INDIA’S
8
ELECTIONS SPECIAL 2014
An FIR was registered against yoga guru Baba Ramdev in Mumbai on Wednesday for his controversial statement on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Ramdev’s statement that Gandhi goes to Dalit homes for “picnics and honeymoon” had kicked up a controversy recently.
w w w . l e m a t i n a l . c o m
LE MATINAL, PORT-LOUIS, THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
Polling underway in Seemandhra amid sporadic clashes
BJP: MODI DENIED PERMISSION FOR VARANASI RALLY
N Voters queue up to cast their votes at KSR College in Anantapur on Wednesday.
P
FIR AGAINST RAMDEV FOR REMARK ON RAHUL
olling is underway on Wednesday for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats in Seemandhra amid sporadic clashes between activists of rival parties, officials said. Long queues were seen since early morning at many polling stations in 13 districts. Technical snag in EVMs delayed start of the polling at few places. Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal said the faulty EVMs were replaced within few minutes. About 10 per cent votes were polled in the first two hours at 40,709 polling stations. Tension prevailed at some polling stations in Kadapa, Anantapur, Chittoor and Guntur districts due to clashes between activists of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). As many as 335 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections while 2,241 contestants are testing their political fortunes in the Assembly polls. Polling, which began at 7 am, will conclude at 4 pm in two Maoist-affected Assembly constituencies and at 5 pm in eight segments. In the remaining 165 constituencies, the polling will end at 6 pm. Over 100,000 police personnel and 272 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed as part of the massive security arrangements.
arendra Modi has been denied permission for one of the two rallies in Varanasi city tomorrow, the BJP said on Wednesday terming the move as "unprecedented" and "unheard of". Mr. Modi was supposed to hold two rallies in the constituency on Thursday but permission for one of the rallies is yet to be given, the party said. In Varanasi, ADM (city) MP Singh told PTI that they received the application seeking permission for the rally yesterday and the decision will be taken by 5 p.m. BJP media in-charge of Kashi region, Sanjay Bhardwaj said they had sought permission for Modi's rally at Beniabagh ground and another at Jagatpur ground in Rohania. He said the district administration is yet to give permission for Beniabagh ground rally. Flaying the district administration, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, "I don't know who is interfering but the returning officer of this constituency is a threat to
Rahul Gandhi visits polling booths in Amethi, interacts with people.
free and fair election". "This is unprecedented and unheard of and the party will not take it lying down," he said when asked if the party would approach the Election Commission over it. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the Varanasi administration was obeying an "unwritten order" and there is an "undeclared understanding" between them and the ruling Samajwadi Party. She said it was for the first time a candidate was denied permission to hold a rally in his own constituency. Mr. Modi is fighting election from the holy city which goes to the polls in the last phase of polls on May 12. "There is an undeclared understanding between SP and district administration. How can the administration deny permission to a candidate to do it (rally) in his own constituency? It is obeying an unwritten order," she told reporters. She said though the venue was pre-booked, the payment has not been made yet, suggesting that it was just a pretext to deny permission for rally. "It is absolutely unacceptable. We are quite surprised," she said.—Thehindu
ISHRAT
JAHAN
Rahul greeted with ‘har har Modi’ slogan in Amethi C
ongress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is in Amethi to supervise polling and going from one polling station to another, encountering some tough breaks on the Congress turf. During his visit to one polling booth in a school at Phoola village, Rahul noticed lotus drawn on a black board. Pointing toward the drawing, he said it was the BJP symbol and they had done it. At a polling station some BJP workers raised the "har har Modi" slogan when he left the venue. Amethi is one of the most keenly watched constituencies in this phase. The BJP's Smirti Irani and AAP's Kumar Vishwas have mounted a spirited challenge. Amid brisk voting, the turnout reached
FAKE
27.80% at 11am. Earlier in the day, Vishwas accused Congress workers of indulging in booth capturing to save the prestigious seat, won by Rahul in 2004 and 2009. "Booth capturing is going on at booth number 42 of Mehmoodpur...," Vishwas alleged on Twitter. In another tweet, he alleged that information about booth capturing, fake voting and intimidation of workers was coming from various places, but the observers and district administration were not taking any action on complaints being sent through phone, email and SMSes. District magistrate Jagat Raj Tripathi, however, dismissed the charges. "No such complaint has been found correct. Polling is going on smoothly," he said. —Hindustantimes
ENCOUNTER:
CBI gives clean chit to Amit Shah T
he Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday gave a clean chit to Gujarat's former junior Home Minister and Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, saying it did not have sufficient evidence to charge sheet him. "There is no sufficient evidence against Amit Shah. Hence CBI has not chargesheeted him," CBI PI Vishwas Kumar Meena said in an affidavit filed before the special CBI court in Ahmadabad on Wednesday. "It is most respectfully submitted that Shah was not named in the FIR of the case. CBI has also not named him in the charge sheet as an accused," CBI affidavit said. Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai who was killed in the encounter, had approached the court of special CBI
BJP leader Amit Shah was Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home when Ishrat Jahan was killed by the State police in an allegedly fake encounter. Judge Geeta Gopi to arraign Mr. Shah and former Commissioner of Police of the city, K.R. Kaushik as accused in the encounter case. Mr. Pillai had cited the resignation letter of suspended IPS officer and one of the accused in the Ishrat Jahan case D.G. Vanzara in his petition. Regarding the resignation letter, CBI has said in
its affidavit that, "The said resignation letter contains general allegations and not providing any concrete information about the role of Shah in this offence. After receiving the letter, CBI examined Vanzara in the Jail. However, he has not disclosed any further details during his examinations." Mr. Vanzara had in his letter said that police "was
following conscious policy of state government", while conducting the encounter. CBI has also given clean chit to Mr. Kaushik, the then city police commissioner and has made him an witness in the case. "During further investigation and evidence collected so far, it appears that Mr. Kaushik was not involved in the conspiracy of killing the deceased," it said, adding that they have shown him as a prosecution witness in their supplementary charge sheet filed in the case. CBI has also demanded to dismiss the application filed by Mr. Pillai. The central agency has named IPS officer Vanzara, P.P. Pandey, G.L. Singhal and other police officers as accused in the fake encounter case charge sheet, saying that it was a joint operation by Gujarat Police and Intelligence Bureau (IB).—Thehindu
HIGHLIGHTS
People in a long queue to cast their votes during the 8th phase of Lok Sabha elections at Katianwali in Baramulla. In Bollavaram village, some 250 kms from Hyderabad, people decided to vote this year after boycotting polls for the past 35 years, as the village was under the influence of CPI-ML group.
A groom casts his vote for Lok Sabha polls at a village near Palampur.
Mahant Narendra Giri Ji Maharaj and other sadhus show their inked fingers in Allahabad.