Election: Notification issued for LS polls
New
Delhi: The President, APJ Abdul Kalam, today issued
the formal notification for elections in 141 parliamentary
constituencies spread over 15 states, the first of the five-
phased polls that is to take place on April 20. In the first
phase, polls will be held in Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir,
Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh
and a part of Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Assam and Manipur. Notifications were also issued
by Governors for 147 out of 294 seats in Andhra Pradesh
Assembly, 120 out of 224 seats in Karnataka and 77 of the
147 seats in Orissa.
About
675 million voters are eligible to cast their votes during
the first phase. This is the first time that ballots will
be cast right across the country through Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs), to elect the 543- member 14th Lok Sabha.
The four remaining phases of the elections will be held
on April 22 and 26 and on May 5 and 10. Nominations for
the constituencies going to the polls in the first phase
will close on March 31 and withdrawal of candidatures will
be on April 3 and 5. Elaborate security has been put in
place for the elections in anticipation of terrorist or
militant attacks, especially in states like Andhra Pradesh
and Orissa. Apart from a thousand general election observers
who will monitor the polls across the country, the Commission
has for the first time also decided to appoint special observers
in some states to ensure neutrality at the highest level.
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state where there will be
a four- phased poll for the six Lok Sabha seats, with Baramulla
and Jammu going to the polls on April 20, Srinagar on April
26, Anantnag on May 5 and Ladakh and Udhampur on May 10.
The
second phase of polling on April 22 will be held for the
two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura. For the third phase of polling
which will cover 137 Lok Sabha seats in 11 states and 321
Assembly seats in three states on April 26, notifications
will be issued on March 31. Nominations for the third phase
will close on April 7 and the last date of withdrawal will
be on April 10. The fourth phase of polling on May 5 will
cover 83 Lok Sabha seats in seven states. The filing of
nominations for this phase will be open between April 8
and April 15. The last day of withdrawal of nominations
is on April 19. The fifth phase of elections on May 10 covers
182 parliamentary constituencies in 16 states, including
Sikkim, which will have a one-day poll for both the Lok
Sabha and the 32-member Assembly. Nominations for the last
phase would be opened between April 16 and April 23. The
last day for withdrawal of candidature would be on April
26. Counting will be taken up on May 13.
Dharmendra joins BJP (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: Actor Dharmendra today joined the BJP saying
that he was inspired to take the step by the achievements
of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, especially the thaw
in the tense relations between Pakistan and India. The actor
joined the party in the presence of BJP president M Venkaiah
Naidu, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, party general
secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Law and Commerce
Minister Arun Jaitley. Naidu used the occasion to justify
the influx of Bollywood stars into the party. He said it
reflected a new thinking in the country and among the people.
People who had kept themselves away from politics now wanted
to contribute to the country's progress under Vajpayee's
leadership, he added.
Sonia
in MP for road show, Advani for Chandigarh (Go
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New
Delhi: Congress party president Sonia Gandhi today reached
Indore en route to the Khandwa constituency in Madhya Pradesh
at the start of her two-day long pre-poll road show. News
agency reports said that Gandhi would be covering the Mahakaushal
and Nimar tribal regions extensively, areas where the Congress
party had performed poorly in the Assembly polls last December.
Apart from Khandwa, the Congress president will pass through
Chaigaon Makhan, Deshgaon, Bhikangaon, Bamnala (Khargone)
Ghugriakhedi, Khargone (circuit house), Lohari, Ojhar, Kasravad,
Balsamund, Khalghat and Dhamnod (Dhar district). The road
show will reach Indore in the evening, where Sonia will
spend the night after a rally in the city. Gandhi will then
leave for Nagpur on March 25, to launch her road show in
Chhindwara, which is represented by the senior party leader,
Kamal Nath. Security has been beefed up along the route
of the road show, the reports added.
Meanwhile,
acting Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will reach Chandigarh
this evening after travelling through Sonepat, Panipat and
Ambala on the 15th day of his "Bharat Uday Yatra". Advani
is expected to address a public rally when the day-night
match is on. To thwart the possibility of a thin attendance
at the rally because of the fifth and final one-day international
between Pakistan and India in Lahore, the BJP has decided
to put two giant screens at the venue to show the match.
