Lok Sabha Election News and Views
REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India March 16-31, 2019
Hacker Voting Village at Def Con Convention in Las Vegas
An Editorial Initiative of Raman Media Network Editor: Rakesh Raman
News | Events | Opinion | Voter Education | Trends REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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Main Stories in This Issue
Political Announcements
Facts and Figures
No Alliance with AAP in Delhi: Rahul Gandhi Will Modi Win Lok Sabha Election 2019? LDF Announces Candidates from Kerala Number of Electors in 2019 News and Analysis
Falsehood
Lok Sabha Election Schedule Announced How EVMs Are Used to Win Elections Election Commission’s Observer App
Kejriwal Refuses to Die in Hunger Strike Commission Fails to Control Social Media Topics of Trouble in India
For Your Information Veteran politician Sheila Dikshit - as the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee – is trying to revive the party in Delhi. She plans to win all the 7 Delhi Lok Sabha seats.
Major political parties have complained about the vulnerability of EVMs and demanded voting on ballot papers. The CEC has rejected the demand and election will happen on EVMs.
REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
भारत के नेताय का बौ धक तर इतना कमज़ोर है क य द वे अपने झूठ, फ़रे ब, या आपरा धक रकॉड के कारण राज न त म न होते तो वे कोई काम न कर पाते और भख ू े मर जाते।
March 16-31, 2019
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No Alliance with AAP for Lok Sabha Election: Rahul Gandhi Currently, veteran politician Sheila Dikshit - as the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee – is trying to revive the party in Delhi. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has stated that Congress will not have any alliance with Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee While Congress will have alliances with local parties in other states to defeat Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the Delhi Congress leaders have decided to stay away from AAP. It is learnt that AAP was offering just 2 seats out of 7 to Congress while AAP is fast losing clout among the voters because of its bad governance in Delhi. Today, Delhi has become a virtual hell under Kejriwal’s rule. Most people believe that in 4 years, Kejriwal and AAP have caused such a damage to Delhi that now it will take it almost 40 years to recover from the ruins. Now Delhi is among the most polluted and the dirtiest cities of the world and corruption is rampant in every street of Delhi while Kejriwal government never tried to control it. Similarly, the education standards – particularly in Delhi schools – are going from bad to worse while Kejriwal has no interest in improving the quality of education. Rather, Kejriwal and his party colleagues are making false claims about Delhi school education.
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March 16-31, 2019
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As AAP is expected to get defeated in Delhi, Kejriwal is desperate to join hands with Congress. “At a time when the whole country wants to defeat BJP, Congress is helping BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. Rumors are that Congress has some secret understanding with BJP. Delhi is ready to fight against Cong-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance,” Kejriwal tweeted. Currently, veteran politician Sheila Dikshit - as the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee – is trying to revive the party in Delhi. She plans to win all the 7 Delhi Lok Sabha seats, which are currently held by BJP headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier, Ms. Dikshit was Delhi CM for a period of 15 years – from 1998 to 2013.
Meet LDF Lok Sabha Election Candidates from Kerala Currently, 20 Lok Sabha MPs represent Kerala. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) - which is a coalition of different political outfits in the state of Kerala - has announced the names of its candidates who will contest the Lok Sabha election.
LDF Lok Sabha Election Candidates from Kerala. Photo: CPI-M The LDF coalition comprises Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) and some smaller parties. Currently, 20 Lok Sabha MPs represent Kerala. REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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Lok Sabha Election Schedule Announced. Voting on EVMs The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately in the entire country. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Sunil Arora announced on March 10 the election schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The election will be held in 7 phases: 1st Phase - 11th April, 2nd Phase - 18th April, 3rd Phase - 23rd April, 4th Phase - 29th April, 5th Phase - 6th May, 6th Phase - 12th May, and 7th Phase - 19th May. The counting of votes will take place on 23rd May. While major political parties have complained about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and demanded voting on ballot papers, the CEC has rejected the demand and election will happen on EVMs.
Lok Sabha Election 2019 Schedule. Photo: PIB The Election Commission of India (ECI) claims that elaborate standard operating procedures will be followed for using EVMs and VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). According to ECI, the total electorate in final published roll would be about 900 million in 2019 compared to 814.5 million in 2014, with an increase of 84.3 million voters. REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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The commission also will appoint social media experts as part of Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMCs). Candidates are required to provide details of their social media accounts and all expenditure on social media campaigning will be part of election expenditure account. According to ECI, the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately in the entire country.
Number of Electors in 2019 The total number of electors as of March 12 for 2019 Electoral Roll is 897811627. The Election Commission of India has announced the number of electors at the time of final publication of Special Summary Revision Roll 2019. Across the States and UTs the number of polling stations are 1035919. General electors across the States and UTs are 896076899. General electors with disability are 4563905. Overseas Indian electors are 71735. Service electors are 1662993. Thus, the total number of electors as of March 12 for 2019 Electoral Roll is 897811627.
