Lucknow:
Describing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lalji
Tandon's birthday celebrations as a violation of the model
code of conduct, the Congress on Tuesday launched a formal
complaint against the BJP with the Election Commission.
The Congress has also demanded the arrest of Lalji Tandon.
However, the Chief Election Commissioner has said he will
wait for a full report before promising any action. Twenty-two
people died in a stampede that broke out in Lucknow during
the distribution of sarees on the occasion of Lalji Tandon's
birthday on Monday.
Deputy
Prime Minister L K Advani claimed that the birthday celebrations
of party leader Lalji Tandon were not in violation of the
model code of conduct. "It is not a violation of Election
Commission's model code of conduct. An accident has taken
place and people have died in it. It is the responsibility
of both the state government and the Centre to extend all
help to the needy," Advani said. Party president Venkaiah
Naidu held that the stampede need not be politicised as
it occurred during a private function. "It's human tragedy
and a very unfortunate one and no political overtures should
stem out of it as it's a private function," Naidu said.
However, DMK chief M Karunanidhi urged the commission to
take immediate action on the matter. "The Election Commission,
without wasting time, should take immediate action on the
violation of code of conduct," Karunanidhi said.
SC
ruling on political ads (Go
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New
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued guidelines
to stop "offensive" political advertisements in electronic
media during campaign for the forthcoming national polls.
The apex court appointed the Election Commission as the
sole authority to certify the advertisements. A three-judge
bench said if while monitoring the cable networks and television
channels, the Election Commission came across any infringement
of the order, it would seize the equipment of the channel
or the cable operator. "The political parties and the contesting
candidates should give true certified copies of the proposed
telecast to the district magistrate three days prior to
the telecasting. The district magistrate should give or
decline the permission within 24 hours or maximum 48 hours,"
Ramakant Reddy, counsel for Gemini Television, a private
television channel, told reporters about the court ruling.
The court said the order shall remain in force from April
16 till May 10.
India
goes to polls in five phases starting April 20 and ending
May 10. The case is the result of a special petition filed
by the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry, challenging
a court order of southern Andhra Pradesh state. The ministry
had filed a petition challenging the high court order suspending
the operation of Rule 7 (3) of the Cable Television Network
Rules, which empowers the Election Commission and the ministry
to ban political advertisements including surrogate advertisements.
The appeal drew the apex court's attention to the widespread
public cries against some political advertisements telecast
recently, which were described as "defamatory, abusive and
indecent."
The
election commission had earlier banned all advertisements
that highlighted the government's achievements. Meanwhile,
the political parties welcomed the judgement. "We will go
by the ruling of the Supreme Court. And we feel that the
advertisements should not be surrogatory and malign any
personality and it should be based on achievements of the
party and other issues," Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, spokesperson
of the Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters. "We are ok
with this. We have no problems," Congress spokesperson Kapil
Sibal told reporters.
EC
cancels nomination of alleged Pakistani (Go
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Poonch:
The Election Commission on Tuesday cancelled the candidature
of an alleged Pakistan citizen seeking election from Poonch
district in Jammu and Kashmir to Lok Sabha. Authorities
said 29 year-old Zulfikar Ali Rahat, a candidate of the
Samajwadi Janata Party, allegedly came to India along with
his father from Pakistan in 1983. The family settled here
and did not return to Pakistan. Rahat has also applied for
Indian citizenship. Meanwhile, Rahat denied the allegation
saying he was being framed. "I have a driving license and
my name is there in the voters' list. This is an allegation
against me by the enemies of my brother. They are trying
to settle scores with me. They have wrongly implicated me,"
Rahat told reporters as he demonstrated on the streets,
shouting slogans.
Congress'
Sachin Pilot files nomination from Dausa (Go
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Jaipur:
Harvard educated Sachin Pilot, son of former Congress
leader Rajesh Pilot, who filed his nomination papers to
contest the forthcoming parliamentary election from Dausa
in Rajasthan today, said that his plank was development
of the region. Sachin joins a battery of foreign educated
sons of politicians to step into their father's shoes, including
the charismatic Rahul and Varun Gandhi, scions of the famous
Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Uttar Pradesh chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav, and Rajasthan chief minister
Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant Singh. The country's 2004
general polls starting April 20, have seen most of the second
generation turks entering the political fray.
Advani
invites AAPSU leaders for talks (Go
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Itanagar:
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani has invited
a delegation of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union
(AAPSU) to New Delhi on April 16 and 17 for talks to thrash
out a permanent solution to the refugee imbroglio, Arunachal
Pradesh BJP unit president Taba Hare said. The development
is the outcome of an effort by BJP leaders to break the
deadlock arising out of the AAPSU call to boycott the parliamentary
election in the state to protest the Election Commission
decision to register 1,497 Chakma-Hajong refugees as voters.
The telephonic invitation was extended by Union Law Minister
Arun Jaitley during a meeting between an AAPSU delegation
led by its president Byabang Taj and general secretary Gumjum
Haider and Hare in the presence of BJP national general
secretary Sanjoy Joshi at the BJP office here last evening.
Expressing resentment over the grant of voting right to
1,497 refugees by the EC, the AAPSU leaders said that such
a move would facilitate resident facilities to them and
other over lakh refugees living in various parts of the
state. Such a decision was against the wishes of the people,
who have been agitating for the last few decades demanding
the deportation of the refugees. Joshi apprised Jaitley
of the issue, who in turn discussed the matter with Advani
before confirming the Advani's desire to meet the AAPSU
delegation, Hare said.
Siddhartnagar
villagers vow to boycott polls (Go
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Siddhartnagar (UP): Heads of six villages in the border
areas of Uttar Pradesh have decided to boycott this month's
national polls, annoyed over lack of development. Residents
in Siddhartnagar, close to the Nepal border, complained
that they never got justice from whoever they voted. "We
do not have electricity in our village. Though there is
an electric pole crossing the village nearly 200 metres
away but we have not got electricity yet. Nor do we have
clean water. We do not have any facilities. Politicians
come only during the elections and make promises but never
come back," Kamar Alam, a villager said.
The angry village heads said that they have vowed to teach
the politicians a lesson. "We are fed up of all these false
promises and we have decided this is the time to protest.
If any politician comes to ask for votes this time then
we will not spare him. What do we have? nothing. The government
has not given us anything," said Vati Ullah, head of Siddhartnagar
village. Elections in the most populous Uttar Pradesh are
crucial for all political parties as it sends the maximum
number of lawmakers to the 545-member lower house of Indian
parliament. India is going for a five phase elections beginning
April 20. Siddharthnagar region has always been under severe
threat from the Maoist rebels fighting in the Himalayan
kingdom.
