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Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Trending Today March 15, 2017

Arvind Kejriwal Alleges Tampering Of EVMs In Punjab Assembly Elections

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today raised questions about the Electronic voting machines in the Punjab assembly polls, saying 20 per cent to 25 per cent of AAP votes were transferred to the Akali-BJP coalition which was in power in the state. The number of votes polled by his party were far less in some areas than the number of volunteers the party, he said, adding the results fly in the face of predictions by several exit polls and political experts.

In his first interaction with the media after the results of the assembly elections were declared, Mr Kejriwal said his party was expected to win the elections. "What then, went wrong? There was no word of Congress coming to power... yet they swept the elections... really don't know how that happened," he said.

The Congress had won 77 of Punjab's 117 seats. All exit polls had predicted a hung house for Punjab - the poll of exit polls had suggested that Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party would be neck and neck with the Congress.

Electronic Voting Machines, Mr Kejriwal said, had been banned by some nations abroad because they can be tampered with. To conduct free and fair polls in India, they should be discontinued. "Our Supreme Court had said in the past that it is possible to tamper with EVMs. I'm not saying this, the Supreme Court said this," he said.

Citing an example, Mr Kejriwal said, "In (Punjab's) Shri Govindpur we got 1 vote... there are 5 volunteers who swear they voted for us... similar instances across the state... where did all the votes go? There is something seriously wrong."

Mr Kejriwal demanded that the votes registered in the EVMs be compared with the VVPAT trail (voter-verified paper audit trail) in nearly 32 places in Punjab. "It is about the credibility of the Election Commission and the faith of people in the electoral system. We have strong prima facie evidence of foul play," he said.

After the BJP's sweeping victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections and the dismal performance of her own party, Mayawati had called for a switch to ballot papers, alleging that EVMs or Electronic Voting Machines, make rigging easy.

Mr Kejriwal has called for the use of ballot papers in the coming municipal elections in Delhi - a request that has been turned down by the Election Commission, which said such a change requires more time than it at hand. The civic elections are due on April 22.

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Tuesday, 14 March 2017

News24 March 14, 2017

TVF Boss Arunabh Kumar Defends Himself After More Women Accuse Him Of Molestation

TVF Boss Arunabh Kumar Defends Himself After More Women Accuse Him Of Molestation

NEW DELHI: Arunabh Kumar, chief of online content company The Viral Fever, has defended himself against charges of sexual harassment, telling Mumbai Mirror that he's 'open to a police complaint.' After an anonymous blog went viral on social media alleging molestation by Mr Kumar, more women are now publicly speaking out against him. On Sunday, a woman claiming to be a former employee at The Viral Fever shared an article on Medium. In her post, she alleged Arunabh Kumar molested her several times during her two years at the company. In the last 48 hours, four more women have come forward backing her claim as they narrated their own experiences with Mr Kumar.

"Out of now where he started telling me he just came back from some place in Ratnagiri, and he bought mangoes. He asked me if I liked mangoes, while his mouth spoke those words, his hands slided on my back, from neck to waist. I'm not someone who gets scared easily, I wasn't scared, I just knew his intentions. I moved away from him, stared and said a NO and walked off", wrote Rafiya Khan on Facebook.

Another woman, who reportedly studied with Arunabh Kumar at IIT, narrated a similar incident. "So, I messaged Arunabh on Facebook & we met for coffee, said Hi / Hello, etc, and I wanted to leave by 8-9pm. Arunabh asks me: "Would you go to my place, and dance for me"? I was like WHAT? I thought he was being funny. But NO, he was serious. He said he would like to get naked & see me stripping & dancing *for him*. He also told me that... he is fond of girls from Calcutta; he has "made out" lot of times, with random girls in 'Cal'", wrote Reshma Patra. She says she didn't tell anyone about the alleged incident, fearing they would laugh it off.

