Indian Premier League suspended indefinitely after more Covid-19 cases surface

The Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday after players or staff at three clubs tested positive for Covid-19.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued a statement saying local authorities and tournament officials took the decision unanimously to postpone IPL 2021 season, with immediate effect.

"The BCCI does not want to compromise on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved in organising the IPL," the BCCI said.

"These are difficult times, especially in India. While we have tried to bring in some positivity and cheer, however, it is imperative that the tournament is now suspended and everyone goes back to their families and loved ones in these trying times."

The first cases involving players inside the IPL's biosecure bubble forced Monday's game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore to be postponed.

The count grew on Tuesday when two Chennai Super Kings staffers and a Sunrisers Hyderabad player also returned positive tests.

The IPL has been staging games without spectators every evening since April 9 despite India's stretched health system being pushed to the brink by another major wave of the pandemic.

Players from all over the world compete in the lucrative Twenty20 tournament, which was forced by the pandemic to the United Arab Emirates last year.

The BCCI said it would do everything in its powers to arrange for the "secure and safe passage of all the participants in IPL 2021”.

India's official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million on Tuesday, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000.

Staggering as those numbers are, the true figures are believed to be far higher, the undercount an apparent reflection of the troubles in the health care system.

On Monday, the IPL postponed the Kolkata-Bangalore game after Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier, who play for Kolkata, became the first players to test positive for Covid-19 inside the IPL bubble.

Last week, Australian players Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson flew home from the IPL amid the surge of cases. Richardson and Zampa were playing for Bangalore, and Tye for Rajasthan Royals.

Two other cricketers Englishman Liam Livingstone, who was with Rajasthan, and Ravichandran Ashwin, who was with Delhi also left the IPL. Livingstone cited bubble fatigue and Ashwin wanted to be with his family in the crisis.

IPL went ahead on the basis that teams stay in biosecure areas at hotels and resorts in the six venues in India where the competition is taking place.

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Bilawal welcomes ECP's decision to recount votes in Karachi's NA-249

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said Tuesday his party welcomes the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to order a recounting of votes cast in Karachi's NA-249 by-election.

The ECP has accepted PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail's request for a recount in the NA-249 by-poll. In a statement, it directed all the political parties to reach the office of Returning Officer at 9am on May 6 where the recounting would be held.

"PPP welcomes new precedent set by allowing [constituency] wide recount without specific [polling station] complaints," the party chairman said.

"Many seats from 2018 fall within 5% threshold and candidates have not been given this chance. Once ECP order is out, PPP will consider going to ECP for recounts in all such seats," he added.

Responding to Bilawal's "kind suggestion" of considering to move ECP for a recount of votes where it lost by a small margin, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz thanked PPP.

"Asking ECP for a recount on 2018 seats will be a windfall for PMLN because PMLN will be the beneficiary now as it was the prime victim of DHANDLI (rigging) then," she said.

"Will enable PMLN to win all it seats it lost to dhandli by a margin of few hundred votes. Thank u PPP for the kind suggestion," she added.

Miftah Ismail's request

Ismail had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, seeking a vote recount in NA-249 after he lost the poll by 683 votes. PPP’s Qadir Khan Mandokhel had pulled off a surprising victory in the April 29 election with 16,156 votes.

The PML-N had also requested the ECP to conduct a forensic audit of the votes in the NA-249 constituency. In his letter, Ismail had claimed that presiding officers from 34 polling stations did not WhatsApp the results.

He had also claimed that many Form 45s were not signed and that the counting of votes on Form 45 given to the party is different from the forms issued by the returning officer (RO), which were not provided to them.

Today’s hearing

A four-member bench headed by the CEC heard Ismail's request for a recount, in which Latif Khosa from PPP and Salman Akram Raja from PML-N argued.

