Maldives opposition announces new presidential candidate
Male, July 1 : Maldives' main opposition party has named veteran lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as its presidential candidate after former president Mohamed Nasheed withdrew his candidacy, authorities said on Sunday.
At a meeting held on Saturday, the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) amended its charter to award the party ticket to Solih, reports Xinhua news agency.
The MDP unanimously voted in favour of Solih as Nasheed's replacement.
On Friday, Nasheed withdrew his nominate for the "betterment" of his party.
He had applied to run for the election slated to take place on September 23 but his nomination was rejected by the Election Commission as he faces terrorism charges.
The Commission said last month that anyone convicted of a criminal offence could not legally contest in a political party's presidential primary, warning that such elections would be annulled.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Tirupati laddu row: Samples of Ayodhya Ram temple 'prasad' sent for testing
Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.
The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.
Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.
Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.
Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.
