Sonia Gandhi files nomination from Rae Bareli

          Rae Bareli: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday filed her nomination papers for the upcoming polls from Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Rae Bareli has been a Congress bastion for the last many years. Sonia's mother-in-law and India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her husband Feroze Gandhi won the seat. Gandhi was accompanied by her charismatic children Priyanka and Rahul. She stressed on the need for young people joining politics. "Well certainly there is a need for the young men in politics. Together with Rahul many many young people are in the party. We will have quite a large number of young people in politics," she said. Sonia Gandhi, who contested from Amethi in the last elections left the seat for Rahul, considered the heir-apparent of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Rahul wished good luck to his cousin Feroze Varun, who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party two months ago. "I think everyone should do what they feel good at heart. I wish my cousin (Feroze Varun) all the best, that's all I can say," said Rahul. Sonia Gandhi's great-grand father-in-law was India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who remains a hero to many Indians for building a modern nation. The family is not related to the hero of the freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi.

Political parties for ban on opinion polls (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Major political parties on Tuesday said they have reached a consensus that opinion polls should not be allowed after the notification of elections. The world's largest democracy goes to the polls in five phases later this month. "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other parties met and have taken a unanimous decision that opinion polls after the issue of first notification, which has already been announced, should be banned completely," main Opposition Congress party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters after the leaders of parties met the Election Commission here. Sibal added that results of exit polls should be withheld till the elections were over. "As far as exit polls are concerned, you can conduct them but the results of the exit polls should not be declared till the completion of the last phase of elections," Sibal added.

          The demand list of the parties includes a stop on all the media reporting on betting and astrological predictions over poll results. Opinion polls in India, where about 670 million people are eligible to vote, have had a mixed record in the past. For the general elections, most polls have failed to predict big wins for the BJP in key state elections in December which prompted the ruling coalition to bring forward the polls not due until October. The ruling BJP also said they sided with the Congress' view. "When the process of elections starts and the notification is issued then we also believe that the opinion polls should be stopped. But we do not agree to the fact that all the opinion polls which have been aired now are not methodological or wrong. We don't believe this," BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said. However, the parties remained divided on the issue of attacks on personalities. The foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi has been a recurring poll plank of the BJP. The BJP said the attack on Gandhi's foreign origin was a political issue. "Every political party felt that there should be a clear definition of what is meant by personal attack. Our party believes that the issue of foreign origin is not a personal attack. It is a core issue and this should not be banned. As far as personal character of the candidate is concerned, on this there should be a ban," said Malhotra. The poll panel is likely to give its order in a couple of days.

Advani visits Ram Lala shrine (Go To Top)

          Ayodhya: Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani visited the ''Ram Lala'' shrine here today, and told reporters accompanying on his "Bharat Uday Yatra" that the BJP had not abandoned its plan to build the Ram temple. Advani's statement assumes significance in that he used the 25th foundation day of the BJP to make the statement at a public gathering near the disputed site. He also used the occasion to visit the famous Hanumangarhi temple and offered prayers there. Advani last visited the Ram Lala shrine on December 6, in 1992, the day the Babri mosque was demolished, precipitating communal riots across the country. The Deputy Prime Minister is currently undertaking the second phase of his "Bharat Uday Yatra" which will conclude in Puri, Orissa, on April 14. The yatra's first phase was between March 10 and 23, and it covered seven cities in Uttar Pradesh, besides visits to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Filing of nominations ends on Wednesday (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Filing of nominations for the third phase of the general elections on April 26 will close on Wednesday. News agency reports said that polling on that day would cover 137 seats spread over 11 States. They include 32 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Maharashtra, 21 in Andhra Pradesh, 17 in Bihar, 13 in Karnataka, 10 in Orissa, eight each in Jharkhand and Assam, two in Goa and one each in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur. Scrutiny of the nomination papers would take place on April 8, and the last day for withdrawing nomination is April 10. Assembly polls covering 147 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, 104 seats in Karnataka and 70 seats in Orissa are also taking place on April 26.

Congress 'helped' BJP form Govt in UP: Mulayam (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today blamed the Congress party for bringing the BJP to power in the state before he took over. Talking to reporters, he said: "The Congress did not listen to our problems, they did such a thing that we could not form an alliance. If they had not done such a thing then BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) could not have gone to BJP for a few days and parted ways after the elections. The BSP and the BJP have chosen the candidates to defeat the SP (Samajwadi Party)". The BJP, which had an alliance with the backward class-dominated BSP, came to power in the state after the elections in 2002. The Samajwadi Party, despite being the single largest party, could not muster the numbers for the simple majority in the Assembly as the Congress party's 40 legislators then refused to support it. Yadav later became the chief minister when the BSP snapped its ties with the BJP and the Congress party also extended support to the SP. The parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh are crucial for all political parties as it sends the maximum number of lawmakers to the 545-member Lolk Sabha. World's largest democracy goes to polls in five phases starting April 20.

EC team to visit Haryana on Wednesday (Go To Top)

          Chandigarh: Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy will visit Haryana along with both his Election Commissioners - B B Tandon and N Gopalaswamy - on Wednesday to review the arrangements for conduct of the ensuing Lok Sabha general elections, an official spokesman said here today. The spokesman said that the Commission would hold meeting with recognised national and state level political parties at the Punjab Bhawan here, and discuss issues concerning the elections in the state. He said that the presidents of the recognised national and state level political parties had been urged to attend the meeting. Later in the day, the Commission would hold a meeting with the district and state level officers connected with the conduct of elections in the state, he added. Besides, the EC team is likely to address media persons at the State Guest House in the afternoon.

'Dead man' files papers to contest elections (Go To Top)

          Azamgarh (UP): Elections in India have always been interesting, but nothing can beat this. A man declared dead by authorities 18 years ago has filed his nomination papers to fight elections from Lal Ganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh. India is going for a five-phase elections beginning April 20. Lal Bihari "Mrithak" dead man, an Ig Nobel awardee, said he had decided to fight elections as he wanted to fight for others who were struggling to get justice from the authorities.

          "I cannot bear the injustice anymore. There are thousands who are running from pillar to post to get justice like me," Bihari said. Lal Bihari shot to fame when he was nominated for the Ig Nobel prize last year. Igs are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative and spur people's interest in science and technology. "This is a slap on the administration because the way, living people are being declared dead on papers and the way he struggled by approaching the High Court, Supreme Court and Human Rights Commission and he finally got justice," Amit Kumar Srivastav, counsel of Lal Bihari, said. In the last 18 years, Bihari has sought arrest, tried to contest for elections, kidnapped the son of his uncle who had stolen his property, issued threats of murder, insulted judiciary and threw leaflets at legislators sitting in the state Assembly house and even applied for a widow pension for his wife-just only to prove that he is alive. During his struggle, he discovered that more than 10,000 people were falsely declared dead in the northern part of the country by greedy relatives and corrupt officials in order to grab their land. To fight the system, he has even formed an organisation of "dead men" to work for the poor and duped people. His efforts to draw the attention of the people received another shot in the arm when noted Hindi filmmaker Satish Kaushik decided to film his lifestory.