The CEO Office here had recently said that Delhi will be the first state/UT in which a booth app shall be used in every polling station for the first time in the country.

NEW DELHI: Technology will be an important component in the upcoming Delhi polls as voters’ slips will carry QR code to facilitate electors and speed up their identification, officials said on Monday.

The CEO Office here had recently said that Delhi will be the first state/UT in which a booth app shall be used in every polling station for the first time in the country.

“This latest technological innovation will make the poll process fast through the use of QR (Quick Response) Code reading of voter slips of electors,” a senior official said.

This provision will help in faster identification of electors.

The app will give the status of electors waiting in the queue to the public, who can plan their visit to the polling station accordingly for their convenience.

Booth app will also give voter turnout on a real-time basis on polling day, the official said.

Sources said, a proposal is also being considered to allow carrying mobile phones to booths to download QR code from the voters’ helpline app if a voter forgets to bring the slip, adding, the phone after scanning the generated QR code would be deposited in a locker before casting of vote.

It is just a proposal as of now, a source said.

To make election accessible, there will be the provision of Braille EPIC, Braille photo voter slip, ramp, wheelchair, volunteers, sign language and pick and drop’ facilities etc., for voters with a disability.

The facility is in addition to the other basic amenities at polling stations, officials said.

Aurangabad: NCP MLA from Beed district in Maharashtra, Prakash Solanke, on Monday night announced that he would resign as the member of the Legislative Assembly, as he is “unworthy to do politics”.

Solanke, who got elected from Majalgaon seat on four occasions, denied any link between his sudden decision and his non-induction in the state Cabinet, which was expanded on Monday.

He, however, added that the expansion of the Cabinet has proved that “I am unworthy to do politics”. “I am going to resign on Tuesday and stay away from politics now.

The MLA further said he was not unhappy with any leader in his party.

“I have apprised NCP leaders about my decision to step down. I will meet Legislative Assembly Speaker (in Mumbai) on Tuesday afternoon and hand over my resignation letter. My resignation has nothing to do with the Cabinet expansion,” he clarified.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expanded his council of ministers by inducting 36 ministers, including NCP leader Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as deputy chief minister.

In the 288-member Assembly, the NCP has 54 MLAs after the Shiv Sena which has 56 members.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday moved a resolution in the state Assembly demanding the scrapping of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Though the one-day special session was convened to ratify the extension of the reservation for SC and ST in the Assembly and the Parliament for another decade, the resolution against CAA was also taken up in view of the the widespread concerns among public in this regard, official sources said.

While presenting the resolution, Vijayan said the CAA was against the “secular” outlook and fabric of the country and would lead to religion- based discrimination in granting citizenship.

“The Act contradicts the basic values and principles of the Constitution.

In view of the anxiety among the people of the country, the Centre should take steps to drop the CAA and uphold the secular outlook of the Constitution,” he said.

Noting that the Act had triggered widespread protests among various stratas of society, the Chief Minister said it had dented India’s image in front of the international community.

Vijayan also ensured the Assembly that there wont be any detention centres in the southern state.

When the session began, O Rajagopal, the lone BJP member in the Assembly, objected to the resolution stating that it was “illegal” as both Houses of the Parliament had passed the CAA Act.

The Opposition Congress -led UDF had demanded the Left government to convene a special session and pass a resolution against the CAA during an all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister on December 29 to discuss the issue.

Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ that it is unfortunate that Fadnavis decided to boycott the swearing-in of the council of ministers.

MUMBAI: A day after the BJP skipped the Uddhav Thackeray-led ministry’s expansion ceremony, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday slammed its former ally for constantly hitting out at the fledgling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance government “just for the sake of opposing”.

The Shiv Sena said now that the state has a “full government”, the opposition should show magnanimity by allowing the Thackeray-led dispensation to function.

By unnecessarily targeting the Thackeray government from day one, former state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the opposition BJP have made a “mockery of themselves” in the eyes of the people, it said in sarcastic remarks.

“Now after a month, the state has a full government of 43 ministers and Fadnavis should not try to bring bad omen. Fadnavis and his party should not try to oppose the government just for the sake of opposing,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Monday’s expansion, which raised the strength of the state ministry to 43, came over a month after the Thackeray- led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government came to power.

