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AN INDIAN MAN chopped off his index finger in desperation after voting for the wrong party in the country’s national election.
Pawan Kumar became confused by the symbols on the electronic voting machine and voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party instead of its regional rival in Uttar Pradesh state yesterday, his brother told AFP.
Distraught, the 25-year-old Kumar went home and chopped off his finger with a meat cleaver.
Even though votes are cast electronically at polling stations, the index finger of every voter is marked with indelible ink after they cast ballots, to make sure they do not vote again.
“He was very happy that he was voting for the first time ever,” Kumar’s brother Kailash Chandra told AFP by phone.
But once he realised his mistake, he was so distraught that he chopped off his inked finger.
“Every time he saw his ink-marked finger, he felt angry.”
Chandra said the family rushed Kumar to the hospital, and videos circulating online showed the first-time voter sporting a bandaged hand standing over the butcher’s knife outside a toilet.
“I wanted to vote for elephant but it went to flower,” Kumar says on one video, adding that he had not been pressured to cast his ballot for a particular party.
The lotus is the symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party while the Bahujan Samaj Party, part of an alliance fighting Modi in the northern state, uses the elephant. The party symbol is used on voting machines along with the candidate’s photographs.
Thursday was the second day of India’s marathon election which started on April 11 and runs through to May 19.
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How many of these were Israeli?
@Ananya Sharma: I was asking that myself
@Ananya Sharma: Russia forged 6 irish passports. Israel forged 3 irish passports. So who knows?
@Clifford Brennan: How many did the Russians kill with there ones ?
@Tony Moore: Who was killed by a passport?
@Clifford Brennan: A Palestinian leader by the Israelis carrying Irish Passports.
@Tony Moore: Tell me what you know about this “Palestinian leader”, Tony?
@Clifford Brennan:
I hope this helps.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.independent.ie/irish-news/hit-squad-used-fake-irish-passports-26632716.html
@Tony Moore: No not at all. I asked what you knew about him, not could you copy and paste. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you look into his cofounding of the Al Qassam brigade, their suicide bombing attacks, his central role in coordinating smuggling of rockets, missiles and weapons for Hamas. The article briefly mentions his role in the kidnapping and murder of 2 soldiers. Quite a “leader” as you so gently stated.
@Clifford Brennan: Well then its ok , thought we had a problem for a second
@Tony Moore: No, no problem. Happy to help clear up your unwitting lack of info on the guy who reaped what he sowed.
@Tony Moore: “Hamas has pointed the finger at Israel, blaming Mossad – the country’s secret service – for carrying out the hit.
Lt Gen Tamim did not go as far as directly blaming Israel, but said it was possible that “leaders of certain countries gave orders to their intelligence agents to kill” the Hamas man.” No evidence that it was Israel
@Clifford Brennan: Fair enough, but remember one thing. Mossad could have used fake passports with fake identities of any nationality. They didn’t. They used copies of passports issued to Irish citizens. Drop the whataboutery and tell us whether or not you condone that.
@Clifford Brennan: Just to enlighten you if that’s possible . I served in South Lebanon. And i seen the torture your south Lebanese SLA , inflicted on ordinarily Lebanese civilians. Including an old couple who had their throats cut. So lectures from you is like advice from a supporter of the ISIS on human rights.
@Josh Gilman: your sadly and badly informed.
@Tommy Roche: Im conflicted to be honest. On one hand our passports should be left alone, on the other you’ve a guy who founded an organisation that sent suicide bombers onto buses, into cafes, nightclubs, supermarkets etc killing hundreds and maiming thousands of civilians. When he got promoted to smuggling rockets, missiles etc for Hamas, he organised it with Iran from Syria. He left the safety of Syria and got clipped. No real loss. Understandably he’s a big target.
@Josh Gilman: The point is that we just don’t know how many “Irish Passports” are being used in this type of skulduggery by the Israelis who seem to think Irish Passport holders are fair game when it comes to copying passports from this country. They don’t just make a “copy” of a blank passport they use a “live” copy from some unsuspecting Irish Citizen who’s presence in other countries is then recorded. This is the danger ..
@Clifford Brennan: knob head
300 out of how many ….
Investment in an area of national security has only happened in the last 3 yrs or so?!!! This country continues to be a banana republic run by unaccountable eejits!! Absolutely shocking.
Typical how to deal with the problem, when the horse has bolted. This security glitch was known for some time.
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