During the hearing, PML-N lawyer Salman Akram Raja presented Form 45 to the commission and said that under the law, a signed Form 45 must be given to every polling agent. “At 167 polling stations, Form 45 was not signed by any polling agent. Not a single Form 46 has been issued to us and none of them were signed. Something happened with Form 45 and Form 46 after polling ended.”

He said the issue of Form 46 was problematic and should be investigated as no presiding officer had issued it at any polling station, except one. The procedure was not followed as per the law and we were officially told a difference of 683 votes, he said.

The PML-N’s counsel said the matter of Form 45 and 46 shows interference and demanded a recount in the whole constituency. “This matter should be fully investigated as the whole process has become suspicious.”

On the other hand, PPP lawyer Latif Khosa argued that no complaint was lodged with the RO or the Election Commission during or after the polling and the RO is not bound to accept the recount request.

“They didn't provide evidence and just said that there are doubts,” he said.

Khosa said this application is absolutely "unjustified."

Later, after the arguments of both parties were concluded, the Election Commission reserved its decision briefly, before announcing that it accepts the request for a constituency-wide recount.

 

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NCOC forms monitoring teams to ensure SOPs from May 8-16

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday decided to form monitoring teams at federal, provincial, and district levels to ensure the implementation of coronavirus SOPs from May 8-16.

The NCOC, in a statement, said the development came during a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman Khan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan was also present at the meeting.

During this period, all businesses and shops will remain closed with few exceptions like food outlets, grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol pumps and bakeries etc., the forum said, adding it was informed that there would be a complete ban on tourism for both locals and outsiders.

"All tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls; all hotels and restaurants in/around tourist/ picnic spots to remain closed," it said.

"Travel nodes leading to tourist spots [will also remain] closed; focus on [the areas of] Murree, Galiyat, Swat-Kalam, Sea View/beaches and the Northern Areas [will remain]," stated the statement.

Meanwhile, Umar has noted a significant improvement in the implementation of coronavirus SOP compliance since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place across the country.

In a tweet, the minister pointed out that national average compliance has doubled from 34% on April 25 to 68% on May 3.

"Significant improvement seen in SOP compliance since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place. National average compliance has doubled from 34% on April 25 to 68% on May 3," Umar wrote on Twitter.

The minister also stressed the need to sustain and build on this compliance level especially till Eid.

Pakistan reported 3,377 new coronavirus infections, taking the total caseload to 834,146 countrywide, according to the data provided by NCOC on Tuesday.

The country last reported 3,953 new coronavirus infections on April 5.

At least 161 new deaths have taken the country's death toll to 18,310. Most deaths in the country were reported in Punjab followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The positivity rate of coronavirus cases stands at 8.9%.

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Miftah Ismail’s request for vote recount in NA-249 by-poll accepted

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail's request for a recount in the NA-249 by-poll.

The ECP, in a statement, directed all the political parties to reach the office of Returning Officer at 9:00am on May 6 where the recounting would be held.

The recounting would be conducted of all the polling stations in the constituency.

Ismail had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, seeking a vote recount in NA-249 after he lost the poll by 683 votes. PPP’s Qadir Khan Mandokhel had pulled off a surprising victory in the April 29 election.

The PML-N had also requested the ECP to conduct a forensic audit of the votes in the NA-249 constituency. In his letter, Ismail had mentioned that presiding officers from 34 polling stations did not WhatsApp the results.

Ismail had said that the party "did not receive results from more than 30 polling stations".

He had also claimed that many Form 45s were not signed and that the counting of votes on the Form 45 given to the party is different from the forms issued by the returning officer (RO), which were not provided to them.

A four-member bench headed by the CEC heard Ismail's request for a recount, in which Latif Khosa from PPP and Salman Akram Raja from PML-N argued.

During the hearing, PML-N lawyer Salman Akram Raja presented Form 45 to the commission and said that under the law, a signed Form 45 must be given to every polling agent. “At 167 polling stations, Form 45 was not signed by any polling agent. Not a single Form 46 has been issued to us and none of them were signed. Something happened with Form 45 and Form 46 after polling ended.”

