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The Election Commission today assured that polled electronic voting machines (EVM) are ‘absolutely safe in strongrooms’-- reacting to videos on media and social media which show EVMs being transported in private vehicles. “The visuals seen viral on media do not pertain to any EVMs used during the polls,” said EC in a press statement. These series of videos show these machines being tampered in Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP). Opposition Unites Leaders of several parties like Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) complained to the EC on these alleged movement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) to replace the polled machines in strongrooms. Chandrababu Naidu who is already doing the rounds and gathering steam against Bharatiya Janata Party, is one of the leaders along with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury who is mobilizing parties to meet EC. “The EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch between the VVPAT and the EVM tally. We want that even for a single mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, all VVPATs in that assembly segment must be counted. This is important to maintain integrity of the electoral process,” Yechury said, according to a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/oppn-parties-may-meet-ec-to-demand-evm-tracking/story-e6PJ9EOGW99ZuX7GGcvuRM.html">HT report</a>. EC however has been assuring that its procedures are in place. “The aspersions in clips being used in media merely pertain to the storage or movement of Reserve unused EVMs. However, any case of lapse even in handling of reserve EVMs is thoroughly investigated and disciplinary action taken against the officers responsible,” EC assured in a statement. Exit Poll Effect These allegations which came a day after exit polls, and mostly by opposition parties, could cast a shadow of doubt on Lok Sabha election results, which are to be announced on May 23. A poll of polls predicts a comfortable win for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by PM Narendra Modi. An aggregation of the various exit polls says that NDA would win more than 300 seats in the current Lok Sabha Election, leaving no option for many opposition parties to come together and form a front, in case of a fractured mandate. Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, who had been a career Congress politician and Finance Minister for many years, was one of the many people who<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/elections-2019-pranab-mukherjee-says-concerned-at-reports-of-alleged-tampering-of-voters-verdict-ami-2040695"> </a>expressed concern over alleged ‘tampering of voters’ verdict’. <a href="https://twitter.com/CitiznMukherjee/status/1130767638508949504">https://twitter.com/CitiznMukherjee/status/1130767638508949504</a> SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-households-face-a-double-whammy-with-price-hikes-in-milk-and-fuel/articleshow/69424415.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Indian households face a double whammy with price hikes in milk and fuel</a>

Conspiracy theories hound electronic voting machines two days before India’s election results

<ul><li>Multiple constituencies around India are reporting of problems with their Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).</li><li>Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are among the two states with the highest instances of <keyword id="59035" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="evm">EVM</keyword> malfunctions so far.</li><li>A Jana Sena party member was also arrested for trying to destroy an <keyword id="467705" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="EVM-machine">EVM machine</keyword> in Andhra Pradesh.</li></ul>The general election has only just begun and <a href="https://twitter.com/TOIHyderabad/status/1116168496390594560">reports</a> of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctions are flying in from multiple corners of the country. Butchirajupalem in Visakhapatnam and Cooch Behar in West Bengal were one of the first constituencies to halt voting because the EVM machines stopped working. One of the poll booths in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and two booths in Hyderabad, Telangana are also reported facing problems with their voting machines a while later. But most of the EVM malfunctions are being reported in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. In Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) are reporting EVM malfunctions. YSRCP is reporting that as many as 99 of the polling booths aren’t working. Tensions between both political parties have <a href="http://resulted">resulted</a> in violent clashes and ransacking of poll booths. According to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, its a <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1116216514917617670?s=19" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">discouraging signal</a> for voters who may not necessarily return once an EVM has been replaced or repaired. And if it wasn’t enough that EVMs are breaking down on their own, a Jana Sena party member was <a href="https://www.abplive.in/election/jana-sena-candidate-arrested-for-damaging-evm-962424">arrested</a> from trying to destroy one of the voting machines in the Guntakal Assembly constituency of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1116346109494996992?s=19">According</a> to the election commission there have been six incidents in Andhra Pradesh, five in Arunachal Pradesh, one in Bihar, two in Manipur and one in West Bengal. The issue of EVMs EVMs have faced their fair share of controversy in India. There has been many a claim that the machines are vulnerable to being hacked and have security issues. It’s one of the reasons that Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was brought into the picture. It allows voters to verify that their vote was registered correctly. 
 
