6 arrested over Venezuelan President's alleged assassination bid
Caracas, Aug 6 : Six people have been arrested over an alleged assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro here, the interior minister said.
Maduro survived the assault on Saturday evening after several drones armed with explosives flew toward him while speaking at a commemoration ceremony of the 81st anniversary of the Venezuelan national guard, reports CNN.
The President he blamed far-right elements and Colombia's outgoing president, Juan Manuel Santos of carrying out the foiled attempt. Those arrested are accused of "terrorism and assassination", Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said on state TV on Sunday.
Reverol said one of the detained had an outstanding arrest warrant for his alleged role in the August 2017 attack on a military base in Valencia.
The attackers used two DJI M600 drones that each carried 1 kg of C-4 explosive, the Minister added.
The munitions could cause damage in a radius of 50 metres and intelligence services were able to identify the nearby streets that were used for launching the drones from a distance.
One of the drones flew over the presidential stage with the intention of being detonated by the attackers, but he said the authorities were able to cause it to lose control and detonate outside the area the attackers targeted, CNN quoted the Minister as saying.
Reverol said the second drone lost control and fell into an apartment building, where it exploded on the first floor.
Live footage of Saturday's incident showed Maduro suddenly looking up startled mid-speech, while beside him his wife, Cilia Flores, winced after a loud bang and dozens of soldiers were seen scattering.
Seven members of the national guard were injured during the attack.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
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.
