonal magistrate after polling in Kairana on February 10.
The EVM machine was not secured inside a designated hotel but was left unattended outside in a vehicle. The police constable and the home guard were not present there as well, she said.
The district authorities have written to the election commission, recommending action against the zonal magistrate, officials said, adding the policeman and the home guard have been suspended.
Samajwadi Party's candidate Nahid Hasan's sister Iqra Hasan had complained about keeping the EVM in a vehicle and demanded action.
A video of the EVM lying attended in the vehicle of the zonal magistrate had also gone viral.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
