Heavy rains lash Lucknow, brings down mercury
Lucknow, June 8 : People in Uttar Pradesh got some respite from the heat and humidity after skies opened up over the state capital and neighbouring areas on Friday.
As heavy rains lashed the city for more than two hours, youngsters took to streets and drenched themselves in the first rains of the season.
The Regional Met office said these were pre-monsoonal showers and the weather would remain the same for the next 24-hours. The skies would be overcast with intermittent rains in Lucknow and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
It predicted gusty winds along with rains in Lucknow, Barabanki, Unnao, Sitapur and Hardoi in the next 24-hours till Saturday.
There were heavy traffic snarls at many places like Hazratganj, Alambagh, Narahi, Indira Nagar, Aliganj and Gomtinagar with office goers and commuters facing a tough time.
Power outages were also reported from many localities here.
As roads were dug up for sewer pipeline laying to improve the drainage system ahead of the monsoon, many low lying areas turned into pools and people had to wade through them.
Angry residents questioned the rationale behind the government's pre- monsoon jobs. Internet connectivity was also been hit at some places due to water logging or snapping of the optical fibre cable.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