 
 
 
 <div type="image" title="26b8624d4b3c341ade960017541b32eb" msid="68825834" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Confidence in EVMS as a voting mechanism has been waning&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>











 Even the Supreme Court, in trying to increase confidence in the electoral process has asked the for random auditing of poll booths to increase from one to five. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/general-elections-2019-vvpat-how-to-verify-vote/articleshow/68475130.cms">Here's how voters can verify their ballots during the world's largest democratic exercise</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-supreme-court-order-on-vvpat-adds-pressure-on-election-commission/articleshow/68776872.cms">India's Supreme Court orders five-fold increase in vote audits putting Election Commission under pressure to prepare</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/lok-sabha-elections-2019-what-is-the-difference-between-evms-and-vvpat/articleshow/68480192.cms">What Is The Difference Between EVMs And VVPAT?</a>

The first day of voting in India is dotted with glitches in the electronic voting machines

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is fielding bipartisan calls to resign after a racist photo featured on his 1984 yearbook page surfaced.</li><li>Northam held a bizarre press conference on Saturday denying that he was in the photo, but admitting he had worn blackface on at least one separate occasion.</li><li>The yearbook itself has also drawn scrutiny over its oversight, after local Virginia media outlets uncovered another photo featuring a man in blackface.</li></ul>The 1984 yearbook that embroiled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in controversy over a racist photo on his page featured at least one other photo of a man in blackface, local Virginia news outlets reported on Saturday.Northam held a bizarre press conference Saturday afternoon denying that he was in the photo on his yearbook page, which featured a man in blackface standing next to a person dressed in a Ku Klux Klan-style robe and hood. But Northam also admitted that he worn blackface in a separate incident as part of a Michael Jackson costume."I didn't realize at the time that it was as offensive as I have since learned," Northam told reporters.Amid demands from lawmakers across the political spectrum that he resign, Northam said Saturday he would remain governor.Meanwhile, speculation has begun mounting about the creation of the 1984 yearbook, and how racist photos could have been published.A second photo featuring blackface, according to a copy of the yearbook <a href="https://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/article_c499344a-270c-11e9-8b5e-77c26de86de6.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obtained by The Virginian-Pilot</a>, shows a man in dressed in women's clothing, with a caption saying, "Who ever thought Diana Ross would make it to Medical School!"Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ralph-northam-denies-racist-yearbook-photo-after-apology-2019-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'It is definitely not me': Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam refuses to resign and denies he appeared in racist photo despite later blackface incident</a>The newspaper reported that the East Virginia Medical School yearbook was largely student-run, and it's unclear if any faculty oversaw its publication.School alumni also said they remembered submitting their own photos to be published on their pages, though Northam said during his press conference that his former classmates told him multiple photos in the yearbook were mistakenly published on the wrong pages, and he believed such an error occurred on his page.In a <a href="https://www.evms.edu/about_evms/leadership/president_provost_dean/statement020219/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> published Saturday morning, the president of the Eastern Virginia Medical School said he was convening an "urgent meeting" involving board members and senior leadership to address the incident."We cannot change the events of the past, but we can use these events as reminders of the importance of our ongoing work toward diversity and inclusion. This is a time for self-reflection and humility," President Richard Homan said. "On behalf of our beloved EVMS, I sincerely apologize for the past transgressions of your trust."<div></div>

Another photo in Gov. Ralph Northam's 1984 yearbook shows a man in blackface

As the second phase of the <keyword id="43573" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="General-Election">general election</keyword> takes off in India, voters in 11 states and 1 union territory— West Bengal, Odisha, <keyword id="20154" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="tamil-nadu">Tamil Nadu</keyword>, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Manipur and Puducherry — were up early queuing up at the election booths. Nearly 5 million people are eligible to vote in the state of West Bengal with a nearly equal distribution between men and women, albeit there are only 87 registered third-gender voters in the three constituencies going to vote in the state today today. And Puducherry, while being a union territory, is home to nearly one million voters who have been facing <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/puducherry-congress-tries-to-win-back-sole-mp-seat/articleshow/68899027.cms">increasing</a> debt and a fall in social initiatives due to lower devolution of taxes from the central government. A lot of voters and politicians are wondering if the second phase of polling will be marred with problems of EVM malfunctions and poll booth violence like evidenced during the first phase of the general election in India. Two incidents of poll booth violence have already been reported in West Bengal. In Uttar Pradesh, four of the contesting politicians — Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati — have been <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/top-story/up-election-2019-after-yogi-mayawati-ec-bans-azam-maneka-from-campaigning/story/337566.html">banned</a> from campaigning by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for issuing controversial comments. For Tamil Nadu, the days leading up to the election were a little chaotic after the Income Tax (IT) department seized over 1,350 kilograms of gold and nearly ₹14.8 million which was allegedly stashed to bribe voters. Elections in Vellore, one of Tamil Nadu’s most-watched constituencies, were cancelled altogether after ₹1.05 million was found at Durai Murugan’s house, the father of Kathir Anand — a DMK candidate in the district. Another ₹115.3 was also found at Poonjolai Srinivasan’s cement godown, a known associate of Murugan. Even Maharashtra hasn’t had an easy go of it with over 15,000 cases of alleged Model Code of Conduct violations <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019-over-15-000-code-of-conduct-cases-filed-in-maharashtra/story-luAZtetS7fq6EUDRsYztmI.html">registered</a> since March 10.The Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Dilip Shinde, has stated that over 700,000 officers and employees of the states are involved in keeping elections in Maharashtra peaceful and efficient for the 10 seats of the state going to the polls today. <div type="ExtQuote" text="The enforcing departments (Income Tax and Police) also lodged total 15,095 FIRs against the offenders for violating the model code of conduct, with most of the cases pertaining to storage and distribution of illicit liquor, followed by possession of firearms." auname="Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde"></div>

