Kovind is 14th President, first BJP leader set to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan

Agencies
July 20, 2017

New Delhi, Jul 20: Ram Nath Kovind was on Thursday elected as the 14th President of India becoming the first BJP leader and one with RSS background to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Backed by 40 political parties, Kovind, 71, defeated the joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar in a straight fight by polling 65.65% votes with a vote value of 7,02,044. Kumar got the balance 34.35% votes with a value of 3,67,314.

Kovind will be sworn in as the 14th President of India on July 25 at a ceremony in Parliament. Chief Justice of India J S Khehar will administer the oath of office to Kovind.

Kovind received overwhelming support from across the country with his poll managers claiming to have secured 116 more votes than they had anticipated.

Of the total 4896 lawmakers eligible to cast their votes, 4851 exercised their franchise. Of these, Kovind polled 2930 votes against 1844 garnered by Kumar. As many as 77 votes were found to be invalid.

Kovind will be the second Dalit leader to occupy the top constitutional post after K R Narayanan.

The presidential election was seen as a battle of index for opposition unity as 18 parties had joined hands to take on the BJP-led NDA. It also brought out the faultlines in the opposition ranks as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke ranks to vote in favour of Kovind.

Amid claims of cross-voting by the BJP, Congress leaders asserted that the opposition unity forged for the presidential election had stayed intact and Kumar had in fact polled more votes than expected in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

An analysis of the result showed that Kovind had benefited by cross-voting by Congress MLAs in Gujarat, Goa and Chhatisgarh. Kovind also managed to get more votes than anticipated in several states including Maharashtra, Tripura, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam.

“I never aspired to be the President. My win is a message to those discharging their duties with integrity. My election as the President is an evidence of the greatness of Indian democracy" an emotional Kovind told reporters shortly after the election results were declared.

“My best wishes to Kovindji. It has fallen upon him to uphold the Constitution in letter and spirit in these challenging times,” Meira Kumar said.

Congratulations poured in from across the country with President Pranab Mukherjee being among the first to extend best wishes to Kovind on being elected as his successor.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi drove the Kovind's residence on 10, Akbar Road to greet him on his election.

“Congratulations to Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji on being elected the President of India! Best wishes for a fruitful & inspiring tenure,” Modi said.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also congratulated the President-elect. “The President of India enjoys a unique position as defender and protector of the Constitution, upholder of democratic traditions and as supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The President is the conscience keeper of the Constitution of India,” she said.

The vote shares in each state are as follows:

Andhra Pradesh

Kovind - 27189

Meira - 0

Invalid - 3

Arunachal Pradesh

Kovind - 448

Meira Kumar - 24

Assam

Kovind - 10556

Meira Kumar - 4060

Bihar

Kovind - 22490

Meira Kumar - 18857

Chhattisgarh

Kovind - 6708

Meira Kumar - 4550

Invalid - 3

Goa

Kovind - 500

Meira Kumar - 220

Invalid - 2

Gujarat

Kovind - 19404

Meira Kumar - 7203

Haryana

Kovind - 8176

Meira Kumar - 1792

Invalid - 1

Himachal Pradesh

Kovind - 1530

Meira Kumar - 1887

Jammu and Kashmir

Kovind - 4032

Meira Kumar - 2160

Jharkand

Kovind - 8976

Meira Kumar - 4576

Invalid - 4

 

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has made key appointments in its different commands all across the country including formations that look after operations along the borders with China and Pakistan.

Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari has been appointed as the head of the Delhi-based Western Air Command (WAC) which looks after both the crucial borders, with China in Ladakh and all along Pakistan from Ladakh up to Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Chaudhari would be assuming charge of the new office on August 1, replacing Air Marshal B Suresh who is superannuating after a brief tenure of nine months there.

In the Shillong-based Eastern Command, incumbent Air Marshal RD Mathur would be moving to the Bangalore-based Training Command on October 1, he will be replaced by Air Marshal Amit Dev. The Eastern Command looks after the entire Northeastern region including the border with China from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the new appointments issued on July 24, Kargil war gallantry awardee Air Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik would be taking over as the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the Prayagraj-based Central Air Command.

On October 1, the Air Force would also get a new in-charge of personnel in Air Marshal RJ Duckworth who is presently the SASO in the WAC.

