NEW DELHI : The Election Commission of India (ECI) is considering a proposal to set up dedicated verification counters outside polling stations in West Bengal to check the identity of voters whose faces are covered, such as by a burqa, ghunghat, scarf or other cloth, two senior commission officials said, asking not to be named.. The Election Commission of India. (File Photo). Under the proposed system, such voters would have their faces checked against their identity cards at the external counter before being allowed to enter the polling station. Under the existing procedure, voters with face coverings enter the polling station directly and are verified only at the time of casting their vote, inside the booth.. “The proposal is still in the pipeline and the final decision is yet to be taken. If approved, it may be introduced when the Model Code of Conduct comes into force; further operational details will be issued at that stage,” one of the officials said. “The verification will be uniform — it will be conducted only by women officials, female polling staff and Anganwadi Sevikas.”. The proposal is currently being examined for the West Bengal elections, but the officials said it could also be considered for other regions going to polls after further discussions.. The officials cited complaints of malpractice in past elections as one of the reasons for the proposal.. Both officials confirmed that state government officials will staff the verification counters. However, Anganwadi sevikas will conduct the actual face verification. Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel will deploy at the counters to ensure security and protect both the Anganwadi workers and voters from intimidation, pressure or interference during the verification process.. The poll panel and the state government have been locked in a legal dispute, with the Supreme Court noting a “trust deficit” between the two sides in its February 20 order. The Commission had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court alleging obstruction, lack of cooperation and intimidation of election officials by the state administration.. “Inside-booth verification depends entirely on state-appointed polling officers conducting the checks. Moving the process to an external counter under closer ECI supervision, staffed by Anganwadi workers, election officials and CAPF personnel, reduces reliance on regular polling staff and ensures better monitoring of the verification process,” one of the officials mentioned above said.. “It also creates a visible, documented and auditable checkpoint, generating a paper trail that would be easier to defend before the Supreme Court, which is already supervising the election,” they added.. The proposal raises several legal questions. The Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 — the two primary statutes governing elections — do not mention any face-verification procedure at polling stations. The officials qu 

 Residents of Delhi-NCR woke up to light rain and thunderstorms on Sunday, bringing relief from high temperatures across the national capital and neighbouring areas. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Delhi, warning of moderate rain, gusty winds and lightning.. An orange alert has been issued in Delhi, indicating moderate rain, lightning and gusty winds. (HT Photo/FIle). The temperature recorded at Safdarjung, the city’s base station, was 22 degrees Celsius as of 7:30 am. The drizzle was accompanied by gusty winds, lightning and a mild chill in the air, offering residents some relief.. Orange alert in Delhi and Ghaziabad, yellow in Noida. While an orange alert has been declared in the national capital as well as Ghaziabad, a yellow alert has been issued for the neighbouring Noida region.. This indicates light to moderate rain and a maximum surface wind speed of less than 40 kmph, according to the IMD.. ‘Season’s first pre-monsoon rain’. Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather, told news agency PTI on Saturday that some areas of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi may receive rain during the next two days.. “Due to a western disturbance approaching the western Himalayas, cyclonic activity has developed over central Pakistan adjoining Punjab and Haryana. As a result, parts of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are likely to witness rainfall over the next two days. This is expected to be the season’s first pre-monsoon rain, which has arrived about 10 days earlier than usual,” he said.. The forecast suggests that the minimum temperature could remain between 14 and 16 degrees Celsius by Monday.. The maximum temperature is expected to stay around 31 and 33 degrees Celsius by Monday, the India Meteorological Department said.. With inputs from agencies 

 New Delhi: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply is a matter of concern mainly because of panic bookings that surged by 59% to nearly 8.9 million, but no dry-outs have been reported from any place so far, an official said, as the government on Saturday issued an order prohibiting a person having piped natural gas (PNG) to keep LPG connections.. People carry a household LPG cylinder that they received after waiting in a long queue. People queued up to collect their household LPG cylinders amid an ongoing LPG shortage. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo). Evoking the Essential Commodities Act, the government prohibited the supply of domestic LPG to a person having a PNG connection. In case a person has both PNG and LPG facilities, “such persons will be required to immediately surrender their domestic LPG connection,” the order said.. Divulging details of fuel supply situation at the inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in war-torn West Asia, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), said: “Regarding LPG supply, it is still a matter of concern for us in view of prevailing geopolitical situation, but no dry-out has been reported so far.”. There has been a surge in the number of LPG bookings on account of panic buying. Daily bookings have increased from an average of 55.7 lakh (5.57 million) to 88.8 lakh (8.88 million) yesterday, she said.. Sharma appealed to both domestic and commercial LPG customers to switch to piped natural gas (PNG) supplied by city gas distribution (CGD) companies to reduce reliance on LPG.. “India imports 60% of the LPG it uses. In the last one decade, the number of domestic LPG (cooking gas) connections crossed 33 crore (330 million) from about 14 crore (140 million), a 136% jump,” she said.. She informed that state-run gas marketing major GAIL India on Friday held virtual meetings with CGD companies supplying fuel in major urban areas such as Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Jaipur and advised them to expedite and promote new commercial PNG connections for hotels and restaurants so as to reduce pressure on LPG supplies.. Earlier this week, the government ensured natural gas supply to priority sectors at 100% to domestic PNG and CNG customers, without any cuts. Supplies to commercial and industrial consumers, however, are regulated at 80%.. “Commercial cylinders are at the disposal of state governments so that they can prioritise consumers. Distributions have started in about 29 states and union territories (UTs), and consumers are getting them uninterrupted,” she said.. “It is the responsibility of all states and UTs to monitor the supply situation, and the district administration plays a major role in this. Some chief ministers, including those of Haryana and Goa, have held meetings with their senior officials to ensure the equitable distribution of gas cylinders. Similarly, senior officials of Telangana and Andhra Prades 