Arunabh Kumar, who had maintained a radio silence on the issue so far, spoke exclusively to Mumbai Mirror rejecting the charges. "I unconditionally and unequivocally deny all these allegations. Social media has already declared me an offender, but I am ready to address all the allegations against me. I am open to receiving a police complaint so that I can respond legally as well. TVF is bigger than me and if there is a remote chance that I have done any wrong, let me be persecuted", he told Mumbai Mirror.

Reema Sengupta, a director who worked with TVF, also levelled similar allegations against Mr Kumar on Monday. In her Facebook post, she wrote that Arunabh Kumar allegedly touched her inappropriately during a shoot with the channel. Mr Kumar admitted he worked with her on a shoot but denied having behaved inappropriately. "The kind of insinuations the FB post makes are untrue. I am a heterosexual, single man and when I find a woman sexy, I tell her she's sexy. I compliment women. Is that wrong? Having said that, I am very particular about my behavior - I will approach a woman, but never force myself", he told Mumbai Mirror.

Colleagues of Arunabh Kumar have been vociferously defending the executive online, trashing all allegations against him. The Viral Fever posted an official statement on the original blog calling it 'defamatory and ludicrous'. "We will leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring them to severe justice for making such false allegations", they wrote. Their strongly-worded statement angered people on social media for its threatening tone. The Viral Fever was criticised for not offering to probe the allegations.

Following social media outrage and multiple women speaking out online, Nidhi Bisht, a writer-director with TVF, wrote on Facebook that she is 'equally shocked' by the allegations and that TVF will launch an investigation into the claims. She toned down her previous stance where she outright rejected the allegations.

Industry names also reflected on the multiple claims circulating on social media.

The Viral Fever, founded in 2011 by Arunabh Kumar, is a digital entertainment channel on YouTube. It is popular for web series like Pitchers, Tripling, Permanent Roommates and several satirical videos. It also owns the women-centric YouTube channel Girliyapa.

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Monday, 13 March 2017

USA TODAY NEWS March 13, 2017

Great Country Allows You To Be Here: Donald Trump Aide Sean Spicer's Argument With Indian-American

On Saturday afternoon, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had an encounter with a woman with an iPhone. She didn't want a selfie. When Shree Chauhan, a former elementary school teacher who is avowedly not a supporter of President Donald Trump, spotted Spicer at an Apple store in the D.C. area, she decided to ask the press secretary some questions "since he doesn't like the press," she wrote on Twitter.

"I wanted to speak truth to power," Chauhan said in a Medium post about the incident that was extremely political and far from polite.

In the video Chauhan posted on Twitter, she can be heard asking Spicer, "How does it feel to work for a fascist?" He answers, "We have a great country." Chauhan persists. "Have you helped with the Russia stuff? Are you a criminal as well? Have you committed treason, too, just like the president?"

Throughout the 50-second back and forth, Spicer, wearing a dark blazer, a button-down shirt sans tie and a concrete smile, attempts to gently rebuff Chauhan while also shopping for his gadgets, thanking the Apple store employees and shaking the hand of another customer. But there was one comeback that stood out.

As Chauhan continues to ask about Russia, Spicer interjects, "Such a great country that allows you to be here."

In her Medium post, Chauhan, who is of Indian heritage, characterized that response as threatening and racist.

"Think about the sheer audacity of Mr. Spicer to say that to my face with a smile, knowing that he is being recorded on video and the position of power he holds in our government. I am still stunned by the boldness of having my citizenship threatened on camera," wrote Chauhan, who added that she has been on the receiving end of online harassment since posting about the Spicer encounter on Saturday.

The go-to insult? "They tell me to leave the country. They have told me to go back to where I came from," she wrote. "To which my snarky reply is often, 'Go back where? New York?'"

The White House did not respond to a request for comment, but Trump seemed to allude to the incident in a Monday morning tweet:

"It is amazing how rude much of the media is to my very hard working representatives. Be nice, you will do much better!"

(Chauhan, who works in education policy, is not a member of the media.)

This is the second time a White House staffer has been confronted in public by a citizen critic. Last month, Omarosa Manigault felt so harassed by two women inside a Nordstrom store in Virginia that the White House communications director was escorted to her car by security.

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