The chief minister expanded his Cabinet by inducting 36 ministers, including his son Aaditya Thackeray and some Gen-next leaders from political families, while NCP’s Ajit Pawar made a comeback as deputy CM.

The Marathi daily said the council of ministers has the capability of expediting the development of the state.

It is unfortunate that Fadnavis decided to boycott the swearing-in of the council of ministers.

Even in the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, the opposition created pandemonium and staged walkouts, it said.

“Now, the state has a full government. The opposition should show the magnanimity of allowing the government to function,” the Thackeray-led party said.

The BJP earlier this month boycotted the MVA government’s tea party on the eve of the winter session in Nagpur, and on Monday skipped the ministry expansion ceremony.

The Shiv Sena last month joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

On November 28, six minsters, two each of the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena took oath along with Thackeray.

The Sena said in the last one month, the six-member ministry successfully handled the winter session of the state legislature and took important decisions like farm loan waiver and meal at Rs 10 for poor people.

“When the country was facing unrest due to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the six-member ministry kept the state calm,” the Marathi publication said.

It also said that due to the induction of Sena allies like Bachchu Kadu (of Prahar Janshakti Party), Shankarrao Gadakh (Krantikari Shetkari Paksh) and Rajendra Yedravkar (Independent), many Shiv Sainiks could not make it to the ministry.

Apart from the opposition BJP, Sena MP Sanjay Raut also skipped the ministry expansion ceremony on Monday.

Raut’s absence was attributed to his brother Sunil Raut, a Sena MLA, not getting a ministerial berth.

Referring to the induction of the chief minister’s son and first-term MLA Aaditya Thackeray into the Cabinet, the Sena said he had plans for sectors like education, health, sports, tourism and environment, and now has the opportunity to work as minister.

he first quake with a magnitude of 4.7 hit at 10:42 pm, followed by one measuring 5.5 six minutes later.

NEW DELHI: Four medium intensity tremors with magnitudes ranging between 4.7 and 5.5 hit Jammu and Kashmir in a span of less than two hours on Monday night, the National Centre for Seismology said.

The first quake with a magnitude of 4.7 hit at 10:42 pm, followed by one measuring 5.5 six minutes later.

The two occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The third quake measuring 4.6 hit at 10:58 pm, followed by the fourth one at 11:20 pm with a magnitude of 5.4.

The third and fourth quakes occurred at the depth of 36 kilometres and 63 kilometres respectively.

There were no immediate reports of casualty and damage to properties.

Separately, a quake with a magnitude of 5 hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands at 10:29 pm.

Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar islands witness high seismological activities.

PDP leader Surinder Choudhary underscored the need for releasing the incarcerated political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir.

JAMMU: The PDP reiterated its demand for the release of Jammu and Kashmir’s political leaders on Sunday while asserting that the prevalent situation in the region was undermining the very idea of democracy.

It also said the current situation was bringing back the memories of the Emergency days.

“For peace to prevail, the government has to shun its proverbial ostrich approach and ascertain the situation, which is grim and worrisome,” People’s Democratic Party (PDP) general secretary and former MLC Surinder Choudhary said.

Addressing a meeting at the party head office here, he underscored the need for releasing the incarcerated political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting discussed the prevailing political situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also took stock of the arrangements being made to commemorate the fourth death anniversary of party founder and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Choudhary also urged the government to provide immediate relief to the farmers in Jammu as well as in Kashmir, who suffered massive losses due to an unprecedented snowfall and heavy rains early this winter.

He urged the government to adopt a long-term strategy to cope with the agrarian crisis looming large, with those associated with the farming sector bearing the brunt.

Stating that the bunkers built by the government for the people in the frontier regions were inadequate and did not have basic facilities, the PDP leader requested the government to review the process afresh so that in times of hostilities between India and Pakistan, poor people were not exposed to hardships.

The SP leader claimed that if the BJP MLAs were taken into confidence, it would emerge that 300 MLAs were angry with the chief minister.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of trying to save his chair by doing “injustice” to Muslims in the garb of action taken against people protesting the contentious citizenship law and the NRC.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Yadav said: “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath knows that 200 BJP MLAs had staged a sit-in against him inside the UP Assembly. To save his chair, he is doing injustice on Muslims.”

