At the floor leaders’ meeting convened by Vice President C P Radhakrishnan Tuesday, the ruling BJP leaders came under fire from the Opposition over “muzzling their voice”. At the meeting, attended also by Rajya Sabha leader J P Nadda, CPIM MP John Brittas accused the government of “being evasive” to Opposition’s questions. He said the government refuses to share information which can be availed even through the RTI. He specifically mentioned disallowing a question on the cost of the new Parliament building. Another example he cited was a question on import of petroleum products, which he said was disallowed saying it was “secret” whereas the associations of the petroleum companies periodically make similar information public. Bracing For Bihar While the seat-sharing formula among the INDIA bloc allies for Bihar Assembly elections is still not out, the Congress is learnt to have finalised names for 25 seats. The decision was taken at the Congress Election Committee meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. Sources said seats of five sitting MLAs, including Congress Legislature Party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan’s Kadwa and state president Rajesh Ram’s Kutumba, were among the 25 seats cleared by the committee. Some other seats to get the go ahead were those where the party had lost by a narrow margin in the 2020 Assembly polls. Now, all eyes are on the bloc’s seat-sharing formula which is expected in a couple of days. Security Code The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has announced a new verification mechanism for its summons, incorporating QR codes and unique passcodes to combat rising cyber fraud cases. The move comes amid a surge in instances of fake ED summons and unscrupulous individuals posing as ED officials to extort money. The new features allow people to verify authenticity of summons through secure channels.
