The Opposition INDIA bloc plans to go to the Supreme Court, alleging manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines during the recent assembly election in Maharashtra. The decision was made at a meeting this evening between veteran political leader Sharad Pawar and Delhi’s former Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. 

The Opposition, including Mr Pawar’s party, has sustained heavy losses in Maharashtra and with the approaching assembly election in Delhi the need was felt for some advance planning in this regard, sources indicated. 

Mr Kejriwal’s AAP has swept the last two assembly elections in Delhi, but this time, the BJP is hoping for better performance in view of the corruption allegations against the leaders of the ruling party including Mr Kejriwal.

The decision today was announced by Prashant Jagtap, leader of the NCP-Sharad Pawar who lost the assembly elections from the Hadapsar seat in Pune.

The Supreme Court, though, has been solidly backing the Electronic Voting Machines and upheld their sanctity in several judgments. 

During a recent hearing, the judges had even slammed petitioners over their tampering allegations, asking if “EVMs are not tampered when you win?”

“EVMs offer significant advantages. They have effectively eliminated booth capturing by restricting the rate of vote casting to four votes per minute, thereby prolonging the time needed and thus checking insertion of bogus votes,” the court had said during a hearing earlier this year. 

EVMs have also eliminated invalid votes, which were a major issue with paper ballots and had often sparked disputes during the counting process, the court said.

The Election Commission has rejected Opposition allegations saying it has found “no mismatch” between the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with their corresponding EVM numbers.

Noted lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi was present at the meeting. Also present were a group pf leaders belonging to Mr Pawar’s party who had lost the election.

The INDIA bloc has claimed that it lost the elections in Maharashtra due to manipulation of EVMs in favour of the BJP-led ruling coalition Mahayuti.

In the elections held last month, the BJP-led coalition won 235 of the 288 assembly seats. The Maha Vikas Aghadi, upbeat after the Lok Sabha results, could only pick up 46.

China has deployed an “alarming” number of ships in its biggest maritime mobilisation around Taiwan in years, Taipei says. Taiwanese forces were on high alert in anticipation of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) staging war games and whether they “turn into war”. Beijing has voiced fury over Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s US stopovers and call with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. China’s foreign ministry warned Taiwan last week that “seeking independence with the help of the United States will inevitably hit a wall”. It also called on Washington to “cease meddling in Taiwan-related affairs” n18oc_world n18oc_crux

Hamza al-Khatib, 13, was arrested at a 2011 anti-government rally and tortured – but Assad’s downfall has not brought his family justice. 

​Hamza al-Khatib, 13, was arrested at a 2011 anti-government rally and tortured – but Assad’s downfall has not brought his family justice.