Rafale documents stolen from MoD: Govt tells SC, threatens media

New Delhi, Feb 11: As the counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly polls began, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday raised doubts on EVMs, alleging that no machine having a chip is tamper-proof.

He called upon the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to take a fresh look at the use of EVMs in the country.

"No machine (which) has a chip is tamper-proof. Also please do for a moment think, why no developed country uses EVM," Singh said in a tweet.

"Would CEC and Hon Supreme Court please have a fresh look on EVM voting in India? We are the largest democracy in the world, we can't allow some unscrupulous people to hack results and steal the mandate of 1.3 billion people.

"If they match the votes in the counting unit. Declare the result. If they don't match then count the ballots of all polling booths in the assembly. It would convince everyone and save time also as this has been the consistent argument of CEC in favour of EVM," the Congress leader said.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls was held on Saturday.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015.

New Delhi, Jun 24: A litre of diesel on Wednesday was more expensive than a litre of petrol after the price of the former was hiked by 48 paise on the 18th successive day of fuel price revisions. While petrol price remained unchanged for the first time since June 7, diesel prices maintained upward trajectory to touch new highs.

It is for the first time in Delhi that diesel has become more expensive than petrol. A litre of the fuel now costs ₹79.88 as against ₹79.76 for a litre of petrol, as per a report in news agency ANI.

While surging fuel prices may generate much-needed revenue for governments, it would also have a detrimental impact on household budgets. The spike in diesel prices also has a wider impact on the transport and agricultural sectors which are largely dependent on the fuel.

The widest gap between the prices of the two fuels was on June 18 of 2012 when a litre of petrol was at ₹71.16 in Delhi while diesel was at ₹40.91. On June 28, the gap between the two fuels was 31.17 per litre in Mumbai. Around that time, there was a spurt in sales of diesel passenger vehicles while demand for such vehicles has come down significantly in current times. This has also led many manufacturers to ditch diesel engines completely.

The current trend of fuel price hikes are unlikely to do demand for petrol vehicles much good either.

Daily price revisions of the two fuel had been temporarily halted for 83 days till it was resumed on June 7.

India's demand for fuel doubled in May and has been steadily rising in June with the easing of restrictions. Indian refineries have already scaled up crude processing with Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, looking to operate its plants at about 90% capacity in June.

The rising fuel prices, however, have resulted in political uproar with Congress leading the charge against the central government and accusing it of penalising consumers by imposing high taxes. A demand for including fuel prices under Goods and Services Tax (GST) has also been renewed by many but it is highly unlikely that it would happen. With oil companies looking to cut back on their previous loses and governments - central as well as states - aiming to generate revenue after tumultous weeks of lockdown, fuel price hikes are likely to stay till at least the end of June.

Kanpur, Jul 10: Kanpur encounter main accused Vikas Dubey, who was injured in an encounter with the police, died on Friday, the police said.

"Gangster Vikas Dubey arrested for killing eight policemen is dead," confirmed the police.

According to SP Kanpur West Anil Kumar, gangster Vikas Dubey attempted to flee after the car overturned. Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen. However, he was shot in the retaliatory firing.

"Vikas Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen after the car overturned. Police tried to make him surrender, during which he fired at the policemen. He was injured in retaliatory firing by police. He was later rushed to the hospital," SP Kanpur West told reporters here.

Dubey, the main accused in the Kanpur encounter was arrested by the police in Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was on the run for the last six days and had come to Ujjain to offer prayers at Temple, where he was identified by a security guard at the shrine.

The gangster is the main accused in the encounter that took place in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants allegedly opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest Dubey. Eight police personnel were killed in the encounter.

Dubey managed to escape after the killing.  The Uttar Pradesh police launched a hunt for him and raised the bounty on him to Rs 5 lakh.

Bahua Dubey and Prabhat Mishra, close aides of the main accused, were killed in separate encounters in Etawah and Kanpur respectively, on Thursday.

The main accused's other aide Shyamu Bajpai was arrested by the Chaubeypur police following an encounter. He carried a reward of Rs 25,000, the police informed on Wednesday. Earlier the same day, Uttar Pradesh's Special Task Force (STF) gunned down Vikas Dubey's close aide Amar Dubey in Hamirpur district.