Topics of Trouble
While most Indian politicians behave like boors, they lack knowledge of the critical issues that impact the commoners. For example, they avoid discussion on environment protection, while India is the most polluted country on planet earth. A new AirVisual report, which covered 3,000 cities of the world, has revealed that Gurugram (a.k.a. Gurgaon), a suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, is the most polluted city of the world while 22 of the top 30 polluted cities are in India. Similarly, in World Bank’s Human Capital Index, India’s rank at 115 is worse than Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Haiti. That means, Indians are not educated or skilled adequately to work in any modern job environment. Politicians - who promise to provide jobs to Indians - are telling blatant lies. REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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Thinkable Thoughts / वचार मेरे यारे दे शवा सयो, नम कार। मेरा दे श के सभी लोग से – खास कर यव ु क और यव ु तय से – अनरु ोध है क वे कसी भी राज न तक दल या उसके नेता के फैन या अंधभ त न बन य क यह सब मलकर आपको पछले क़र ब 70 साल से लट ू रहे ह। भारत म अ धकतर राज न तक नेता इतने अनपढ़ और अस य ह क वे कसी भी पद के यो य नह ं। ले कन जहाँ हम जैसे आम नाग रक को अ छा पढ़– लख कर और पढ़ाई क ड यां ले कर भी नौकर नह ं मलती, ये अ श त नेता पहले झठ ू े भाषण दे कर चन ु ाव जीतते ह, फर ये हम पर राज करते ह और हम जैसे आम लोग के साथ गल ु ाम जैसा बरताव करते ह। आज के आधु नक यग ो यता ु म एक छोट सी नौकर के लए भी उस नौकर से जड़ ु ी य और डोमेन वशेष ता (domain expertise) चा हए। तो फर ये अनपढ़ और अयो य नेता परू े दे श का शासन बंध कैसे कर सकते ह? नह ं कर सकते, और ये मलकर सफ सरकार धन का द ु पयोग करते ह और जनता का पैसा अपनी वला सता पर उड़ाते ह। इन नेताय क कोई जवाबदे ह नह ं है । इसी लए अभी तक भारत एक अ वक सत दे श है । भारत के नेताय का बौ धक तर इतना कमज़ोर है क य द वे अपने झठ ू , फ़रे ब, या आपरा धक रकॉड के कारण राज न त म न होते तो वे कोई काम न कर पाते और भख ू े मर जाते। ले कन यहाँ क ग द राज न त इनके सभी काले कारनाम को छुपा कर इ ह ऊँचे पद पर पहुँचा दे ती है और दे श म मं ी तक बना दे ती है । वैसे तो इन नेताय म से कोई भी कसी काम के यो य नह ं, ले कन यह जानकार हमारा दःु ख और भी बढ़ जाता है क िजसक पढ़ाई क ड ी भी नकल है , वह भी यहाँ राजा बना बैठा है और दे श– वदे श म घम ू कर अ य धक बौ धक वषय पर झठ ू े और रटे –रटाए भाषण दे ता है और बेचार जनता का पैसा अपने सैर–सपाटे पर उड़ाता है । यह नह ं, यह दे ख कर हमारा आ चय और भी बढ़ जाता है जब भारत म श ा मं ी भी अ श त होता है और परु े दे श क श ा न त बनाता है और उस नी त से व या थय का सफ नक ु सान ह होता है । कई नेता तो जनता का चन ु ाव जीते बना ह मं ी बन जाते ह। यहाँ सब ग़लत और उ टा–पु टा चल रहा है । राकेश रमन
REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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Only 18% Like PM Modi’s Work. Will He Win Lok Sabha Election 2019? Today, there is no leader in the opposition parties who can challenge Modi’s might in terms of spreading falsehood among the Indian voters. In an ongoing RMN Poll, only 18% people say they are satisfied with the work of Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. While Modi has almost completed his 5-year term as PM of India, many believe that he has brought the country on the brink of disaster. Now it will be extremely difficult for India to recover from the ruins, and the country will eventually fall in the graveyard of those poor countries that have almost gone extinct. But what went wrong? Raman Media Network (RMN) has analyzed the situation and identified the following factors for Modi’s failures.
Factors for Modi’s Failures Corruption
Unemployment
Human Rights Violations
Illiteracy
Untamed Bureaucracy
Lack of Communications
Bad Foreign Relations
Weaker Institutions
Fake Schemes
Poll results as on March 10, 2019 While the poll is still running, you can click h ere to vote and see the poll results.
Rahul and Sonia in the First List of Lok Sabha Election Candidates While Congress does not have any original plan to attract the voters, all its political rhetoric and messaging is designed to criticize Modi.
