(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

As many as 15,42,121 teens, aged between 18 and 19 have registered to vote in the upcoming assembly polls. The number of young voters born after 1.1999 registered to vote this time is more than double the number of first-time voters in the 2013 Assembly elections.

Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said Saturday “Of the 15.42 Lakh young voters 7.72 lakh have been enrolled in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls will be published on Feb 28 and the numbers of voters stands at 4.96 crores, for now, The Bangalore South Assembly constituency has the highest number of voters in the state at 5.01 lakh, Whereas Sringeri in Chikmagalur district has the lowest with just 1.62 lakh voters.

In a first, the Election Commission will set up all-women polling stations in Assembly constituency where the population of women in high “All personnel in these polling stations will be women” Kumar said, The voter’s gender ratio is now 973 women for 1.000 men and it is improving, he added.

Accessibility is the theme of the 2018 elections and the office of the chief electoral officer of working with the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) to lunch a special drive and identify voters who are persons with disabilities. The DWCD has details of 12 lakh persons with disabilities suitable polling stations are being identified for them, Kumar said.

He stressed that voters can apply to be added to the electoral rolls even after they are published on February 28. It’s a misconception that addition, deletion or modification cannot happen after final rolls are published. Electoral roll revision is a continuous process”, he said.
As many as 30.41 lakh application have been received under the special summary revision, of which 17.12 lakh were for addition and 10.41 lakh for deletion. No summary deletion is taking place this time like it happened in 2013 when 16 lakh names were deleted. So far, we have deleted 10.31 lakh voters, of whom 3.67 lakh are dead he said Kumar also launched a logo for the 2018 Assembly polls whose tagline is ‘ Inclusive, Accessible and Ethical’.

He said complaints pertaining to the inclusion of immigrants in the electoral rolls were highest in the Bengaluru municipal limits. We are discussing this closely with all political parties,” he said. the Election Commission has asked all parties to appoint booth- level agents to monitor the process of roll revision

New Delhi: The CBI has refused to share details of expenses incurred to bring back to India fugitive businessmen Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya, claiming immunity from disclosures under the RTI Act.

Pune-based activist Vihar Dhurve had approached the agency seeking details of expenses incurred by the government to bring back Mallya, wanted in India on charges of Rs 9,000-crore fraud and Modi, who is facing a money laundering probe.

Both Modi and Mallya have denied allegations of wrongdoings.

Mallya had fled the country in March, 2016 after the CBI diluted its lookout circular against him.

The agency has sent its team multiple times to London to pursue an extradition case against the embattled liquor tycoon.

The RTI application was forwarded to the CBI by the Finance Ministry. The agency transferred it to the Special Investigation Team looking after these cases.

In its response to the RTI plea, the CBI said it is exempt from making any disclosures under the RTI Act through a government notification of 2011.

According to Section 24 of the RTI Act, a few organisations are exempt under the transparency law.

However, the Delhi High Court had earlier underlined that organisations listed under Section 24 cannot claim exemption from disclosure if the information pertains to “allegations of corruption and human rights violations”.

(PTI)

Express photo by Sumit Malhotra

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on Friday a plea seeking an SIT probe and other reliefs in the over Rs 11,000 crore PNB fraud.

Two separate petitions were filed before the apex court on Monday seeking its direction to the Centre to initiate the process of deportation of Nirav Modi, who is abroad, and others allegedly involved in the case as soon as possible, preferably within two months.

One of the petitions was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud. The bench posted the matter for hearing on February 23. The PIL, filed by petitioner Vineet Dhanda, through advocate J P Dhanda, has sought setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the banking fraud, allegedly involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. It also sought a probe into the role of the top management of the Punjab National Bank(PNB).

The other plea, filed by advocate M L Sharma, had said that the SIT should consist of retired judges of the apex court while claiming that the banking fraud has caused serious injury to the general public and the state’s treasury.

It should be investigated not by an agency “being controlled by the political leaders/authorities”, Sharma’s petition had said. The plea has alleged that loans were issued in the case without following Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) financial rules and regular systems.

The plea by Dhanda has sought the court’s direction to the Finance Ministry to set guidelines for grant of higher amount of loans of Rs 10 crore and above to ensure safety and its recovery.

It has also sought a directive for the constitution of a committee of experts who would find the details of bad debt cases in the country. The CBI has already registered two FIRs — one on January 31 and another a few days ago — against billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi, his relative Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems and others for allegedly defrauding the PNB of about Rs 11,400 crore.

(PTI)

After holding successful campaigns in Kolar, Bagalkot, and other districts, debutant All India Mahila Empowerment Party’s (MEP) will be holding a public meeting in Bengaluru on Feb 16 at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Government First Grade College, R.T Nagar.

The public meeting is expected to attract various leaders from across political parties to join MEP under the leadership of Dr. Nowhera Shaik, the party announced.

MEP held its last meeting in Bengaluru at Townhall early this month.

