Trump says US 'going to run' Venezuela until safe transition of power can take place
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said on Saturday that US is 'going to run' Venezuela until safe transition of power can take place.
The US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of the country in a stunning military operation early Saturday that plucked a sitting leader from office - the culmination of months of escalating Trump administration pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.
ALSO READ: Congress and NCP (SP) to contest separately in Nagpur civic polls
Maduro and his wife, taken overnight from their home on a military base, were aboard a US warship on their way to New York, where they were to face criminal charges.
Trump said the US planned to run Venezuela until a transition of power can take place. He claimed the American presence was already in place, though there were no immediate signs that the US was running the country.
“We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference where he boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
Venezuelan state TV broadcast live images of small groups of Maduro supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
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.
UP SIR draft voter list out: 12.55 crore voters retained, 2.89 crore removed
Lucknow/New Delhi (PTI): The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh published on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) excludes 2.89 crore voters but retains 12.55 crore, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa.
The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said at a press conference.
The final electoral list will be published on March 6, Rinwa added.
The opposition parties in UP have criticised the draft electoral roll after the SIR exercise.
ALSO READ: Gujarat HC, several district courts and govt offices get bomb threats; nothing suspicious found
Talking to PTI Videos, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said the time allotted for the SIR exercise was short.
"This is a completely hasty decision. The way the SIR process was started by giving only one month in a large state like Uttar Pradesh is unreasonable.
"They gave one month even to a small state like Kerala. Uttar Pradesh should have been given at least five to six months, as was done earlier in 2002–03... Had it been done that way, the booth level officers (BLOs) would not have been under such pressure and suicides could have been avoided."
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav warned the Election Commission about the draft roll in Mainpuri, the Lok Sabha constituency of his wife Dimple Yadav.
In a post on X, the Kannauj MP and former UP chief minister said,"Before the anger of the voters turns into agitation, the Election Commission should correct the voter list by taking cognisance of the valid names cut from the SIR in Mainpuri."
Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal on Tuesday claimed that his name and that of his family members have been deleted from the draft SIR voter list of Uttar Pradesh despite their names being in the electoral roll of 2003 and them having deposited all required documents according to the guidelines.
Meanwhile, Rinwa said the EC had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.
While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing that the names of a large number of voters, nearly 2.97 crore, were getting excluded from the draft list. Consequently, the enumeration phase was extended till December 26.
According to the CEO, out of 15.44 crore voters in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12.55 crore voters, accounting for 81.30 per cent of the electorate.
Rinwa said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date of the draft roll, but parallel fieldwork and ECI instructions to rationalise polling stations led to a delay.
"The Commission has capped voters per polling station at 1,200 instead of the earlier norm of 1,500. To meet this requirement, around 15,030 new polling stations were created across the state," he said.
Giving details about the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft list, Rinwa said 46.23 lakh voters (2.99 per cent) were found to be deceased, while 2.57 crore voters (14.06 per cent) had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.
Another 25.47 lakh voters (1.65 per cent) were found to be registered at more than one place.
"The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state," he said.
The exercise involved 1.72 lakh booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters. Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, saying 5.76 lakh booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.
The CEO said a one-month claims and objections period would begin on January 6 and would continue till February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction or raise objections to the draft roll.
The EC also outlined clear remedies for eligible voters whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll published after the SIR exercise.
Rinwa said enumeration forms were received from about 12.55 crore voters during the revision exercise conducted between November 4 and December 26, 2025. The remaining names were excluded primarily due to reasons such as death, permanent migration or absence during verification, and multiple registrations at different locations.
The Commission has opened a claims and objections window from January 6 to February 6, during which any eligible voter whose name is missing can apply for inclusion by submitting Form-6. Voters found registered at more than one place will be retained at only one verified location after scrutiny.
Voters can check their names in the draft roll through BLOs, the ECINet mobile application, the Chief Electoral Officer's website (ceouttarpradesh.nic.in ) or the Election Commission portal voters.eci.gov.in .
Applications can be submitted offline through BLOs or voter registration centres at tehsil offices, or online through the ECINet app and the ECI website.
He said special efforts are being made to assist senior citizens, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups, while youth who turned 18 by January 1, 2026, are being encouraged to apply. More than 15.78 lakh Form-6 applications have already been received.
The officer said no name will be removed from the electoral roll without following due process, reiterating its commitment to a transparent, participatory and inclusive revision to ensure that no eligible voter is left out.
However, Sappal claimed that his and his family members' names were deleted because he shifted residence from UP's Sahibabad constituency to Noida constituency.
