Uttarakhand: Harish Rawat claims video shows ballot tampering
Dehradun(PTI): Congress general secretary Harish Rawat has posted a video on social media that purportedly shows one person at an Army centre ticking and signing several postal ballot papers.
Sharing the video on his Twitter handle and Facebook on Tuesday, Rawat said, "Sharing a short video for everyone's information. It shows how one man at an army centre is ticking and signing several ballot papers. Will the Election Commission take cognisance of this?"
When asked about the tweet, Rawat's spokesman Surendra Kumar refused to disclose the source of the video but claimed that it is from Uttarakhand.
The party has not made a formal complaint to the Election Commission in this regard yet but it can take suo motu cognisance of it, he said.
The Congress leaders termed it as a "mockery of democracy" and urged the Election Commission to take cognisance of the video and act against the guilty.
The state Congress has retweeted Rawat's tweet.
Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Pritam Singh said,"In this video that makes a mockery of democracy, a man at an army centre is seen ticking and signing several postal ballot papers in favour of the party of his choice."
The Election Commission should take cognisance of it and act against the guilty, Singh said.
Reacting to the tweet, the BJP termed it the Congress' frustration, saying the party is doing it as it can see its defeat in the recently held Assembly polls.
"The Congress is resorting to such tactics as it is aware that it has failed to mislead people. In the face of its imminent defeat the party which was talking earlier about manipulation of EVMs is now talking about ballot papers. It shows the party's frustration," Pradesh BJP media incharge Manveer Singh Chauhan said.
The Army should be kept away from politics and the Congress should avoid levelling such allegations without testing their authenticity, Chauhan said.
एक छोटा #वीडियो सबकी जानकारी के लिए वायरल कर रहा हूंँ, इसमें एक #आर्मी के सेंटर में किस प्रकार से एक ही व्यक्ति सारे #वोटों को टिक कर रहा है और यहां तक कि सभी लोगों के हस्ताक्षर भी वही कर रहा है, उसका एक नमूना देखिए, क्या इलेक्शन कमिशन इसका संज्ञान लेना चाहेगा?@UttarakhandCEO pic.twitter.com/yAd4UVPpLh
— Harish Rawat (@harishrawatcmuk) February 22, 2022
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
