Daily wrap: Re-poll in Chittor; Pragya calls Godse a patriot
EC announces re-poll in AP’s Chittor LS seat
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced re-polling for the Chandragiri Assembly constituency and the Chittoor Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh. The re-polling will be on May 19, during the last phase of polling in the country. The polls were held to these constituencies on April 11. Reports said the EC declared the April 11 polls as ‘null and void.’ More details are awaited.
‘Match referee’ Election Commission under cloud, again
A WhatsApp joke doing the rounds goes something like this: The Election Commission will not join the BJP. Instead it has decided to provide outside support to the party. Though the purpose is to elicit a laugh, the joke is indicative of a deeper problem regarding the credibility of the EC going by its recent rulings which are seen as favouring either the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his close aide Amit Shah. The latest one, adding further fuel to doubts over the EC’s impartiality, has to do with its order to wind up the election campaign in Bengal a day earlier than scheduled.
Also read: EC credibility: Kolkata violence and six unanswered questions
Cong not gunning for PM post, aim is to stop BJP: Ghulam Nabi Azad
The Congress does not have a problem if it is not offered the Prime Minister’s post, senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said. He told mediapersons in New Delhi on Thursday that the sole objective of the party was to keep the BJP and the NDA out of power. “We are not going to make it an issue if it [the PM post] is not offered to us,” the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.
Pragya Singh Thakur calls Godse a patriot, rubbishes Kamal Haasan
BJP’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday (May 16) called Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, a “deshbhakt” (patriot). “Godse was a patriot and will remain a patriot. People calling him a terrorist should look within and will be given a befitting reply in this election,” she said when asked to react to actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s remark on Godse.
CBI withdraws plea seeking to further investigate Bofors case
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday withdrew its application from a Delhi court seeking permission to further investigate the politically sensitive, Rs 64 crore Bofors payoff case. The agency told Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Navin Kumar Kashyap that it wants to withdraw the application filed on February 1, 2018. CBI had moved the trial court seeking permission for further probe in the matter saying it had come across fresh material and evidence.
Violence breaks out in J&K’s Bhaderwah after one person killed in firing
Curfew was on Thursday (May 16) imposed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bhaderwah Valley following violent protests triggered by the killing of a person in a firing incident, police said. While officials were trying to ascertain the reason behind the firing incident, relatives of the deceased Nayeem alleged he was a victim of cow vigilantism, police said. However, the other side involved in the incident said they opened fire after they found the two men roaming under suspicious circumstances on Wednesday night, police said.
