Former BJP MLA contesting as Independent candidate spends night guarding EVM strong room
Mumbai, Oct 24: Former BJP MLA Anil Gote, the Independent candidate from Maharashtra's Dhule Assembly seat, spent the night outside the EVM strong room in his segment, claiming he was guarding the facility to avoid any misuse of the voting machines ahead of counting on Thursday.
Counting of votes for all 288 Assembly elections and Satara Lok Sabha bypoll began at 8 am on Thursday.
Gote in the morning said he chose to stay awake throughout the night outside the EVM strong rooms in Dhule along with some of his supporters.
He won the 2014 Assembly polls from Dhule city on BJP's ticket, but this time the constituency was given to ally Shiv Sena as part of the seat-sharing formula.
The opposition Congress, NCP and some other parties have been raising suspicion over the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), alleging that they were tampered at some places.
The Congress' demand of installing mobile phone jammers outside the strong rooms housing the EVMs in the state was earlier refused by the Election Commission.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
