SC backs EVMs , rules out revival of paper ballots
The Supreme Court on Friday , upheld the Electronics Voting
Machines ( EVM ) system for polling and refused to revive paper ballots .
The court said that “ blind distrust “ over the system is
not helpful .
The Court said that “ blind distrust “ , of a system breeds
unwarranted scepticism and impedes progress .
The part of Judgement delivered by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and
Justice Dipankar Datta had following main points
●
The Court refused the petitioner’s suggestion that
paper slips and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail ( VVpAT ) units be handed
over to electors to take a leisurely look before inserting them , into the
ballot boxes .
●
It dismissed the plea by the petitioners Association of
Democratic Reforms ( ADR ) , for cross verification of all EVMs and VVPATs across the country .
Currently , only 5% of VVPAT is
randomly matched in any constitution .
●
The Court refused to strike down Rule 49 MA of conduct
of elections rules .
Voters who claim that the EVMs
didn’t recorded their votes correctly is allowed to cast a test vote . If the
voters fail to prove the mismatch the , the poll official can starr action
against the mismatch under section 177 of IPC .
Key Suggestion
●
The Court suggested that the Election Commission ( EC )
devolve the possibility of devising an “
electronic machine “ to count the VVPAT paper slips .
●
The court also suggested that political parties could
be identified with Unique bar code , along with their symbols .
●
In a separate direction to EC , the top court ordered
that , from May 1 ,Symbol loading unit should be sealed and secured after the
process of loading symbol into VVPAF is over .
●
The Court directed that ‘ burnt ‘ or unloaded memory of
microcontrollers of 5% EVMs can be checked and verified by a team of engineers
from the EVM manufacturers in the case suspicion and tamepring .
Such an exercise can be initiated
on the basis of written request from candidates . The application has to be filed within
seven days of the declaration of election results . The expenses of the
verification will be born by the
candidate however if the EVMs are found to be tampered in verification , the
amount will be refunded to candidates .
Unlike Paper ballots , EVMs eliminated booth capturing
The Supreme Court on Friday said that a return to paper
ballots will bring back the evils of yesteryear . And it was any way “
impossible to preprogramme EVMs in spurious manner “ .
Supreme Court also said that the EVMs were more convenient
regarding to transportation .
The Court acknowledged that human error was possible in EVM
VVPAT system of polling .
Thought the court acknowledged that it was not possible “ to
rule out human errors “ , it was consoled by the fact that “ the manual om EVM
and VVPAT deals with such situation , andnlaus down the protocols which is to
be followed. “
SC judgement in EVM case a tight slap to opposition says Modi
; seeks apology
PM Modi in a rally in Bihar , welcomed SC verdict over
EVMs. PM said that poor ,backward
classes , Dalits used to be deprived of their votes through booth capture ,
when Congress , RJD and other from INDIA bloc’s were in Power .
Campaign for more use of VVPATs to continue , says Congress
The Congress , On
Friday said that their campaign for greater use of VVPATs to increase public trust will continue .
Court should nip in bud efforts by vested groups : Justice
Datta
The Supreme Court Judge Justice Dipankar Datta , in his separate
opinion on EVM said constitutional courts should “nip in the bud “ a “ fast
developing “ trend “ among certain vested groups “ to undermine the achievement
of nation warned through the hard work and dedication of its sincere workforce
.
The Judge was responding to the suggestion by petitioner
that nation should revert to paper ballots system for polling .
“ It is only improvement in EVMs or even a better system
that people would look forward to in ensuing years ,” Justice Datta said .
Second phase of Lok Sabha elections across 14 states for 88
seats records 61% voter turnout
Polling for the second phase of Lok Sabha election in 88
constituency was found to be largely peaceful . On Friday .
The provisional voter turnout recorded were 61% . In previous
Lok Sabha election ,the voter turnout recorded was 69.44% .
The highest voting percentage recorded was in Tripura ,
which registered 79.66 % of polls .
Lowest turnout was in Uttar Pradesh at 54.88% , Kerala
recorded 70.35% of turnout ..
And Karnataka , 69.23% .
All 20 seats of Kerala , 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka ,
13 seats in Rajasthan , eight seats in Mahrashtra and Uttar Pradesh , six seats
in Madhya Pradesh , five seats in Assam and Bihar , three seats in Chhatisgarh
and West Bengal , one seat each in Manipur , Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir ,
went to polls in Friday .
