Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of targetting her for raising a voice against alleged electronic voting machines tampering and said she was not averse to shaking hands with other parties in her fight against the saffron party on the issue.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
With voter-verified paper audit trail being used on a large-scale for the first time in the country in the Mizoram Assembly polls, the Elections Commission is leaving no stone unturned to make it easily accessible to voters.
Allaying all doubts on the possibility of Electronic Voting Machine tampering, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla on Tuesday said the machines used in India are stand-alone machines and cannot be manipulated.
As the Kejriwal empire spreads, will he be able to keep the momentum going? And will it be at the cost of greater centralisation of authority in the party, asks Aditi Phadnis.
'It doesn't help to transpose the Hindi heartland model on Bengal. Bengalis don't understand its dynamics. They won't comprehend the impact of Modi's dip in the Ganga because Bengal's political culture is different. Even in the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrams, Christ is worshipped on Christmas. It's difficult to polarise Bengal religiously'
The main opposition Telugu Desam party has stepped up its opposition to the use of Electronic Voting Machines saying they were vulnerable to the manipulation and the people did not have confidence in the machines after the non governmental organizations exposed their unreliability.
Memon said that the opposition should introspect why Modi keeps getting such a "positive mandate" and dismissed suggestions of manipulation of EVMs, an oft-repeated complaint of the Congress and other political parties.
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP is manipulating electronic voting machines to increase its vote share.
Thackeray said people should be aware of how religious issues are raked up to distract their attention from core issues.
They also demanded that if any discrepancy is found during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular assembly segment should be done and compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.
The commission issued letter of intent to ECIL and BEL -- both PSUs -- on Friday, two days after the Union Cabinet cleared its proposal to buy 16,15000 voter verifiable paper audit trail units at an estimated cost of Rs 3,173.47 crore.
EVMs were used for the first time in general elections in 45 seats in 1999. Polling in the 2004 general elections was entirely on EVMs. This year, again, 671 million voters got the opportunity to vote on EVMs.
Shah rubbished Delhi CM's contention that it may have something to do with alleged manipulation of EVMs.
The stupidity of someone buying impressions on people meters is like saying the BJP wins elections because the EVMs are rigged. I predict zooming TRPs for Republic TV, says Sudhir Bisht.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various places that went to polls on Saturday during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly election, even as the overall poll situation was largely peaceful with 79.79 per cent turnout recorded till the end of voting, an official said.
The meeting also discussed possibilities of forming a non-BJP government including regional parties with the support of the Congress.
As round one of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election began in 91 constituencies across the length and breadth of India, from the hills of Kashmir to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, reports of unrest and irregularities cast shadows over the world's biggest poll process.
The BJP chief ministerial candidate calls the AAP chief negative
Many exit polls predicted that SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh is likely to trump the BJP in the country's politically most crucial state.
The opposition made it clear during the meeting that it will press for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rafale jet deal and raise several issues, including the "misuse" of probe agencies and the autonomy for Reserve Bank of India.
The results are being seen as a ringing endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies and a reflection of his unmatched popularity.
The poll watchdog faces two Heruclean tasks -- to produce over a million VVPATs in time for the 2019 elections and also iron out manufacturing tweaks in the machines which are already in use.
Vishwas also appeared defiant despite the party's gag order of not talking to the media and said he will keep highlighting the mistakes of the Aam Aadmi Party and say what is right in the interest of the country.
Most exit polls on Sunday forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.
In a first, central paramilitary forces will be deployed at all 62,779 polling stations during the 5-phase Bihar assembly polls, the Election Commission said on Monday.
Asked about the selection of chief ministers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he said there will not be any issue and it will be done smoothly.
Reacting to the statements, the Shiv Sena said it was ready to take on whoever challenges it.
Since 2004 the Congress has hung onto power in a situation in which it was on track to be out of power. In each case, it effectively gamed the system through Constitutional coups, argues columnist Rajeev Srinivasan.
The chief minister, speaking at her first major political rally after the Lok Sabha polls, also said the party will launch a statewide protest on July 26, demanding return of black money "siphoned off" by the BJP.
Addressing her first press conference after the election results were declared, she accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of polarising the people on religious lines to garner votes in West Bengal.
This, the Congress said in its political resolution, was necessary as there were misgivings on the 'misuse' of EVMs to 'manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict.' The resolution called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballot as adopted by other major democracies to help restore the credibility of the electoral process.
'The BJP's election campaign promise of development isn't dead, it just doesn't look anything like what was promised.' 'The results are plain to see, which is why so many of us wake up with a knot in our stomachs, wondering what fresh new hell the day's news cycle will bring,' says Mitali Saran.
Over 20 political parties, except the Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, took part in the massive rally.
The party's gamble to go in for early elections paid rich dividends.
Modi accused the Congress of criticising EVMs and the functioning of the Election Commission after they were reduced to 44 seats from 400 in Lok Sabha. "They did not question the EVMs after the recent Karnataka elections," he added.
Admittedly, EVMs too have a UID number and any convergence of data can make the secret ballot system a party of history, warns Dr Gopal Krishna in the 5th part of his series against Aadhaar.
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