All India Mahila Empowerment Party, which is supporting the protesting workers of the Bisi Oota Scheme has filed a writ petition against the govt of Karnataka, regarding the plight of the workers. The petition number is: 6926/2018 and is titled Nowhera Shaik vs State of Karnataka.

MEP said that the workers associated with the scheme are only paid Rs. 1000. The party has filed a PIL asking for a minimum wage of Rs. 15,000 per month and has also demanded that the govt workers permanent, among other benefits.

Last week MEP’s President Dr. Nowhera Shaikh had met the protesting Mid-Day Meal Scheme Workers and assured them of all the help.

Mumbai: Slamming Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa over his remarks that Congress president Rahul Gandhi had consumed meat before visiting a temple Shiv Sena today said that discussing such issues during poll campaign shows the “sick mentality” of the “nervous” BJP. Three days back, Yeddyurappa had hit out at Rahul Gandhi for reportedly visiting a temple after eating “Javari chicken” during his tour of northern parts of the poll-bound state.

“Congress president Rahul Gandhi gave the BJP family sleepless nights in Gujarat. It looks as if the same is going to be repeated in the Karnataka (Assembly elections). Rahul Gandhi visited a number of temples in Gujarat and offered prayers there.

That time, the BJP criticised him severely, as it was worried about its own existence thinking what will happen if the Congress leader adopted Hindutva,” the Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana said. Gandhi, during his election, had stopped at Kanakagiri in Koppal district and visited the Kanakachala Laxmi-Narasimha temple.

The write-up also claimed that the Congress will corner the BJP in the upcoming Karnataka elections, similar to what they did last year ahead of the Gujarat polls by adopting “soft Hindutva”. “Now, election rallies are being held in Karnataka and there is an exchange of allegations between the BJP and the Congress.

Like in Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi has been visiting mosques as well as temples in that state. This has angered the BJP’s chief ministerial face, BS Yeddyurappa, who accused Gandhi of visiting a temple after consuming meat,” the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

And though the Congress immediately issued a clarification saying that Rahul Gandhi had a vegetarian meal before visiting the temple, according to Shiv Sena, the whole incident only shows the new “low” that this election campaign has touched.

“Discussing such issues during the election campaign is a sign of sick mentality,” the Sena noted. The piece further read that one should not hurt people’s religious sentiments, and also should not see what others were eating. “Every religious place has its own customs and traditions. There are temples in Maharashtra where meat is offered to the deity…Raking up such issues in election campaigns displays a sick mentality.

Only they know what was there in Rahul Gandhi’s plate. But we are sure that it has turned the BJP nervous,” the party added. The Sena said that instead of thinking about whether former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was a vegetarian or not, it was important to note that she divided Pakistan. The Sena, in his mouth-piece, also hit out at Yeddyurappa over the violence at Karnataka border during his tenure as Karnataka chief minister.

“During ‘vegetarian’ Yedyurappa’s tenure as the chief minister, the blood of Marathi speaking people living in Karnataka’s border areas was shed after they were hit by violence. This violence is also a kind of non vegetarianism!” the Sena said. PTI MM NP MG.

(PTI)

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate Thursday conducted multiple searches in connection with a Rs 280 crore money laundering case against billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and others following a complaint by Punjab National Bank.

Official sources said the agency sleuths swooped down on at least ten premises of entities involved in the case early morning.

The premises raided by the ED here include Modis residence in Kurla, his jewellery boutique in Kala Ghoda area, three company locations in Bandra and Lower Parel, three premises in Surat in Gujarat and Modis showrooms in Chanakyapuri and Defence Colony in Delhi.

The ED had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after going through a CBI FIR registered early this month.

It is understood that the ED also went through the PNB complaint that was made out against Modi and others.

The agency, they said, would probe if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and these proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

The CBI had booked Modi, his brother, wife and a business partner for allegedly cheating PNB of over Rs 280.70 crore in 2017.

The CBI had also raided the residence of Modi, his brother Nishal, wife Ami and Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, all partners of Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds and two bank officials — Gokulnath Shetty (now retired) and Manoj Kharat, who were also named in the FIR as accused.

Modi (46), who had figured in the Forbes list of richest Indians, was booked by the CBI for cheating after PNB sent a complaint to it alleging that the jewellery firm owner, his brother, wife and Choksi entered into a criminal conspiracy with the officials of the bank and cheated it, causing a “wrongful loss”.

“The public servants committed abuse of official position to cause pecuniary advantage to Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and a wrongful loss of Rs 280.70 crore to Punjab National Bank during 2017,” the CBI FIR has alleged.

The bank had also alleged in the complaint that a fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LOU) took place on January 16, 2018 for and on behalf of the accused firms, which approached the bank and presented a set of import documents to the branch with a request to allow buyers credit for making payment to overseas suppliers.

Yesterday, the CBI received two fresh complaints from PNB allegedly against Modi and a jewellery company alleging fraudulent transactions worth about Rs 11,400 crore.

(PTI)