Why should BJP respond to Rahul's query to EC, asks Raut
Mumbai(PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday slammed the Election Commission (EC), asking if the poll body had given a "contract" to the ruling BJP to clear doubts raised by the opposition parties about its functioning.
Raut's strong comments have come after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote a newspaper article on Sunday to counter Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation about "match-fixing" and "rigging" in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls.
The Election Commission rejected Gandhi's charge, saying defaming the poll panel after an unfavourable verdict is absolutely absurd.
In response to Gandhi's claims, Fadnavis, in his article, said that the Congress leader has been constantly "insulting" the democratic process and the people's mandate.
Talking to reporters, Raut said, "Rahul Gandhi has asked questions to the EC and not the BJP. Why should Devendra Fadnavis respond? Has the EC given the BJP contract to wipe the dust off its face and clear doubts about its functioning?"
He said the issue is not just about elections but the EC's conduct in the last ten years.
"The poll body facilitated the split in the Shiv Sena and handed over the NCP to Ajit Pawar when its founder, Sharad Pawar, is still around. All this was done under pressure from Union Minister Amit Shah to win elections. The poll body will have to respond to these questions also," Raut claimed.
He alleged that the EC is a caged parrot that has sold its soul and was working as a branch of the BJP.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