Over 15.88 crore voters were able to exercise their
franchises .
across 1.67 lakh polling stations . A total 1202 lakh
candidates were in fray .
Loco pilots did not watch cricket during Vizianagaram crash
The investigation into the train collision incident of the
two passenger trains in Vizianagaran district of Andhra Pradesh has not
revealed any evidence to prove that the locomotives pilots of one of the trains
were watching cricket at the time of accident .
In March this year , Union railway minister has claimed that
“ both the loco pilot and co pilot were distracted by the cricket match that
was going on “ .
No such evidence has been found in the railway enquiry .
CBI seizes cahce of weapons in Sandeshkhali
The CBI on Friday seized a cache of arms , and ammunition
during its searches at the premises of Shahjahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali .
In March after High Court order , CBI initiated inquiry in
Sandeshkhali case.
Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides has been accussed of land
grabbing and molesting women.
Study says Solar radiation available for producing power
falling in India
The quantity of
solar radiation falling available that can be converted by solar panel to
electricity is showing an “ alarming decreasing trend “ in several locations of
India , says an analysis by scientists at IMD , in a a scientific journals
named Mausam .
Increase Aerosol load particle – fine particle from Carbon
emission , fossil fuel burning and dust , clouding are said to be the causative
factors .
Aerosols absorbs the sunlight and absorbs from sunlight and
deflect it away .
The reduction in Solar radiation can be compensated with increased
number of Solar Panels.
India has plans to generate 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030
. This will mean at least 280 GW through solar panels .
Delicense Go First fleet : HC to DGCA
The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered , the Director
General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) to delicense Go First fleet .
The Court also instructed DGCA to facilitate export of all
54 aircraft from India and provide export certicficates .
Go First had filed for insolvency to National Company Law
Trubunal ( NCLT ) in May 2023 .
NCLT had prohibited lessors to take any adverse action
against Go First .
Following this 14 lessors moved to Delhi High Court against
NCLT orders .
NCLT is trying to find bids for Go First .
World
China and US should be partners rather than rivals , Xi
tells Blinken
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken , in Beijing . je said that US and China should be
partners rather than rivals and should help each other succeed rather than to
irr each other .
A statement released
by Chinese Foreign Ministry says that President Xi said that he was happy seeing US progress and US should
be happy to see China’s progress .
He said that China was committed to non alliance , and the
US should not create the small blocs . While each side can have its friends and
partners , it should not target , oppose or harm the other .
Pro Palestinian protests rock universities across , the
US
Pro Palestinian students rocked at many Universities at US .
University of Columbia , California were among the major universities where
protest continued . Protest in Indiana , Ohio Universities were also reported .
Protesters at
Universities across the country are demanding the schools to cut finacial ties
to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict .
37 million tonnes of debris in Gaza can take a year to
clear : UN
There are some 37 million tonnes of debris to clear away
from Gaza , once the Israeli offensive is over , a senior offical from UN Mine
action service ( UNMAS ) said on Friday
.
If 100 trucks are to be used it would take 14:years to clear
away the debris , said UNMAS .
Srilanka leases it’s white elephant airport
Srilanak said on Friday that it had leased , Mattala
Rajpalsha International Airport , a white elephant international airport ,
built with Chinese loans , to a foreign joint venture ..
The airport has been given to the Joint venture of India’s
Surya Aeronautics and Russia’s airport region management company at lease for 30 years . This has been done to
government seeks to offload loss making assets ..
Editorial
Aid for wars .
Ukraine , Israel win as Biden gets bipartisan , support for
aid package
The editorial is about recent bill passed by US senate
related to aid to Ukraine and Israel .
The bill is pending to be signed by President Joe Biden .
US senate passed 95 billion dollar aid package to Ukriane ,
Israel and Taiwan .
The aid fro Ukraine is 61 billion dollar. 26 billion dollars
for Israel , 8 billion dollar for Taiwan and Indo Pacific and one bill relating
to Tik Tok .
The passing of bill could be tough has Republican United
against it .
Republicans are not that much in favour of such aid packages
. This can be the last such aid package because if Trump comes to power there
is good chances that he will not bring similar aid packages .
