Gujarat: Lone voter from polling booth in Gir forest casts vote
Gir Somnath (Guj), Dec 1: A polling booth located in a remote forest area of Gir Somnath district in Gujarat recorded 100 per cent voting after its lone voter cast his vote on Thursday in the first phase of the state Assembly elections.
The area is part of Una Assembly constituency, which went to polls on Thursday along with 88 other seats in the state.
The Election Commission (EC) had set up a polling booth at Banej village located inside Gir forest so that the only voter there can exercise his franchise.
Mahant Haridasji Udasin, who is the only voter there, reached the polling station in the initial hours of voting. The EC sets up a polling booth during every Assembly or general election.
Setting up a polling booth even for a single voter shows that every vote is important, Udasin, a priest at a temple, said.
"Every single vote is important in making or breaking a government, and I would like to express my gratitude to the Election Commission and the government for setting up the booth for me," he said.
Even in the past, polling booths used to be set up during every Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, and Bharatdas Bapu, who was the priest prior to him, used to vote. He was the only voter till 2002, he added.
Udasin, who succeeded Bharatdas Bapu, said he makes it a point to never miss voting.
"The poll officials reach a day before (the polling day) and I make all the arrangements for their stay and food in the evening and in the morning. After that, I cast my vote," he said.
Udasin said that although his vote is a secret at the time of polling, it no longer remains so during the counting.
He said he hopes that his vote will make a difference and compel the leaders of the political party elected in the region to work for the area.
"All I want is improvement in the condition of roads," he said.
He also said that if all the voters exercise their right, then the candidates will feel that people has voted for them and they should work.
"When they work, the region sees development," he said.
#InPics | Election Commission sets up a polling booth for only one voter - Mahant Haridasji Udasin - in Banej in the dense Gir forest. #ElectionsWithNDTV #GujaratAssemblyPolls
— NDTV (@ndtv) December 1, 2022
(📸: @ECISVEEP) pic.twitter.com/Ia1MV77gzV
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4 Indian students among several injured in stabbing attack in Russia
Moscow (PTI): At least six people, including four Indians students, were injured on Saturday in a stabbing attack at a university in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, media reports and the Indian mission here said.
According to preliminary reports, a teenager armed with a knife entered a dormitory of the State Medical University in Ufa in the Bashkortostan Republic. He attacked the students living there and stabbed several of them, the Interior Ministry said.
“The attacker resisted arrest, during which two police officers were stabbed. Furthermore, the suspect also inflicted bodily harm on himself,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Maj General Irina Volk was quoted as saying by RTVI.com webportal.
Calling it an "unfortunate incident", the Indian Embassy here said, "Several persons including four Indian students have been injured."
The Embassy said it is in touch with the authorities, and officials from the Consulate in Kazan are en route to Ufa to provide assistance to the injured students.
In a release, the Russian Federal Health Ministry said that four people injured in the attack are receiving medical care. One is in serious condition, while three others are in moderate condition, it added.
The attacker, identified as a 15-year-old youth, has also been admitted to a local children's hospital in serious condition, the Baza telegram channel said.
Authorities in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan Republic about 1,200 km east of Moscow, have launched a high-level probe into the incident.
The Baza channel claimed that the attacker belonged to a banned neo-Nazi outfit.
"He belonged to the banned NS/WP neoNazi organisation. During the frenzy of attack, he was shouting nationalist slogans about (the) Holocaust,” it said and shared the photo of a Swastika drawn on a wall with the blood of the victims.
According to eyewitnesses, “there was blood all around,” Ren TV said, showing footage of wounded being taken to hospital by ambulance vans.
