Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan condemns 'harassment' of nuns by Hindu outfit members in UP
HM Amit Shah assures action against culprits
Kanjirappally, Mar 24: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured strong action against those who allegedly harassed nuns belonging to a Kerala-based congregation during their train journey via Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
Noting that UP was ruled by BJP government, Shah, while addressing a poll rally here, said, "I want to assure the people of Kerala that the culprits behind this incident will be brought to justice at the earliest".
The issue was raised before Shah by party's Kanjirappally assembly candidate for April 6 polls, K J Alphonse, who is his former ministerial colleague in the union cabinet.
Two nuns and two postulants were taken off an express train and detained for questioning by railway police in UP's Jhansi on March 19.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) had expressed concern over the matter.
The Congress and BJP took up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, respectively.
Officials in Jhansi said the nuns were detained after local Bajrang Dal activists complained that two of the women were allegedly being taken forcibly for religious conversion.
The police said there was no basis in the complaint and all four women later took the next train to their destination in Odisha.
@PiyushGoyal See this the harrassment bajrangdal people are doing the nuns & their girls who are travelling with genuine papers . They were harrassed & asked to get down and without female police they were badly harrassed .pl investigate pic.twitter.com/VF2klvVIO9
— Navin Das (@NavinDa82129600) March 23, 2021
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
