Unaccounted cash, illegal goods worth Rs 111 crore seized
Hyderabad, Dec 3: Unaccounted cash and illegal goods worth about Rs 111 crore have been seized on separate occasions so far in poll-bound Telangana, officials said Monday.
According to an official release, the State has sought 279 companies of central forces and as of now 240 have arrived.
They would assist 30,000 local police personnel on duty for the December 7 Telangana assembly polls.
"Money influence in elections in India is going up.
There is no denying of that. If you see the cash and goods' seizure figures, it was Rs 76 crore during 2014 elections in combined Andhra Pradesh," Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar told reporters.
He said any contesting candidate is allowed to spend up to Rs 28 lakh while there is no limit for a party on election expenditure.
Replying to a query, Kumar said there are 38 constituencies in the state under Left wing extremist influence while some are expenditure sensitive according to previous history.
Kodangal, from where state congress working president Revanth Reddy is contesting, is a "politically sensitive" constituency, he said.
"It came to our notice that there are political allegations and counter allegations in Kodangal. There was some cash seizure also from the constituency. We are keeping strict vigil there," he said.
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SC to hear on May 4 PIL seeking stringent guidelines for issuing Aadhaar to adolescents, adults
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue new Aadhaar cards only to citizens up to the age of six years, and frame stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults to stop infiltrators from masquerading as Indian citizens.
As per the apex court's causelist of May 4, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number is only a "proof of identity" and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
Besides all the states and Union Territories, the plea has made the UIDAI -- which is the authority that issues Aadhaar -- and the Union ministries of home, law and justice, and electronics and information technology as parties.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, said Aadhaar, originally intended as a proof of identity, has increasingly become a "foundational document" enabling individuals to obtain other identification documents, such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter identity cards.
"The UIDAI has issued 144 crore Aadhaar and 99 percent Indians have been enrolled. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this writ petition as a PIL under Article 32, seeking a direction to UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar to children only and frame new stringent guidelines for adolescents and adults, so as to stop infiltrators from getting it and masquerading as Indian citizens," the plea said.
It said the need to file the plea arose when the petitioner came to know the manner in which infiltrators are able to procure Aadhaar through a verification process that is weak and can be easily manipulated.
"Foreigners apply for Aadhaar under the 'foreign' category. But infiltrators apply for Aadhaar under the 'Indian citizen' category and get it easily made. Thereafter, they obtain a ration card, birth and domicile certificate, driving licence, et cetera, essentially becoming indistinguishable from Indian citizens…," it said.
Besides seeking other directions, the plea has raised legal questions, including whether the Aadhaar Act 2016 has become "temporally unreasonable" for failing to keep up with the legislative intent of distinguishing foreigners from Indian citizens.
It said the alleged misuse of Aadhaar undermines targeted welfare delivery and leads to diversion of public resources.
