Geeta Chandran distances herself from pro-PM campaign by 900 artistes
Bharatnatyam dancer Geeta Chandran, who has been named in a list of 907 artistes supporting "the continuance of Govt. led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi", has now distanced herself from the campaign, saying she never gave her consent for it.
The campaign by the Nation First Collective was initiated as a response after 600 theatre artistes (including names like Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anurag Kashyap, Vinay Pathak and Amol Palekar) joined over 100 filmmakers (including Anand Patwardhan, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Vetri Maaran and Pa Ranjith) and 200 writers (such as Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad and Amitav Ghosh) to issue statements urging people to “vote hatred out of power”.
The 600 theatre artistes had appealed to people to “Vote against the BJP and its allies” under the collective Artist Unite India.The counter campaign, backed by 907 artistes, filmmakers, actors and writers, urges people “to cast their vote and exercise their right to elect the new government without any pressure and prejudice”, and includes names like Vivek Oberoi, Shankar Mahadevan, Koena Mitra, Alok Nath, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Pratibha Prahlad, Anuradha Paudwal, Gajendra Chauhan, Mukesh Khanna and Raju Srivastav.
Their statement reads: “We believe that during the last five years, India has seen a government that has delivered corruption-free good governance and development oriented administration. During this period, globally India has acquired greater respect. It is our firm conviction that the continuance of government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the need of the hour. Besides, when challenges like terrorism are before all of us, we need a Majboot Sarkar and not a Mazboor Sarkar and hence we need the present Govt. to continue.”Geeta Chandran, whose name is also included in the list of 907 artistes, has now said that there was no formal agreement where she gave her approval for her name to be used. She tells us, "On April 8, the Chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) invited senior artistes to a celebration of the Hindu New Year (Vikram Samvat 2076) and several of us went to greet him. There, in our conversations, there was talk about artistes asking all members of the public to vote.
We all eagerly agreed, since voting is one of the duties of all citizens."She adds, "They then mentioned endorsing the current government and its successes. Many of us present felt that the democratic principle of 'secret ballot', that is our constitutional right, would be violated if we agreed to those points, especially since most of us were not members of any political party. There was no formal signing!"
courtesy: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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CM Siddaramaiah alleges ‘criminal conspiracy’ in Sringeri recount, vows legal action
Bengaluru (PTI): Alleging a “criminal conspiracy” by BJP candidate D N Jeevaraj in the Sringeri Assembly poll recounting, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the outcome was manipulated after valid postal ballot votes in favour of Congress leader T D Raje Gowda were tampered with during the recounting process.
Following a Karnataka High Court order on an election petition filed by Jeevaraj, challenging Raje Gowda’s election, the reverification and recounting were conducted on Saturday.
After the reverification and recount of postal ballots for the Sringeri Assembly constituency, votes polled in favour of Raje Gowda were reduced by 255, the returning officer said.
A report on the matter has been submitted to the Election Commission of India for further action, the officer added.
Congress leader Raje Gowda had won the 2023 Assembly polls from Sringeri by 201 votes, defeating his nearest rival Jeevaraj.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said the High Court had directed the recounting of postal ballots and that irregularities were noticed during the exercise conducted on May 2.
“This is a clear case of criminal conspiracy,” Siddaramaiah said, alleging that valid votes cast in favour of Raje Gowda were altered after being accepted by counting agents of all parties, including Congress, BJP, and JD(S).
He claimed that during the recounting of postal ballots, 255 votes were initially accepted as valid by all agents but were later tampered with by subordinate officials.
“There is a second mark on the votes polled in favour of Raje Gowda. They had accepted these as valid votes. Subsequently, another mark was made by officials. This is a clear case of criminal conspiracy,” he said.
When asked who was behind the alleged conspiracy, the CM replied, “It was hatched by Jeevaraj and others. It is planned.”
Siddaramaiah further alleged that the returning officer acted improperly by declaring the result despite the presence of an Election Commission observer during the recounting.
“Immediately after the counting, the returning officer announced the result. He should not have done so; this is against the law,” he said.
He pointed out that Raje Gowda had originally won by 201 votes, but after the recounting, the BJP candidate was declared the winner by 52 votes.
“The BJP has committed a criminal act of conspiracy. This is not vote chori but vote dacoity,” he alleged.
The CM said a police complaint had already been filed by Raje Gowda’s election agent, Sudhir Kumar, and emphasised the need for electoral integrity.
“We want transparency and free and fair elections. That is what our Constitution mandates,” he added.
Stating that the government would pursue legal remedies, Siddaramaiah said, “We are preparing an appeal challenging the returning officer’s announcement in a court of law.”
Responding to a separate query on elections in other states, the CM said there appeared to be an anti-incumbency factor in West Bengal, while results in Tamil Nadu were “surprising,” adding that Vijay’s party was emerging as the largest there.
Following the victory of party candidates in Bagalkote and Davanagere South, Siddaramaiah expressed confidence about future electoral prospects in Karnataka.
“Even in 2028, we will win the Assembly elections. We will come back,” the CM said.
Siddaramaiah added that he would order a forensic examination into the alleged tampering of postal ballots.
