Conjoined brothers Will Vote In Punjab Polls
Amritsar’s conjoined brothers—Sohna and Mohna—are excited as they have turned adults and are eager to vote in the Punjab Assembly elections in early 2022. They celebrated their 18th birthday some days ago. They have registered themselves as voters. “Assi hun adhikarit tor te vadde hogye han, te hun apni choice da voting button dabawange” (Now, we are officially adults and would press the button of our choice to vote), they said. They are taking electric appliances’ technical training at an Institute. Though the conjoined brothers applied on separate Form-6 to claim their right to vote, it is not yet known whether they would be considered as “separate individuals” or “one unit” at the time of voting. Officials of the State Election Department are wondering how they would comply with technical issues “dealing with the secret ballot norms” as no other person can be present when one is casting his or her vote. Amritsar’s Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira told The Sunday Guardian that they would consult the Election Commission to clarify whether their names should be inscribed on a single voter ID card or separate ones. “We would also have to seek clarification from the ECI whether their vote would be treated as one or two.” They are conjoined below the torso and have one pair of legs. They have two hearts, two pair of arms, kidneys and spinal cords, but only one liver and gall bladder. Inderjit Kaur, head of the Pingalwara Society, which had adopted Mohna and Sohna after they were abandoned by their parents, says that both brothers had different minds, opinions and choices.
Bihar’s Conjoined Sisters’ Voting Rights
The Punjab Administration may take a look at a similar case of two young conjoined sisters, Sabah and Farah, of Patna, who have earned the right “to be treated as separate individuals with independent voting rights”. Both are joined at the head since birth. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the conjoined sisters cast their votes “as per their respective choice” unlike the 2015 State Assembly polls, when their names were inscribed on a single voter ID card and their vote was, consequently, treated as one. “The twins cannot be denied their individuality on account of the way they are physically formed. They have different minds, opinions and choices. Therefore, this time they have been issued separate voter ID cards and would be allowed to cast their votes by turns,” District Magistrate, Patna, Kumar Ravi, had said at the time of the Parliamentary elections.
“The reason why they had been treated as a single voter could have been that it has to be a secret ballot and no other individual is supposed to be present when one is casting his or her vote,” said Ravi pointing out that “as the twin sisters are conjoined in such a way that their heads are turned, always, in opposite directions…so, there was not much of a problem.”
Sabah and Farah were also made to attend the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation workshop before exercising their right to vote. Now, they are voters in the electoral rolls for Digha Assembly segment of the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, from where Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad defeated actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha. Born in a poor family, the girls were taken to the AIIMS in Delhi by their parents where attempts were made, unsuccessfully, to separate them through surgical intervention.
RSS ‘Manthan’ Ahead Of UP Polls
The RSS will hold its five-day annual “Akhil Bhartiya Prant Pracharak Baithak” conference from 9 July in Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), close to Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in key states like UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab. It will review welfare works of the Sangh affiliated organisations. RSS sources claim that the BJP will again project Yogi Adityanath as UP’s CM face.
Putting Discarded Military Uniforms to Better Use
Every year, a huge number of old and worn out uniforms are discarded by members of the armed forces, para-military personnel and the police. Till some time ago, either they used to be cut and thrown away or given to some needy persons after removing official badges and signs. A retired army officer Maj Gen Ashim Kohli has set up an NGO—Sewaj Neesim Foundation—for “graceful disposal” of the large stacks of military uniforms. “The uniforms cannot be thrown away or given to the poor as non-authorised persons are not permitted to wear, as these can be misused,” says Maj Gen Kohli. The NGO collects used uniforms and prepares blankets, schoolbags, masks, aprons, bibs and other useful items. “It is a small beginning but surely we will be dealing with huge volumes in times to come, with business opportunities for others,” Kohli told this paper. An associated NGO is getting the stitching work done from women working in slum areas.