09:39 UP votes: EVM glitches delay voting in Mathura, Baghpat: Polling was delayed in booth number 42 in Mathura’s Govardhan as well as in booth numbers 119 and 120 in Baghpat on Saturday as Electronic Voting Machines were found non-operational.
Voting has begun for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on Saturday morning.
The election process will be held in 73 assembly constituencies spear across 15 districts of the state.
As many as 839 candidates are in fray in the first phase and votes are being cast at 26,823 polling stations.
Meanwhile in Baraut, officials at the polling booths offered red roses to women voters, saying the Election Commission have ordered them to do so.
The first phase will see 1,17,65,768 women voters.
IMAGE: BJP candidate from Sardhana Sangeet Som flashes a victory sign after casting his vote on Saturday. Photograph: ANI
08:19 Trump says considering signing new order on immigration:
President Donald Trump has said he is considering issuing a ‘brand new’ executive order on immigration by next week, even though he expressed confidence that he will win the legal battle over the immigration ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order,” Trump told reporters travelling with him on Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base to Florida.
Asked if his plan might be to issue a new executive order, Trump said: “It very well could be. We need speed for reasons of security, so it very well could be.”
Trump said that ‘in honour of the (9th US Circuit court) decision’ he will likely wait until next week to respond with any action.
“Perhaps Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
The new executive order on immigration would include security measures, Trump said.
“New security measures. We have very, very strong vetting. I call it extreme vetting and we’re going very strong on security. We are going to have people coming to our country that want to be here for good reason,” he said.
Speaking at the White House Trump said: “We will be doing something very rapidly to do with the additional security for our country. You’ll be seeing that sometime next week.”
Trump said there are tremendous threats to the country.
“We will not allow that to happen, I can tell you that right now. So we’ll be going forward and we’ll be doing things to continue to make our country safe. It will happen rapidly and we will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm to our people,” he said.
00:56 Uddhav questions Maria’s transfer during Sheena case probe:
Needling the BJP which has made transparency its main plank for the BMC polls, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should reveal why former city police commissioner Rakesh Maria was transferred in the middle of the sensational Sheena Bora murder probe.
“You talk of transparency…Then tell everybody why Rakesh Maria was abruptly transferred while a crucial probe was on? And if Maria was guilty of some wrongdoing, why was no action been taken against him? What purpose did it serve to bring a new commissioner (Javed Ahmed) who in a few days was sent abroad,” Thackeray said while addressing a BMC poll rally in Mumbai.
Maria, who initially led the high-profile case and had also interrogated the accused, was shunted out of the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner and promoted as Director General of Police Home Guards in September 2015. Maria recently retired from the service.
Thackeray further said had he broken the alliance with the BJP earlier, the chief minister’s post would have been with the Shiv Sena.
“We had been naive all this while but not any more. We cannot be with a party that uses photos of Chhatrapati Shivaji and (convicted criminal) Pappu Kalani on the same stage. Soon, they will start using photos of (underworld don) Dawood Ibrahim as well,” he said.
Thackeray said the development of Metro rail, the issue that the BJP is harping on, was actually initiated by the Congress government and that the BJP has only conducted the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremonies.
“Why is the BJP in a hurry to get votes on the works done by the Congress?” he asked.
Source: Rediff