Nasheman News :  The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday demanded that in view of the latest charges against the electronic voting machines (EVMs) by a hacker in London, the old, tried and tested ballot papers should be used again in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The party has also exhorted all opposition parties to boycott the polls if their demand was not paid heed to.

Rajya Sabha member of AAP and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Singh told IANS that this was necessary to “save democracy and install faith of the people once again in the election process”. 

The national spokesman of the AAP further said that the latest revelations clearly shrouded the neutrality of the EVM’s and hence should be replaced with ballot papers.

“These EVM’s show the benefit of EVM’s going to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and takes away from the opposition a level playing field” he said further. 

Chief spokesman of the party’s state unit, Vaibhav Maheshwari while claiming that the Election Commission was not ready to concede that the EVM’s were open for tampering demanded that the poll panel ensure a “public audit” of the EVM’s.

Raising doubts on the fairies of the EVM’s, the party has demanded that all political parties should write to the Election Commission of India, saying that they will boycott the elections for the Lok Sabha if the EVM’s were used for the polls. 

“There is no other option but to ban the EVM’s and conduct the Lok Sabha and all future elections through ballot paper method” Sanjay Singh said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday had spoken on similar lines and had cited the example of a “developed nation like Japan” which still used the traditional ballot paper method for elections in their country. 

“In view of the recent revelations, further doubts have been created in the minds of people and the EC should taken them into account” the former UP chief minister has said.

The ruling BJP leaders, both in the state and the centre, have trashed the accusations made by the opposition parties and have claimed that by raising doubts on the EVM’s, the opposition was making ground for an almost certain defeat at the hustings in the Lok Sabha 2019 polls.

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday lashed out at the opposition, with Modi berating the Congress for never having the will or intention to end corruption, and Shah dismissing the January 19 rally of opposition leaders in Kolkata as a “gathbandhan” (alliance) of power-seekers keen on serving their own interests.

Addressing a gathering in Varanasi on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Modi said his government has in the last four-and-a-half years succeeded in ending pilferage of public welfare schemes which successive Congress governments since Independence never intended.

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, Modi said a former Prime Minister had famously said that of the 100 rupees that the Central government doles out for public welfare, only 15 rupees reach the beneficiaries with the rest 85 per cent leaked through corruption.

“It was an admission of a fact, of a system that the party which ruled for so long had given to the country. But even during its later rule of 10-15 years, the party never tried to stop this pilferage. The middle class taxpayer sincerely kept paying taxes and the loot of 85 per cent continued,” Modi said.

“Now I will tell you the present situation. Using technology, we have completely ended this 85 per cent pilferage. If we had not changed the system, the loot would have continued. This could have been done earlier, but there was no intent, no will,” he said.

Modi averred that in the last 4.5 years, his government has disbursed 5.78 lakh crore rupees or 80 billion dollars under various schemes through direct benefit transfer to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

He said if the old system had been allowed to continue, 4.91 lakh crore rupees would have leaked through corruption.

Modi said his government identified and cleaned 7 crore fake beneficiaries who existed only on paper.

Speaking at a party rally in northern West Bengal’s Malda, Shah said the opposition leaders who gathered at the Brigade Parade Ground rally only wanted a “majboor” (helpless) government so that they could “indulge in corruption”, which was not possible under the “majboot” (strong) government of Modi.

“All these leaders of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) want a loose and helpless government in the country, so that they can indulge in corruption. In contrast, we want a strong government, which can teach a lesson to Pakistan,” Shah said, launching the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state.

Shah asked the crowd whether they wanted a “majboor” government or a “mazboot” government. As the crowd rooted for a strong government, Shah said: “Who can give a strong government? Only (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi can give a strong government, and none else.”

Rubbishing talks of “gathbandhan”, Shah said: “It is only an alliance of power-seekers and those only interested in serving their own interests.”

“What will they do for the country? The sole agenda of the alliance is to remove Modi.

“We say remove poverty, corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, they say remove Modi. To eradicate these ills, you (the people) have to ensure Modi returns to power, because this weak alliance of leaders won’t be able to deliver,” he said.

Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had organised the mega rally of anti-BJP opposition parties at the Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday, Shah said: “Mamata Di, even if you gather 25 leaders, and they hold each others’ hands on the stage, Narendra Modi can’t be removed. Hundred crore Indians are standing rock solid behind Modi.”

Shah also mocked at the prime ministerial ambitions of the various opposition leaders present at the Brigade Parade Ground rally.

“There were 23 leaders on the dais, nine of them are prime ministerial aspirants. Nine PM candidates on one stage! There is a big queue,” he said, tongue in cheek.

He said in contrast the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has only one leader.

“We have only one leader. The entire NDA stands rock solid under the leadership of Narendra Modi,” he said.

Nasheman News : At least 14 people have died in a major fire that broke out on two Tanzanian-flagged ships, both carrying Indian and Turkish crew, in the Black Sea, Crimea Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said on Tuesday, triggering fears that the fatalities may include Indians.

The Crimean and Russian authorities, however, did not identify any of the victims in the Monday night horror near the Kerch Strait that separates Crimea and Russia. 

The Mumbai-based National Union of Seafarers of India told IANS that they were aware of the casualties but had no information about how many Indians, if any, had perished. 

Preliminary information said the fire erupted due to the failure of a pump being used to transfer fuel between the two vessels – Candy and Maestro – in violation of security regulations, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The two ships had a total of 32 crew members including Turks, Indians and a Libyan intern. 

According to TASS, Candy had a crew of 17 — eight Indian nationals and nine Turks while the Maestro carried seven Indians, seven Turks and the Libyan.

“… We currently have information about 14 dead sailors… Other sailors have not been delivered to hospitals yet,” the Crimean leader said.

The Indian embassy in Moscow was in touch with the agencies in Russia to get more information, the External Affairs Ministry said in Delhi. 

A spokesman from Russia’s Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport said that 12 people had been rescued and there were no chances of finding any more survivors.

“The fire on ships continues… It will not be extinguished until all the gas burns out,” the spokesman said. 

Officials said that Russian rescuers were trying to reach sailors who jumped into the waters to avoid the fire.

Severe weather conditions prevented rescue ships from bringing victims to the shore for medical treatment, RT News reported. One of the vessels was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. 

Maritime traffic was not affected by the incident and navigation through the Kerch Strait is still open, the Director of the Crimean Sea Ports said.

Authorities in the Crimean city of Kerch said they were ready to receive the victims. 

The crew members were sailing in “neutral waters” in the Black Sea when the incident occurred, reports said.

The Kerch Strait is a focus of tension between Russia and Ukraine. In November, Russian border guards seized three Ukrainian naval vessels near the narrow channel, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.

The strait holds strategic importance for both sides. It is an important economic lifeline for Ukraine that allows ships leaving the port city of Mariupol to access the Black Sea.

It is also the the closest point of access for Russia to Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.