EVM-VVPAT case | Cannot disclose ‘source code’ of EVMs, will result in misuse: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on April 24 underscored that it cannot ask the Election Commission of India to disclose the source codes of the Electronic Voting Machines as it can result in its misuse. The source code often called “the brain” refers to a set of instructions that tells the machine how to function. A Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta made the observation while hearing a batch of petitions seeking 100% cross-verification of the vote count in EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail paper slips. The Supreme Court also said that the microcontrollers separately programmed by manufacturers in EVMs and VVPAT was “agnostic”, for they do not recognise political parties or candidates but only the buttons pressed by the voters.
Plea in Supreme Court for SIT probe into ‘corruption’ revealed through electoral bonds data
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday for constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate each instance of quid pro quo, corruption, and kickbacks that had been revealed through the disclosure of details on electoral bonds. The petition, filed by Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl D’Souza, said some of the country’s main investigative agencies, including the CBI, the ED and the I-T Department “appear to have become accessories to corruption”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24 attacked the Congress over its leader Sam Pitroda’s “inheritance tax” remark, saying that the grand old party’s “dangerous intentions” of snatching the assets and rights of people have come to the fore. The Congress will loot and equally distribute people’s earnings and properties, he claimed while addressing an election rally in Ambikapur, the headquarter of Surguja district, in Chhattisgarh. Amid the row, the Congress asserted that it has no plans whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax and cited former Union Minister Jayant Sinha’s remarks to allege that it is the Modi government that wanted to do so.
Rahul Gandhi says PM Modi scared of Congress’ revolutionary manifesto
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on April 24 claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had panicked after seeing the Congress’ “revolutionary” manifesto. “So did you like the Congress manifesto? You must have seen that the Prime Minister has panicked. It is a revolutionary manifesto,” Mr. Gandhi said while speaking at Social Justice conclave organised by the Congress in Delhi.
Modi says Congress gave ‘religion-based quota stabbing Ambedkar in the back’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24 accused Congress of reducing the quota for the OBCs in Karnataka by putting Muslims castes in the same category, and claimed that it plans to replicate this across the country. Speaking at an election rally in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, he dubbed the Opposition party as the “biggest enemy of the OBCs”.
Day after Supreme Court order, Patanjali issues another ‘bigger’ public apology
A day after the Supreme Court asked Patanjali Ayurved, a company co-founded by self-styled yoga guru Baba Ramdev, if its apology published in newspapers was as big and expensive as its usual “front page” advertisements for herbal drugs, the company issued another ‘bigger’ apology in the newspapers on April 24. Calling it an “unconditional public apology”, the ad said the company issues an unconditional apology for the non-compliance orders of the Supreme Court. “In wake of on going matter before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (Writ Petition C. No. 645/2022), we in our individual capacity as well as on behalf of the Company, unconditionally apologise for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the ad read.
Neha Hiremath murder case: CID gets six-day custody of accused Fayaz
The CID, which has begun investigation into the murder of student Neha Hiremath, has been granted six-day custody of the accused Fayaz. After taking up investigation into the case, the CID had approached the First Additional Civil and JMFC court of Hubballi seeking custody of the accused for further questioning. On April 24, the court granted six-day custody of the accused to CID, sources said. On April 23, Neha’s father had expressed satisfaction over the progress of the investigation and government’s decision to set up special court for hearing the case.
The West Bengal Government has moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made by the State’s School Service Commission (SSC) in State-run and State-aided schools. Challenging the high court order, the State Government, in its appeal filed before the top court, said the HC cancelled the appointments “arbitrarily”.
Iranian President Raisi concludes maiden visit to Pakistan; discusses ways to combat terrorism
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi wrapped up his three-day maiden trip to Pakistan on April 24 and had “productive” talks with the country’s top leadership, including the army chief, to combat terrorism and strengthen bilateral trade ties. The two sides signed eight MoUs while vowing to increase trade to $10 billion in the coming years. Mr. Raisi’s visit to Pakistan was the first by any head of state to Islamabad after the February 8 general election.
Indonesia declares Prabowo Subianto president-elect after court rejects rivals’ appeal
Indonesia’s electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony on Wednesday, after the country’s highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory lodged by two losing presidential candidates. Mr. Subianto, who is currently defence minister, won the election with 58.6% of the votes, or more than 96 million ballots, more than twice the amount received by either of the other two candidates. But his rivals alleged that his victory had depended on large-scale fraud and widespread state interference.
EU Parliament adopts new rules to improve air quality by 2030
The European Parliament adopted stricter legally-binding air pollution limits on Wednesday that must be complied with by 2030. The World Health Organization tightened its air quality guidelines last year, hoping to push countries toward clean energy and prevent deaths caused by dirty air. Air pollution causes 300,000 premature deaths in Europe each year. EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said the tougher EU rules could reduce that number by 70% over the next 10 years.
Australian police arrest 7 alleged teen extremists linked to stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church
Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney on April 24 to protect the community from a potential attack, officials said. The seven, aged 15 to 17, were part of a network that included a 16-year-old boy accused of the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church on April 15, police said. Five other teenagers were still being questioned by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and the New South Wales Crime Commission, which specialises in extremists and organised crime.
RBI bars Kotak Bank from issuing new credit cards, onboarding customers via online banking channels
The Reserve Bank of India today directed Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited to cease and desist, with immediate effect, from onboarding of new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards. The bank shall, however, continue to provide services to its existing customers, including its credit card customers. “These actions are necessitated based on significant concerns arising out of Reserve Bank’s IT Examination of the bank for the years 2022 and 2023 and the continued failure on part of the bank to address these concerns in a comprehensive and timely manner,” RBI said on April 24.
Former wrestler Narsingh Yadav elected chairman of WFI’s seven-member athletes’ panel
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Narsingh Pancham Yadav was elected chairman of the Wrestling Federation of India’s Athletes’ Commission here on Wednesday, completing a process that was mandated by the sport’s world governing body. A total of eight candidates were in fray for the seven positions and after polling, conducted on ballot paper, seven members got elected. They then chose Narsingh as chairman of the commission.