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March 16-31, 2019
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Congress has released its first list of 15 candidates who will be contesting the Lok Sabha election from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi with his mother Sonia Gandhi (file photo). Courtesy: Congress Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi will contest from Amethi and Rae Bareli respectively. If Lok Sabha election is held today, PM Narendra Modi’s party BJP is expected to win 220 Lok Sabha seats and Congress (alone) can win 195 seats provided the voting takes place on traditional ballot papers. If the election is held on electronic voting machines (EVMs), BJP can hope to win at least 300 seats. While Congress does not have any original plan to attract the voters, all its political rhetoric and messaging is designed to criticize Modi. Lok Sabha has 545 (543 + 2 nominated) members. A political party needs 272 seats to take majority in Lok Sabha and form the government.
Despite Promise, Kejriwal Refuses to Die in Hunger Strike While AAP expects to win all 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it will be a defeat for the people of Delhi if they elected even one AAP politician in the election. The chief minister (CM) of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal – who tells lies even when truth would suffice – had announced that he will sit on an indefinite hunger strike from 1st March to
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March 16-31, 2019
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demand full statehood for Delhi. He had added that he will continue his hunger strike and was ready to die in it.
Arvind Kejriwal defaced Delhi with his posters to announce his hunger strike from March 1. But it was a false announcement. Photo: Rakesh Raman / RMN With the announcement of his possible death, many people – who know Kejriwal inside out – were very excited to think that the already dirty Indian politics will get rid of one of the most immoral politicians in the Indian history. Alas, it did not happen. It was yet another lie of Kejriwal who sheepishly dropped the idea of sitting on hunger strike. But Kejriwal continues to lie in expensive ads by making false promises that if his party won all the 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, he will get full statehood and make Delhi one of the best cities on earth. This is perhaps the millionth time when Kejriwal has launched a frivolous campaign to seek full statehood for Delhi. In fact, Delhi has become a virtual hell under Kejriwal’s rule. Most people believe that in 4 years, Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have caused such a damage to Delhi that now it has become difficult to live in the city.
Trouble in Delhi Pollution
Corruption
Bad School Education
Fake Mohalla Clinics
Dirty City
Chaos and Vulgarity
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March 16-31, 2019
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While AAP expects to win all 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it will be a defeat for the people of Delhi if they elected even one AAP politician in the election. Click here to read the full report. Appeal for Donations RMN Foundation is a humanitarian organization that was formed in May 2015 as an educational and public charitable Trust for the benefit of humanity at large. It is registered with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India. Currently, all the activities of RMN Foundation are being managed single-handedly (without any support) by RMN Foundation founder Rakesh Raman who had left his job a few years ago to run this charity. As RMN Foundation has embarked upon some major humanitarian projects during the past over 3 years, now it needs a significant amount of funds in the form of donations to expand the scope of its activities. Individual Indian donors can help RMN Foundation with their contributions using the following bank details: Bank Name: ICICI Bank Bank Branch: HL Square, Plot No. 6, Sector 5 (MLU), Dwarka, New Delhi 110 075 Account Number: 025005004368 Account Name: RMN Foundation Type of Account: Current IFSC Code: ICIC0000250 Or you can click here to donate with PayPal, credit card, or bank account.
How EVMs Are Manipulated to Win Elections Top tech experts believe that it is very easy to tamper with EVMs in India and change the election results fraudulently in favor of certain candidates. The weakness of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in election systems has been manifested by professional hackers who participated in the Def Con convention in Las Vegas where they broke into the voting machines to manipulate the voting options.
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March 16-31, 2019
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A dedicated platform “hacker voting village” at the convention allowed hackers to break into over 30 popular voting machines as well as voter databases to exploit the vulnerabilities in order to change the outcome of an election. Reports suggest that hackers were able to gain unauthorized access into voting machines and e-polling software within an hour. They could also steal remote access to tamper with the voting machines. The Def Con experiments must be an eye-opener for the Election Commission of India (ECI) that baselessly claims that it is safe to use EVMs while most ECI officials are traditional bureaucrats who have hardly any knowledge of electronic systems. Major opposition political parties in India have been repeatedly complaining about the vulnerability of EVMs. It is also being observed that when EVMs malfunction, they vote only in favor of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which runs with Lotus election symbol. Obviously, BJP will always oppose paper ballots and any investigation into the misuse of EVMs. And it goes without saying that the Election Commission – which is a toothless outfit – will always obey Modi. Reports also reveal that these days the critical institutions such as courts, law enforcement agencies, and election commissions are headed by those officials who have dubious records and who can be blackmailed to toe the line of the government. EVM vs. Paper Ballot While most politicians in the opposition parties – who have been randomly opposing EVMs and demanding elections on paper ballots – are not quite educated, they will not be able to argue intelligently against the use of EVMs. That’s why ECI ignores their demands for paper ballots. The Indian politicians fail to understand that even in advanced democracies such as the U.S., paper ballots integrated with digital technology are used to ensure integrity of elections. The Indian opposition parties also can learn from the example of 2016 U.S. presidential election that was allegedly hacked by Russian hackers to help Donald Trump win. Now, special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the election frauds and if they changed the outcome of the election.
