Australian Senate appoints first Muslim woman member amid race row
Canberra, Aug 15: The Australian Senate on Wednesday appointed its first female Muslim member, Mehreen Faruqi, even as the country was caught up in a bitter row over racism.
Pakistan-born Faruqi, the Greens Party MP for New South Wales, was appointed to fill a vacant seat. Her joining coincided with the row sparked by Senator Fraser Anning by seeking immigration restrictions based on race.
Anning advocated a return to a White Australia policy and called for a migration ban on Muslims in his maiden speech in Parliament on Tuesday. He called for a "final solution" (the phrase that refers to a plan hatched by the Nazis to annihilate the Jews) to the immigration "problem".
Faruqi, who will be sworn in next week, was among the prominent critics of Anning's use of the Holocaust-associated term. She said that Anning had "spat in the face of millions of Australians, spewing hate and racism".
"I'm a Muslim migrant, I'm about to be a Senator and there's not a damn thing Fraser Anning can do about it," she wrote in a piece for website Junkee on Wednesday.
Faruqi migrated from Pakistan to Australia in 1992 with her young family. Her election to the state Parliament in 2013 made her the first Muslim woman to attain any political office in Australia.
She told the BBC she would use her new role as senator to fight for a "positive future for Australia where we are stronger for our diversity".
She said that overt displays of racism were not isolated incidents. "I could stand on Bondi Beach, serving sausage sangers in an Akubra, draped in an Australian flag with a southern cross tattoo and, for some, I still wouldn't be Australian enough," she wrote in the Junkee article.
Faruqi said she was excited to bring "much needed diversity" to Canberra and hoped her presence would encourage non-white Australians.
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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.