 The Congress on Saturday released its second list of 23 candidates for the upcoming Assam assembly elections, with the party so far naming its nominees in 65 seats in the 126-member House.. A man waves a Congress flag at a rally in Gujarat. (AP File Photo). The party also left 15 seats for its alliance partners in the northeastern state, where assembly elections are likely in April.. The Congress is leading an alliance of opposition parties, including CPI(M) and Assam Jatiya Parishad, with the CPI (ML) Liberation also lending its support on Saturday.. The Raijor Dal had been a part of the opposition alliance in previous elections, but the arrangement has not come through for the forthcoming polls. Its chief Akhil Gogoi had won the last assembly election as an Independent.. In the second list of candidates, released by Congress general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal, three sitting MLAs have been renominated – Wazed Ali Choudhury (Birsing Jarua), Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam (Goalpara East) and Rakibuddin Ahmed (Chamaria).. Former Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque, who had also served two terms as an MLA, has been named from Mandia constituency.. Among other candidates on the list are Bipul Gogoi from Tingkhong, Kartik Chandra Kurmi from Rangapara, Santanu Borah from New Guwahati, Kishore Kumar Barua from Dimoria, Nurul Islam from Srijangram seat and Devid Phukan from Tinsukia.. The Congress has set aside the assembly constituencies of Bajali, Palasbari, Guwahati Central, Goreswar, Morigaon, Barhampur, Bindakandi, Behali, Dibrugarh and Diphu, among others, for the alliance partners.. The assembly elections will be held in Assam for the first time since the completion of delimitation of constituencies in 2023, where boundaries of seats were redrawn without changing the total number of seats.. The Congress had on March 3 released its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Assam assembly polls, fielding state party chief Gaurav Gogoi from the Jorhat seat.. Taking a lead in announcing the names of its candidates even before the declaration of the poll schedule, the party said Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia will contest the election from the Nazira constituency.. Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ripun Bora has been fielded from the Barchalla constituency.. The Congress has been out of power in the northeastern state since 2016, while the BJP-led government will be eyeing a third straight term. Currently, the ruling BJP’s strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and BPF has three members.. In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well. 

 The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police said on Sunday that they have arrested a Bangladeshi National on charges of helping the alleged killers of Bangladeshi youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi to enter India after committing the crime.. Police said they have arrested a man who allegedly helped Osman Hadi’s killers escape to India. (PTI/Representative). A week ago, the STF had arrested two suspects wanted for the murder of Hadi from Bongaon in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The two were identified as Faisal Karim Masud (37) alias Rahul, a resident of Bangladesh’s Patuakhali and Alamgir Hossain (34), a Dhaka resident.. “During interrogation, Masud and Hossain named one named one person Philip Sangma who helped them to cross over to India through Meghalaya. Later, Philip himself entered India illegally. Sangma was arrested on Saturday morning from Shantipur Bypass (in Nadia district),” said an officer.. Sangma, a resident of Bangladesh, told the police during initial interrogation that he operates as a border tout and facilitates illegal migrants to cross the border through Haluaghat (Bangladesh) – Dalupara (Meghalaya) border area in lieu of money. He also admitted that he had facilitated the two accused in the Hadi murder case, Faisal and Alamgir, to enter India.. “Later he entered India to evade arrest in Bangladesh. He stayed in various places after entering India. He was in touch with Masud and Hossain and was trying to go back to Bangladesh,” said another official.. Sangma produced in the court today. The court sent him to police custody.. Hadi, 32, the spokesperson for Inqilab Moncho, was shot in the head on December 12 in Dhaka. He was flown to Singapore for treatment. His death on December 18 triggered a political unrest in Bangladesh which subsequently led to the general elections on February 12.. The Tarique Rahman-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) swept the polls with its allies to form government after 20 years with 216 of the 297 seats.