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March 16-31, 2019
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The U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian hackers had targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race, although Russia has dismissed the allegations. Top tech experts believe that it is very easy to tamper with EVMs in India and change the election results fraudulently in favor of certain candidates. In their study on EVMs in India, security researchers from India, the United States, and the Netherlands argue that “contrary to claims by Indian election authorities, these paperless electronic voting systems suffer from significant vulnerabilities.” The researchers also have found that even brief access to the machines could allow dishonest election insiders or other criminals to alter election results. They have developed a video to demonstrate their claims. The opposition parties in India have willy-nilly accepted EVMs integrated with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). But with this acceptance they have embarked upon a suicidal mission. They don’t understand that EVMs are vulnerable even with VVPAT. Although VVPAT is supposed to provide a mechanism to audit the votes polled in an election, it is still not a foolproof solution because despite ECI’s claims VVPAT option may not be available with each EVM. Moreover, every voter will not (and perhaps cannot) demand the paper proof after voting. And if a defeated political party wants to recount the votes using VVPATs, it will create a chaos after every election. Therefore, the ECI has not accepted the opposition parties’ demand to match 50% of EVM results with VVPAT.
Click here to read the full report on EVMs.
Election Commission Fails to Control Social Media Opposition parties allege that Modi and BJP have used Pulwama incident as a marketing tool to attract Indian voters. Despite Election Commission’s order asking political parties not to use any defence-related material in their advertisements and political campaigns, the posters of PM Modi and his party BJP continue to appear on social media sites. Since the Election Commission cannot control social media, it will give an undue advantage to BJP in the Lok Sabha election. The election rules are being flouted when the Commission claims it has appointed social media experts as part of Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMCs).
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The objectionable posters of Modi and BJP started appearing immediately after the recent Pulwama terror attack in which over 40 Indian policemen had died.
A Twitter user has posted this tweet after the Election Commission’s order to stop such ads. Opposition parties allege that BJP is using Pulwama incident as a marketing tool to attract Indian voters before the crucial Lok Sabha election. Download and Read RMN Publications TechWise Today
The Integrity Bulletin
Clean Climate
Legal Directions
Young Learner
Real Voter
Election Commission Launches Observer App Observers can submit their report to ECI and upload the relevant documents from the mobile app. As a run-up to the forthcoming Elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies to four States, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 14 organized the first briefing for observers to be deployed in the poll-going states. Over 1800 senior IAS officers, IPS officers, Indian Revenue Service officers, and a few others from Central Services attended the briefing meeting. These officers are being deployed as General, Police, and Expenditure observers. REAL VOTER News Magazine on Politics in India
March 16-31, 2019
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Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa reminded the group that as observers they need to ensure implementation of all instructions of the ECI in letter and spirit. Lavasa mentioned that the recently launched CVigil App has helped empower every citizen also to help the Commission keep a vigilant eye out for Model Code violations.
ECI Observers The Commission for the first time has also introduced a new mobile app called ‘Observer App’. Using this App, General, Police, and Expenditure observers can submit their report to ECI and upload the relevant documents from the mobile app. The observers will get all important notifications, alerts, and urgent messages on this App while they are on duty. It will also facilitate observers to get their deployment status, download the ID card, and update their profile. Since the observers will be closely involved in real-time disposal of the cVIGIL Model code and expenditure violation cases, this App would help them see all the cVIGIL cases under their jurisdiction. The observers – who are put on deputation with the ECI for the entire duration of the election process - can make a written observation after the flying squads have investigated the matter.
Download Previous Issues of Real Voter January 16-31, 2019
February 1-15, 2019
February 16-28, 2019
March 1-15, 2019
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March 16-31, 2019
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Meet the Editor The editor of Real Voter news magazine Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page tech business column regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group). Nowadays, for the past about 8 years, he has been running his own global news services on different subjects. He also has formed a free Education and Career Counselling Center for deserving children at a poor J.J. Colony in Dwarka, New Delhi under his N GO – RMN Foundation. He runs an exclusive community-driven anti-corruption social service “Clean House” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice. He also has formed an environment-protection group called Green Group in Delhi. He creates and distributes a number of digital publications that cover areas such as technology, law, environment, education, politics, corruption and transparency. He has created a comprehensive online information service to educate the Indian voters for the upcoming Lok Sabha election scheduled to happen in 2019. Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. Contact
Rakesh Raman Raman Media Network (RMN) Company 463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4, Dwarka, Phase I New Delhi 110 078, INDIA Contact by email
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