Timeline Refresh
The Aam Aadmi Party has also dared the EC to provide it with an original EVM after the central poll panel raised questions over the party's live demo of a voting machine hacking in the Delhi Assembly today.
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj demonstrated how an EVM can be hacked during the Assembly's special session today. However, the voting machine the Greater Kailash MLA used was a dummy of what the Election Commission actually uses during polling.
The Aam Aadmi Party said it will participate in the May 12 all party meeting to discuss the issue concerning EVMs.
The Election Commission has time and again rubbished allegations that EVMs can be programmed to favour any particular party.
Sunanda Pushkar was found dead at a suite in a five star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.
Tharoor addressed the media at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram after a television channel had broadcast a news item that claimed that he was involved in Sunanda Pushkar's death.
Tharoor said the said channel's broadcast was a bid to establish itself. "The media has very important role as a witness but the media doesn't have a role of being a prosecutor, a judge or an executioner."
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he had nothing to hide and had been fully cooperative with the police.
"Full facts and all the circumstances that have been mentioned in yesterday's distorted broadcast are known to the police. They have been investigating for last three years and so far have not been able to establish whether any murder has even occurred," said Tharoor.
Earlier this year, the head of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) forensic department, Sudhir Gupta had confirmed that the death of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor was unnatural and caused due to poisoning.
"Sunanda Pushkar's death was unnatural. We clearly said that this is a case of poisoning. This has been clearly stated in the opinion. This opinion has been made and formed on the basis of circumstantial evidence where certain drugs and poison have been recovered by Delhi police itself," Gupta told ANI.
Asserting that there is no iota of doubt in Sunanda's death case, he added, "This has also been confirmed by the chemical examination report of FBI America."
The AIIMS medical board had earlier in its reports, said that Sunanda was died of poisoning due to an overdose of the anti-anxiety drug Alprax.
The saffron party's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari, at a press conference in Delhi, alleged that there were "gross discrepancies' in the figures of donation amount shown by the AAP in its affidavits, party website, and what it has declared to the EC.
"One private news channel has done an 'expose on the AAP' when it comes to donations received by it. And, there is 'huge difference in the figures shown in its affidavit and what the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has told the EC," he alleged. "And, discrepancies exist in donation figures for both years, 2013-14 and 2014-15," Tiwari said.
The Delhi BJP chief, read out figures, quoting from the channel's claim. "So, in 2013-14, the AAP showed a donation amount of Rs 50.64 crore in the affidavit, Rs 19.82 crore on its party website, but to the EC it told that the figure stood at only Rs 6 crore.
"We wonder if this missing amount was routed in the corruption cases against the party that its own (sacked) Cabinet minister has highlighted," he alleged.
"So, based on the past and this new corruption case, a delegation of the party will go and meet the chief election commissioner at 4 pm to lodge a complaint. We will also urge the EC to probe the entire accounts of the AAP. And based on the string of irregularities being exposed, we will also ask the EC to derecognise the party," Tiwari said.
Bharadwaj, who was a software engineer before he joined politics, claimed the EVM machines can be tampered with easily, and demonstrated on a mock machine.
Giving a step-by-step demonstration of the how the tampering is allegedly done, he said there are different codes to make anyone on the panel win, based on their position in the panel. After the BJP swept the polls in UP, opposition parties -- the BSP, Congress, AAP, SP and CPM -- claimed that the machines were tampered with.
Bhardwaj demonstrated that the vote tally is absolutely different from actual votes cast. He resets the machine with the code and demonstrates that the same EVM, which passed the mock test, could be manipulated during polls.
He said he spent 10 years working in this field and challenged any scientist to explain it to him.
Also read: Who is Saurabh Bharadwaj?
The PM responded to the tweet saying, "Happy to have met. My best wishes."
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted this morning there will be an expose on a "big conspiracy on an issue now raging in the country."
The Speaker warned the members of the house to maintain decorum. Highlights of what is happening at the assembly session:
BJP and AAP legislators trade charges in the Delhi assembly. The Speaker asks BJP leader Vijender Gupta to leave the House. The Speaker said, "Allow the house to function." Gupta was then marshalled out of the Delhi assembly
AAP MLA Alka Lamba speaking now: "The BJP had questioned EVMs in the past, but it doesn't do so anymore. We feel that the votes people have given have not gone to the people they voted for. Questions are being raised. EC has not given access to EVMs. Old EVMs used in civic polls."
AAP is expected to give a demo on EVM tampering inside the assembly.
After his removal from Delhi Cabinet, Mishra has been grabbing headlines by leveling sensational allegations against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejiwal and Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain.
Talking to ANI, Phoolka questioned Mishra's biggest allegation against Kejriwal of accepting bribe of Rs 2 crore from Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain in front of him. "If it was bribe money, why would it be given in front of a third person? Jain has denied going to Kejriwal's house on that day. Mishra has failed to answer media queries properly," said Phoolka, adding that Mishra's charges aren't believable.
He further opined that Mishra should public the address of that farmhouse, which according to him belongs to Kejriwal's relative.Brining in another angle into the debacle, the eminent lawyer alleged that the Union Government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been harassing Kejriwal.
"The one who favours Kejriwal faces criminal cases and those who speak against Kejriwal are being made a hero," said Phoolka.He said when Mishra was with Kejriwal then he was summoned by the Anti- Corruption Bureau for no reason.
In an interview to PTI, he said the farm sector is in distress and there was no question of taxing agricultural income. NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy had late last month stated that farmers should be liable to pay tax on their incomes at par with other citizens after seasonal fluctuations are adjusted.
