NCP (SP) leader, 88 villagers booked for bid to conduct 're-poll' with ballot papers
Pune (PTI): Police have registered a case against NCP (SP) leader Uttam Jankar and 88 others after a section of people from Markadwadi village in Solapur district and nearby areas attempted to conduct a "re-election" using ballot papers, an official said.
Prior to this, police had registered a case against more than 200 persons for allegedly defying prohibitory orders and trying to conduct the "re-election".
On Wednesday, Jankar, who won the Malshiras assembly seat in the recent Maharashtra elections, and others were charged with unlawful assembly and disobeying orders issued by a public servant, among other sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.
Markadwadi village comes under the Malshiras assembly segment.
On Tuesday morning, 250 to 300 persons gathered in the Markadwadi village to conduct a "repoll" by wilfully defying prohibitory orders and encouraging others to participate in the unauthorised polling process, the police said.
The idea of conducting "re-election" with ballot papers was floated after villagers raised doubts about the number of votes counted through EVMs from a polling booth in Markadwadi in the recently-held state elections.
However, they relented and gave up their plan after the police's intervention.
Jankar had defeated BJP's Ram Satpute by 13,147 votes.
Though Jankar won the seat, Markadwadi residents claimed the quantum of votes polled by the NCP (SP) leader was less compared with Satpute, expressing doubt about the EVMs.
The Solapur district administration had denied permission to villagers to conduct the "re-poll" on ballot papers and imposed prohibitory orders banning unlawful assembly.
The villagers, however, made arrangements for "re-polling" on Tuesday morning and placed the polling material.
Police held meetings with Jankar and villagers and explained to them the legal procedures and warned of registering cases, officials had said.
Later, the residents relented and cancelled their plans to conduct the "repoll".
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
