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Campaigning for first phase ends

          New Delhi: Campaigning for the upcoming dections ended this evening for the first phase. As many as 139 Parliamentary constituencies, spread over 15 states will vote on April 20. These include, all the 26 constituencies of Gujarat, 24 out of 48 in Maharashtra, 21 out of 42 in Andhra Pradesh, 15 out of 28 in Karnataka, 11 each in Bihar, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Six seats in Assam and Jharkhand, two each in Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya and one each in Manipur, Mizoram and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will also vote the same day. April 20 will also witness Assembly elections in 147 of the 294 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 120 out of 224 seats in Karnataka and 77 out of 147 seats in Orissa. Elections for the 14th Lok Sabha are to be held in five phases-on April 20, April 22, April 26, May 5 and May 10. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.

           Elections to the 543 constituencies will be held in five phases. The Election Commission, charged with organising the election in the world's biggest democracy, will use bullock carts, camels and elephants to set up some 700,000 polling booths. The commission has already sent electoral rolls and electronic voting machines even to the remotest areas in the country for the start of the largest election in human history. An army of government employees backed by tens of thousands of troops have fanned out across the country, braving extreme heat, harsh terrain and threats by guerrilla groups for the staggered election. Security has been beefed up in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir, where two constituencies - Jammu and Baramulla - vote on Tuesday. In the remote snow desert of Ladakh, north of Kashmir, election officials will be dropped from helicopters to set up a booth in Fastan village at a height of 17,000 feet.

          Top leaders of all parties have wound up their hectic poll campaign in the constituencies which vote in the first phase. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani camped in Gandhinagar constituency, from where he is seeking the mandate, for the last couple of days. For the first time, voting across the country will take place through electronic machines instead of ballot papers. Political parties and election officials have explained to voters how to use these machines correctly in a country where 35 percent of the population cannot read or write. Election Commission officials say electronic machines, besides eliminating the use of precious paper, also reduce the chances of rigging and speed up the counting of votes. Elections in the past have been violent, marred by clashes between rival political groups and allegations of rigging.

          Separatist militants in the disputed Kashmir and in the far-off northeast including Assam have often attacked polling stations in the past. Officials in the lawless state of Bihar, where 56 people died in clashes in the 1999 elections, have asked federal authorities for more troops on voting days to ensure a free poll. Gangs of armed men in previous elections in Bihar have stormed into polling stations, stamped ballot papers and stuffed them into the ballot boxes. Voting is being held on five days ending on May 10 to allow security forces to move across the vast nation to ensure free and fair polls. A little over 670 million Indians are eligible to vote in the election, which is largely being fought between the ruling BJP-led alliance and the Congress party and its allies.

Sorabjee hails SC verdict in Best Bakery case (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Attorney General SJ Sorabjee on Sunday hailed the recent Supreme Court verdict in the Best Bakery case, saying it upheld the rule of law in the country. "The judgement shows that the Supreme Court discharges its duties fearlessly to uphold the rule of the law," he said addressing a "Lawyers Meet" organised by the All India Conference of Intellectuals in the capital. Sorabjee, who was conferred the title of "the great legal luminary of India" at the meet, also touched upon the topic of Public Interest Litigations. Admitting that there was misuse of PIL's, the Attorney General, however, termed as "obnoxious", voices in favour of a total ban on them. Opining that PIL's have helped many a section of people achieve their basic rights, he said "PIL's should be regulated, but not curtailed." Senior Advocate Anil Dewan, who also received the title of great legal luminary from Supreme Court Judge Justice K G Balakrishnan on the occasion, said the apex court, Election Commission and Comptroller and Auditor General of India had played a vital role to ensure that the rule of law prevails in the country. This was possible as they were free of executive control.

Shortcut route to Amarnath cave to be ready in five years (Go To Top)

          Baltal (J-K): A shortcut route to the holy shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir will be ready in five years, a private construction company said on Sunday. The 17-km Baltal-Amarnath road would be taken up by Beacon Construction Company shortly after approval from the state government. The project, which would cost Rs 180 million, will enable the pilgrims to reach the cave shrine in four hours. "As of now it takes 12 hours from Baltal to Amarnath and as the road is very narrow only 500 pilgrims are allowed in one day. But after this road pilgrims can go on their vehicles till the Sangam which will also lessen the time of trekking to a mere four hours. And more and more pilgrims will be able to trek in a single day. It will make the pilgrimage much easier," said A. Mahadevan, Chief Engineer of Beacon, said Benu, a tourist, said more people would be able to trek with the opening of the new route. "By the opening of this road it will be good for us as the road which is very narrow restricts more people from going. But once it is constructed then more people will come as the caves are only open for one month," said Benu. The trecherous journey takes batches of pilgrims every year along icy streams, glacier-fed lakes and dense pine forests to reach the Amarnath cave. Many of them are also killed in militant attacks, or landslides and bad weather. Last year, 170,000 trekked to the cave-discovered by a Muslim shepherd in the 16th century.

IOC for LPG price hike by Rs 94 (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: State-run Indian Oil Corp has asked the government to permit it to raise prices of cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene by Rs 94.03 per cylinder and Rs 4.90 per litre to bring the retail cost in line with the cost of raw material. The state-run oil firms have not been allowed to raise prices of the two cooking fuels during the last two years despite the cost of raw material going up by about 50 per cent and the government subsidy on the two being cut by one-third.

Australia beat India in four-nation challenge final (Go To Top)

         Canberra: Australia beat India 3-0 in the four nation challenge hockey tournament here on Sunday while South Africa took third place with a 2-1 victory over Malaysia. Australia won all four of their games in the tournament, scoring 22 goals and conceding two. Two goals by Greg Nicol gave South Africa its win over Malaysia. Nicol converted penalty corner attempts in the fifth and 44th minutes as South Africa built on a 1-0 halftime lead. Malaysia came back with a 62nd-minute penalty corner goal by Kuhan Shanmuganathan. It was South Africa's first win of the tournament after they lost their three round-robin games. Malaysia, who are three places higher in the world rankings than South Africa at No. 10, beat South Africa in the round-robin phase for their only victory of the tournament.