"I have already contradicted that. I have already said that we are not in favour of doing that," he said. Stating that the agriculture sector is under distress, he said farm holdings are very small in size.
The move comes after angry parents hurt over the manner in which their daughters were forced to remove their clothes, including inner wear, for appearing in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, filed complaints before the Central Board of Secondary Education and the National Human Rights Commission.
The strict adherence to the CBSE's anti-cheating dress code for those appearing for the NEET saw an invigilator asking a student in Pariyaram in Kannur to remove her bra before writing the exam on Sunday.
Reacting to the incident, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said "forcibly implementing such regulations in the name of dress code cannot be accepted by any civilised society."
A few complaints have been received on the manner in which some students were frisked in certain examination centres, he said in a Facebook Post.
He said a student was asked to remove her inner wear.
"If the incident is true, it is a serious violation of human rights. Such restrictions will mentally affect the children appearing for the exams," the chief minister said.
The Kerala Child Rights Commission has sought a detailed report from CBSE within 10 days, even as the Kerala Human Rights Commission suo motu registered a case against the CBSE and demanded a high level probe.
Representational image.
Islamic hardliners outside the Jakarta court cheered and shouted "God is greatest!" as news came through that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was to be sent to prison, a surprisingly harsh punishment after prosecutors recommended only probation.
Purnama, Jakarta's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader, looked calm when the verdict was announced and said he would appeal, as some of his supporters in court burst into tears.
The governor was taken to a Jakarta prison after the verdict but it was unclear whether he would remain in jail or be released later to allow him to file his appeal. The governor was hauled into court last year to face trial on charges of insulting Islam while campaigning for re-election, in a case critics said was politically motivated.
Tagore's birth anniversary will be celebrated today across India.
President Pranab Mukherjee has also urged people to draw inspiration from Tagore's idea of 'oneness of humanity' as he greeted the country on the eve of the poet's birth anniversary.
"On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, I pay humble tribute to this great creative genius, who authored India's national anthem and won for Asia its first Nobel Prize in literature," he said.
Mukherjee said Tagore was an intellectual giant and that he was fascinated by the idea of interaction between civilisations through the exchange of knowledge about their cultures and literatures.
Image: Rabindranath Tagore with his daughter Madhurilata in 1890.
-- He had received 211 "corruption-related" complaints against the party and the government since last evening.
-- "What has happened in the past two years is most unfortunate. You and four-five of your friends have betrayed the people of the country," he wrote.
-- Mishra said he was out to demolish the labyrinth of lies, betrayal and corruption and would go to any extent in his fight against corruption.
-- "I know your every move and I am treading cautiously. I will tell the CBI everything that I have seen or heard," he threatened.
-- He claimed that he had been removed from his ministerial post for writing a letter to the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB).
-- "You know what kind of deals I am talking about. Had I not written to the ACB, you would have not removed me in a hasty manner," he added.
Ratcheting up his attack on Kejriwal and the party leadership, Mishra had yesterday submitted documents related to the water tanker scam to the ACB, alleging that Kejriwal delaying probe against former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
The Indian economy will grow 7.5 per cent next year by virtue of consumption revival and higher infrastructure spending, says a report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
For 2017, India's economic growth is projected stable at 7.1 per cent before catapulting to 7.5 per cent going into the next year, the regional development arm of the the United Nations said.
This forecast is "underpinned by higher private and public consumption and increased infrastructure spending," the report said.
The International Monetary Fund last month projected the India's growth at 7.2 per cent in the fiscal 2017-18 and at 7.7 per cent for the next financial year. While, the Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank sees the growth jumping to 7.4 per cent in 2017-18 and 7.6 per cent in the next.
To begin with, AAP receives an Income Tax notice on a Rs 2 crore donation.
The Delhi CM's aides have promised a big revelation at 2 pm today when the Delhi assembly sits for a special one-day session called to pass a Goods and Services Tax-related bill. The expose, reports NDTV, will centre around the alleged tampering of Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs.
And Arvind Kejriwal is not resigning as the chief minister of Delhi.
Ankit Lal, who is heads AAP's IT and Innovation cell, last night tweeted, "No. @ArvindKejriwal is not resigning. But it's something bigger than this...Watch out...today, 2pm, Delhi assembly!"
He tweeted, "Keep yourself free tomorrow 2pm onwards. Tune in to Delhi assembly live telecast on Website and FB. It'll be interesting to say the least."
Kejriwal also tweeted saying a big conspiracy will be revealed in the assembly today by MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Meanwhile, the sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra , who has levelled corruption charges against Kejriwal, today challenged the AAP chief to contest an election against him.
Asserting that there is no internal democracy within the AAP, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said that anyone who raises their voice against party supremo Kejriwal is targeted.
"This is a continuation of what has been happening in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Anyone who tries to raise their voice against Kejriwal, or tries to raise dissent in the party, action is taken against them. I would like to ask, where is the internal democracy in Aam Aadmi Party for which it was created," Maken told ANI, adding that the basic premises on which the AAP was created has been compromised."People in AAP are working under total dictatorial attitude of Kejriwal," he added.
Meanwhile, another Congress leader Tom Vadakkan urged an immediate action against the corrupt elements in the party.
"In view of the new inputs, the Anti-corruption chief must investigate this matter urgently. Because on the basis of this an FIR must be launched against the accused and action must be taken against these corrupt elements," said Vadakkan.
The apex court has also banned the media from publishing content of orders passed by Justice Karnan.