 If voters aren’t being bribed, then they’re being threatened. Kawasi Lakhma, a Congress minister from Chhattisgarh, has been <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/general-elections-2019-chhattisgarh-congress-mla-kawasi-lakhma-threatens-voters-with-electric-shocks-2024279">telling</a> voters that they vote against his party, the EVM machine will deliver an electric shock. While Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu struggle with voter bribery issues, Bihar and Karnataka are more concerned with voter turnout. The city of Bengaluru — the Silicon Valley of India — in particular, has issues of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/election-2019-gold-confiscated-in-tamil-nadu-ahead-of-second-phase/articleshow/68933494.cms">voter turnout</a> while Bihar’s <a href="https://www.livemint.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections/bihar-elections-2019-patna-is-missing-a-whole-generation-of-millennials-1555350536677.html">brain drain</a> means that a lot of its eligible millennial voters don’t actually live in the state anymore. As Manipur goes to polls again, the Returning Officer (RO)The Returning Officer (RO) of the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, Haobam Rosita, has <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/returning-officer-recommends-re-poll-19-polling-stations-manipur">recommended</a> that re-polling needs to take place at 19 of the polling stations from the first phase of the general elections in the state. Among the many reasons that Rosita cites for repolling, the most disturbing is probably one of the constituencies showed that voter turnout in excess of 100% and that the polling booth for the Najang Village was put up at a non-designated location. In order to keep disruptive elements from affecting the polls similarly, the west Indian states of West Bengal and Assam are <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/2nd-phase-tight-security-in-five-election-bound-districts/articleshow/68868180.cms">increasing</a> security in constituencies along the border — especially in districts classified as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘critical’. And unfortunately, for Jammu and Kashmir, none of the contesting political parties are talking about the environmental issues which have a heavy bearing on the state’s water supply as well as its tourism industry, which has been suffering as more and more of the state’s green capital is being destroyed. The third phase of the general election will kick off on April 23 covering 14 states — Assam, Goa, Karnataka, Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and West Bengal. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/election-2019-gold-confiscated-in-tamil-nadu-ahead-of-second-phase/articleshow/68933494.cms">Over a ton of gold seized a day ahead of polls shows the depth of the rot in Tamil Nadu</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/job-losses-will-haunt-bengaluru-indias-silicon-valley-as-it-goes-to-polls-today/articleshow/68930893.cms">Job losses will haunt Bengaluru, India’s Silicon Valley, as it goes to polls today</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/lok-sabha-elections-2019-second-phase-of-polling-in-tamil-nadu-voters-issues/articleshow/68930595.cms">Tamil Nadu’s angry voters have a small oil field, a big highway, a medical entrance test, and a police shootout in mind</a>

Here’s what the second phase of the Indian general election has in store for the 11 states polling today

For the not-so-politically-aware voters of north-west Mumbai, at least one name in the EVM must have looked pretty familiar. Yes, you guessed it – it was <keyword id="6729" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rakhi-Sawant">Rakhi Sawant</keyword>. The multi-talented Rakhi contested the Lok Sabha polls from north-west Mumbai, on behalf of Rashtriya Aam Party, set up and funded by various businessmen of Mumbai. We call Rakhi multi-talented because other than being an actress, a dancer, a reality show participant and a self-touted social worker, <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> is the new ‘agenda’ that has helped her hit the headlines. When asked about her qualifications in the nomination form, she had checked on illiterate, but this illiterate ‘controversy’ queen holds assets worth Rs 15 crore. However, she is not the first showbiz star to enter the political arena. Business Insider India takes a close look at seven famous female entertainers who have embraced politics for reasons best known to them.

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Conspiracy theories hound electronic voting machines two days before India’s election results

Katya Naidu

The first day of voting in India is dotted with glitches in the electronic voting machines

Prabhjote Gill

Another photo in Gov. Ralph Northam's 1984 yearbook shows a man in blackface

Michelle Mark

Here’s what the second phase of the Indian general election has in store for the 11 states polling today

Prabhjote Gill

Rakhi Sawant Contesting Polls; Here Are 7 More Indian Actresses Who Have Embraced Politics

Nandini Sharma

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