Mangaluru, Sept 01: In a bid to make Dakshina Kannada district a model child-friendly district in the state, Padi Velored, on behalf of the people of the district, submitted a memorandum today.

Padi director Renni D'Souza submitted the memorandum to MLC Ivan D'Souza, in the absence of the district in-charge minister, during the inauguration of the Padi Velored project’s silver jubilee celebration at Don Bosco Hall in the city.

  • To make D.K a child-friendly district, the district administration should call a meeting with child-related departments and various organizations and prepare action plans.

  • Quality education, community participation in the education field, educational research, child rights and promotion of child-related laws and training should take place from time to time. For this, space for constructing a training center should be provided to the Padi organisation.

  • The government’s attention will be grabbed towards the appointment of relevant subject teachers, and physical education teachers at every school to ensure that all children acquire quality education as per the Right to Education Act.

  • Appointment of a child a consultant at least at every taluk.

  • The D.K district has a city Childline Plan for child protection. The complaints related to children's issues are coming increasingly in the five taluks of the D.K district. Therefore the demand for the provision of a vehicle system and city Childline service to taluks has been kept among five significant demands.

MLC Ivan D'Souza, who attended the meeting as the chief guest, said that the district is worthy enough of becoming a child-friendly district, and assured to give full cooperation for the cause.

Inaugurating the program, the District Legal Services Authority Member Secretary Mallanagowda Patil, emphasised the importance of children's rights.

Deputy Director of women's and children's development department Sundar Poojary, Marlyn Martis, Sulochana Kodavooru, Premi Fernandes, BM Rohini, Ismail, Abdusalam, and others were present.

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Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.

The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.

"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.

Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.

The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."

Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.

"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.

Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.

He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.

"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.