The SP leader claimed that if the BJP MLAs were taken into confidence, it would emerge that 300 MLAs were angry with the chief minister.

“He (Adityanath) is afraid of this and getting injustice done by the police to save his chair,” Yadav said.

At least 19 people were killed across the state in widespread clashes during protests against the amended Citizenship Act and proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Yadav said the truth would come out if a probe by a retired high court or Supreme Court judge was conducted into the violence.

“It will also become clear that the people who died in the violence were killed by police bullets. What is the truth that the government wants to hide?” Yadav asked.

This banning step has been attributed to the recent cases where the enemy had targeted the naval personnel using these sites and social media network and had tried to elicit operational information.

New Delhi: Indian Navy has issued orders to ban the use of social media site Facebook. The order was issued on December 27. This banning order comes on the heels of December 20 arrest of 8 persons, Seven Navy personnel from Vishakhapatnam and a Hawala operator from Mumbai.

The Andhra Pradesh Intelligence Department launched an operation in association with Central Intelligence Agencies and Naval Intelligence and had busted an espionage racket having links with Pakistan.

Apart from banning the use of Facebook, the order bans use of smartphones within the naval areas like all the bases and even onboard ships forthwith.

The ban has been extended to the messaging apps and social networking sites as well. Further, the ban on Facebook is being seen as a ban on all other Facebook-owned sites as well. WhatsApp and Instagram are Facebook-owned. 

This banning step has been attributed to the recent cases where the enemy had targeted the naval personnel using these sites and social media network and had tried to elicit operational information.

The total number of personnel serving in the Indian Navy is 67252. The bigger worry faced by the service will be of a large number of civilian staff working in the harbours and naval dockyard as they do not come under the naval rules and act. 

The swearing-in will take place at 1 pm in the Vidhan Bhavan (state legislature) premises where a total of 36 ministers are likely to take oath, they said.

MUMBAI: Ten Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Ashok Chavan, will join the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra council of ministers during its expansion on Monday, party sources said.

The swearing-in will take place at 1 pm in the Vidhan Bhavan (state legislature) premises where a total of 36 ministers are likely to take oath, they said.

From the Congress’ side, Ashok Chavan, K C Padvi, Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Deshmukh, Sunil Kadar, Yashomati Thakur, Varsha Gaikwad and Aslam Sheikh will take oath as Cabinet ministers, the sources said.

Besides, Satej Patil and Vishwajit Kadam of the Congress will be sworn in as ministers of state, they added.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28.

The state Cabinet currently has six ministers, besides the chief minister.

Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut of the Congress, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena and Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP took oath along with Thackeray on November 28.

Maharashtra can have a maximum of 43 ministers.

The size of council of ministers cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total number of MLAs, which is 288 in the state.

The Shiv Sena last month joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

As per the power-sharing formula decided by the three MVA allies, the Sena will get 15 ministerial berths, excluding the CM’s post, the NCP will also get 15 and the Congress 12.

The Shiv Sena has 56 MLAs, the NCP-54 and the Congress-44 in the 288-member House.

Markets as well residential areas in Muslim-dominated localities of the town, the headquarters of Aravalli district, wore a deserted look.

MODASA: To protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Muslim community in Modasa town in north Gujarat observed a self-imposed “Janta curfew” on Friday.

Markets as well residential areas in Muslim-dominated localities of the town, the headquarters of Arvalli district, wore a deserted look.

The Aravalli Muslim Co-ordination Committee had given a call for a bandh (shut-down) as well as a “Janta curfew”.

Its impact was felt in Old City area, Vegetable Market, Kasba, Suka Bajar, College Road and some other areas.

But the bandh call did not receive much response in non-Muslim areas.

“Not a single Muslim came out of house today. All our shops and businesses remained shut. We had given the call for bandh and janta curfew to register our protest in a peaceful yet effective way,” said Maulana Mohsin Sahab of the Coordination Committee.

“We strongly oppose both CAA and NRC as they are against the spirit of our Constitution. We want the government to think over them again and withdraw these draconian measures,” said the cleric.