Air Marshal Vikram Singh would be the next SASO of the WAC. Air Marshal J Chalapati-- the officer who had briefed the Supreme Court on the Rafale issue last year, would be the SASO of the Trivandrum-based Southern Air Command.

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News Network
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Kapil Baisala who opened fired at the Shaheen Bagh protest site last week is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, police said on Tuesday, sparking a war of words between the BJP and the AAP.

While the BJP accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of "playing" with the security of the country, the AAP hit back, stating the saffron party was indulging "dirty politics".

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajesh Deo said that Baisala and his father joined the AAP in early 2019.

Baisala's family, however, refuted the police's claim.

Kapil Baisala's uncle Fatesh Singh told PTI, "I have no idea where these photographs are circulating from. My nephew Kapil had no association with any political party nor does any other member from the family. My brother, Gaje Singh, (Baisala's father) fought assembly elections in 2008 on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and lost. After that no one from our family had any links with any political party."

Singh added that Baisala also doesn't have friends associated with the AAP or any other political party.

Gaje had also contested the 2012 civic body polls from the BSP, the police said.

The police officer said they seized Baisala's mobile phone and retrieved WhatsApp data.

On Saturday, Baisala fired two rounds in air at Shaheen Bagh. According to eyewitnesses, the man shouted "Hindu Rashtra Zindabad" and fired two rounds.

He was overpowered by the police and later arrested.

In the pictures, it was seen that he and his father joined the party in the presence of Atishi Marlena, Sanjay Singh and other leaders, sources said.

The police said on Thursday, Baisala, along with his friend Sarthak Larolla, went to Shaheen Bagh from his village on a bike.

Through CCTV footage, it was found they took the DND flyover, Maharani Bagh, Sarai Jullena and reached Holy Family hospital, a senior police officer said.

"Baisala was not comfortable on the bike as he had hidden the pistol near his waist. They entered the hospital's parking where he adjusted the pistol, used the washroom and headed towards Shaheen Bagh," the senior official added.

When they reached the protest site, Larolla left the spot with the motorcycle and Baisala's mobile phone. Later, Baisala fired two rounds in the air and was apprehended. The weapon was recovered from near the spot, the police said.

Larolla joined the investigation and the mobile phone was seized from his residence.

Baisala has been remanded to police remand for two days.

He had bought the pistol around seven years ago for his brother's marriage. The source of the weapon from where he procured it is yet to identified, police said.

The sources said Baisala was previously also involved in firing incident but was never caught nor was a case registered against him.

Hitting out at the AAP, BJP president J P Nadda accused Kejriwal of playing with the security of the country and said that the people will give the party a befitting reply.

"I want to make clear to Kejriwal that this country is bigger than any election, any government, and the country will not forgive those who play with its security. The people of Delhi will give a befitting reply," Nadda tweeted.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked on whose directions was the Delhi Police accusing his party.

"Before the police revealed it (Baisala being an AAP member), how did BJP's Delhi president Manoj Tiwari come to know about it," Singh asked and accused the police of maligning the party.

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: A disturbing video of a Covid-19 patient, speaking his last words, after his oxygen supply was allegedly cut off, has surfaced on social media. The patient reportedly died after indicating that the oxygen supply to him was cut off despite his requests.

The video has a 35-year-old Covid-19 patient bidding good-bye to his family, from a government hospital bed in Hyderabad. The patient Ravi Kumar can be seen speaking out against the negligence of of the medical staff in providing ventilator support to him when he needed it the most.

The video has led to social media outrage as it attracted public attention towards plight of patients in government hospitals

"I am not able to breathe, I pleaded but they did not continue oxygen for the last three hours. I am not able to breathe anymore daddy, it's like my heart has stopped, Bye daddy. Bye to all, daddy," these were apparently the final words of the man, who spoke in his local dialect, and shared on social media.

Several reports have claimed that the man had been admitted to government Chest hospital, after several private hospitals refused to admit him. His ventilator support was allegedly taken off in the hospital, after which he recorded the video message.

The victim’s family shared the video message for the public to know of the negligence.

Reports have it that Ravi’s covid-19 report, which testes positive, was given to family a day after his death, when 30 of his family members performed the final rites, thus making all of them vulnerable to the virus. Ravi’s father has alleged that the test was done on June 24 and Ravi died on June 26, while the report was given to them on June 27.

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