Madhya Pradesh polls: 745 EVMs, VVPAT machines replaced; Congress writes to CEC on snags
Bhopal, Nov 28 : As many as 745 EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines were replaced Wednesday in Madhya Pradesh, where voting for the Assembly elections is underway, a senior poll official said.
The announcement by state Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao came after Congress leaders claimed that EVMs at many places had malfunctioned.
"There have been several complaints that EVMs at many places malfunctioned. We have have written to the Election Commission and demanded that voting time in these polling booths should be extended to compensate for the delay," Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said.
The Guna MP said the Election Commission should compensate for time wasted in replacing the EVMs by extending polling time in those booths.
"Several reports are coming from across the state that EVMs are not working. This has been affecting the polling. Long queues are being witnessed in the city. EC should immediately take decision. The EVMs should be changed," state Congress chief Kamal Nath tweeted.
Responding to the demand, CEC O P Rawat said in Delhi that there are provisions for the extension of time and local officers (in Madhya Pradesh) can take the call on the matter.
The battle of ballots in Madhya Pradesh is just months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls slated in the first half of 2019.
There are 2,899 candidates are in the fray. The state has 5.04 crore eligible voters.
Altogether 3,00,782 government employees, including 45,904 women, are on poll duty and 65,341 polling stations have been set up.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
