Scindia attacks Chouhan over MP agrarian distress Kamal Nath moves SC for random checks of VVPAT
BHOPAL: Recalling the police firing on farmers in Mandsaur district on June 6 last year, Madhya Pradesh Congress election campaign committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s hands were stained with farmers’ blood and that his government was anti-farmer.
He was referring to the death of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur on June 6, 2017.
Addressing ‘parivartan rallies’ at Javad and Manasa in Neemuch district, Scindia said CM Chouhan called himself a son of a farmer but when farmers were on a peaceful agitation for their genuine needs, they faced bullets. Several farmers were implicated in false criminal cases and lodged in jail, he added.
He said the Chouhan government conducted a mere formality by instituting a judicial commission, which absolved all the guilty. He said what happened in Mandsaur was not a ‘golikand’ (firing incident) but a ‘hatyakand’ (massacre) akin to the Jallianwala Bagh case.
He said he would like to appreciate the stand taken by the widow of one of the deceased farmers who gave a befitting reply to the CM on the latter offering her a compensation of ₹1 crore by saying she would give ₹1 crore to Chouhan and he should return her husband to her.
Scindia said the CM called himself the mukhiya (head) of MP but when he didn’t see a crowd of people during his ongoing Jan Ashirvad Yatra despite efforts made by the government and the administration, schools were closed and students forced to attend at the cost of their careers.
He tore into the government over the admission-cum-recruitment Vyapam scam and said people had lost confidence in doctors and asked whether they got a degree before or after the scandal.
He added that the Congress had promised that all farm loans would be waived within 10 days of coming to power. “It was the UPA government that waived ₹72,000 crore of farmers’ loan when it was in power at the Centre,” he said.
Reacting to Scindia’s remarks, BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “The language being used by Congress leaders for the CM will cost them in the polls as people won’t accept it. We have asked our leaders to refrain from using such language.” NEW DELHI: Amid a debate over alleged vulnerability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS) to tampering, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath approached the Supreme court on Friday, demanding random verification of Voter verifiable Paper Trail (VVPAT) units with EVM votes in the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
In a petition filed in the top court, Nath has pleaded that the Election commission of India (ECI) be directed to randomly verify VVPAT slips with EVM votes at 10% of polling stations in every constituency.
He has also asked that the ECI should provide the voter list in text format.
The case was mentioned before a three-judge bench led Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who posted the matter for hearing in the coming week.
A VVPAT machine is linked to EVMS and dispenses a paper proof of the votes casted.