He said the issue of Form 46 was problematic and should be investigated as no presiding officer had issued it at any polling station, except one. The procedure was not followed as per the law and we were officially told a difference of 683 votes, he said.

The PML-N’s counsel said the matter of Form 45 and 46 shows interference and demanded a recount in the whole constituency. “This matter should be fully investigated as the whole process has become suspicious.”

On the other hand, PPP lawyer Latif Khosa argued that no complaint was lodged with the RO or the Election Commission during or after the polling and the RO is not bound to accept the recount request.

“They didn't provide evidence and just said that there are doubts,” he said.

Khosa said this application is absolutely "unjustified."

Later, after the arguments of both parties were concluded, the Election Commission reserved its decision.

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NA-249 by-election: ECP hears Miftah Ismail’s recount plea

The hearing on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Miftah Ismail’s plea, seeking a recount in the NA-249 by-poll is underway at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), reported on Tuesday.

Ismail, last week requested the chief election commissioner (CEC) to take emergency steps for taking custody of the NA-249 by-election record.

A four-member commission of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja hearing the plea. PML’s Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Muhammad Zubair have reached the ECP headquarters, while lawyers of both Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have not reached yet.

In his application, Miftah sought emergency action by CEC to seize sealed ballot papers and other election material used in NA-249 by-polls. He had stated in its plea that the election material should be kept at a secure location until the emergence of the final result of the by-polls.

He demanded CEC to keep the election material in a safe location under the supervision of Rangers or the Pakistan Army. He thanked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for issuing a stay order on the results of NA-249 by-election.

Ismail claimed that the majority of presiding officers (POs) and election staff belong to the Sindh government which illegally supported the provincial government and each political party has registered their complaints against it.

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Corona claims 161 more lives, 3,377 fresh cases reported in Pakistan

The novel coronavirus has claimed 161 more lives across Pakistan over the previous 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 18,310.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 3,377 new infections emerged when 37,587 samples were tested during the same period. The positivity rate of new cases was recorded at 8.98%, the NCOC said.
The countrywide tally of confirmed cases currently stands at 837,523 with the addition of 3,377 new cases. Thus far, 733,062 patients have recuperated from the disease with 5,018 in the past 24 hours.

The number of Covid-19 patients in critical care across the country has witnessed a minor drop and currently recorded at 5,326.

Thus far, Punjab has reported 308,529, Sindh 286,521, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 120,590, Islamabad 76,492, Balochistan 22,664, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 17,397 and Gilgit Baltistan 5,330.

Pakistan would start getting the batches of coronavirus vaccines from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) from this week, said sources on Monday.

Sources prior to the development told ARY News that Pakistan is likely to receive 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on May 7, its first batch under the GAVI/WHO COVAX vaccine initiative.

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NA-249 by-election: ECP hears Miftah Ismail’s recount plea

The hearing on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Miftah Ismail’s plea, seeking a recount in the NA-249 by-poll is underway at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), reported on Tuesday.

Ismail, last week requested the chief election commissioner (CEC) to take emergency steps for taking custody of the NA-249 by-election record.

A four-member commission of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja hearing the plea. PML’s Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Muhammad Zubair have reached the ECP headquarters, while lawyers of both Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have not reached yet.

In his application, Miftah sought emergency action by CEC to seize sealed ballot papers and other election material used in NA-249 by-polls. He had stated in its plea that the election material should be kept at a secure location until the emergence of the final result of the by-polls.

He demanded CEC to keep the election material in a safe location under the supervision of Rangers or the Pakistan Army. He thanked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for issuing a stay order on the results of NA-249 by-election.

Ismail claimed that the majority of presiding officers (POs) and election staff belong to the Sindh government which illegally supported the provincial government and each political party has registered their complaints against it.

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