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Guj RS polls: Counting delayed as Cong seeks to invalidate 2 votes

Agencies
August 8, 2017

Ahmedabad, Aug 8: Counting of votes for the three Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat was delayed as the Congress moved the Election Commission seeking that votes of two party MLAs, who claimed to have voted for the BJP nominees, be declared invalid.

The counting of votes was scheduled to start at 5 pm.

The Congress claimed the two MLAs -- Raghavji Patel and Bhola Gohil -- belonging to Shankarsinh Vaghela group showed their ballots to the party's authorised agent as well as to the BJP's agent.

Patel and Gohil showed their ballots to the Congress agent Shaktisinh Gehlot and to the BJP agent, thus their votes have become invalid, the Congress claimed.

"They had voted for the BJP. After showing their ballot to me, they also flashed their ballot to the side where (BJP national president and the party candidate) Amit Shah was sitting, and there is a video of this," senior party leader Shaktisinh Gohil said.

"... Presiding Officer D M Patel is under pressure. We will ask for an official copy of the video and will even move Supreme Court if we find that the video is tampered with," he said.

Gohil said counting of votes cannot start until the presiding officer takes action on the objection raised by the Congress.

Reacting to Gohil's charge, state BJP president Jitu Vaghani said such a demand reflects the opposition party's frustration as the Congress knows that its defeat is imminent.

"Congress' internal scuffle has come to the fore, and such a demand (to show video and invalidate votes of the two MLAs) shows their frustration. They are opposing counting of votes because they are set to lose," he told reporters.

"Such an objection is only because of their frustration. Talking about video after the vote is cast makes no sense. However, the returning officer has the power to take the decision. We have written to the returning officer to take a decision on his own. They should not blame the BJP. Lack of trust on election officer is not right," the BJP leader said.

Congress Rajya Sabha nominee Ahmed Patel is tightly placed as he requires 45 votes to win in a situation where several members of his party have either defected to the ruling BJP or cross-voted to the BJP nominees.

Patel's immediate opponent is Balwantsinh Rajput, who before joining the BJP was the Congress' chief whip in the Assembly.

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News Network
January 27,2020

New Delhi, Jan 27: Remember the story of two friends coming face-to-face with a bear in a forest? One of the two friends climbs the tree to save his life and the other, not knowing how to, lays on the ground, breathless, pretending to be dead.

Well, that lesson turned out to be useful for this man who pretended to be dead when a tiger had both his paws on the man's chest.

Yes, that is right. IFS officer Parveen Kaswan recently shared a video of a man lying under a tiger, with their faces extremely close to each other with the caption, "You want to see how does a narrow escape looks like in case of an encounter with a #tiger. #Tiger was cornered by the crowd. But fortunately, the end was fine for both man and tiger. Sent by a senior."

Another Twitter user shared the full 30-second video in the comments. He also said that the incident occured in Tumsar in Bhandara district, Maharashtra. The spine-chilling clip shows a tiger running freely in the fields trying to avoid people who have surrounded him and are trying to shoo him away.

In his quest to run away, the scared tiger grabs a human. When he sees that people are still approaching him and trying to scare him away, he gets up and runs away for his life. All this while, the man who was captured by the animal lays still on the ground and does not make an attempt to get free.

This is what stuck with Twitter and they are praising the man for his presence of mind.

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News Network
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor took a swipe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday, saying this is time to fight the coronavirus not elections and that he should not endanger people's lives in a "hurry" to hold the assembly polls.

"The coronavirus situation in Bihar is worsening like it is in many other states of the country. But a big part of government machinery and resources are busy making preparation for the polls.

"Nitish Kumar ji, this isn't time to fight elections but the coronavirus. Don't endanger people's lives in this hurry to hold the polls," he tweeted.

Kishor, once a confidant of the JD(U) president before he turned a critic and was expelled from the party, joins leaders like LJP chief Chirag Paswan and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav in suggesting that the Bihar assembly polls should be deferred due to the pandemic.

Polls in Bihar are due in October-November but the Election Commission has so far not made any official announcement about its schedule.

The BJP and the JD(U) have been holding organisational meetings and said that they are ready for the elections.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Shirdi, Jan 19: Shirdi in Maharashtra will remain closed for an indefinite period from today in the wake of state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's decision to develop Pathri town in Parbhani district as Sai Baba's birthplace.

However, Deepak Madukar Muglikar, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, has said that Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi will remain open today and will not be impacted by the closure of the city.

"There are some reports in media that Sai Temple in Shirdi will remain closed on January 19. I want to clarify that it is just a rumor. Temple will remain open on January 19," Mr Muglikar said.

A call has been given for indefinite closure of Shirdi after Mr Thackeray's reported comment terming Pathri in Parbhani as Sai Baba's birthplace.

"Devotees will not face any difficulty if they come to Shirdi," said B Wakchaure, member of Saibaba Sansthan Trust.

Uddhav Thackeray has recently announced that Pathri will be developed as the birthplace of Sai Baba for religious tourism and also took a review meeting of the development plans in the Parbhani district.

One of the most popular religious destinations in the country, Saibaba Temple in Shirdi witnesses lakh of devotees visiting the holy site every year.

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