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SAD asks EC to deploy Central forces in Punjab on polling day

          New Delhi: Members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday met Election Commission and requested for the deployment of central forces during the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. The state goes to poll on May 10. Members of the Akali Dal led by Kirpal Singh Badungar, former SGPC president, met Chief Election Commissioner TS Krishnamurthy and asked them to take stock of the security situation in Punjab during elections. The members accused the State Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh for misusing the official machinery. "Punjab Chief Minister is creating a terror among people which is a major hurdle in holding free and fair elections in the state. There has been glaring misuse of the state machinery. Therefore we have demanded that charge of security in constituencies identified as senstive should be given to Central agencies like BSF and CRPF. So that people can cast their vote freely," said Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, General Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal.

Sonia's Tamil Nadu campaign programme altered (Go To Top)

         Chennai: Congress party president Sonia Gandhi's election campaign in Tamil Nadu was altered slightly today in order to accommodate Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee is to address a joint rally with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa this evening. In view of this, Congress circles here decided to postpone Sonia's address to a public rally from May 6 to May 7. Tamil Nadu Congress party chief G.K.Vasan, however, took a dig at the Jayalalitha regime, saying that it had not made adequate security arrangements for Gandhi's visit to the state, and was instead concentrating on pulling out all stops for Vajpayee, who has arrived here from Coimbatore. "On 6 May, we had asked for the Island Ground for a election public meeting. As the prime minister is going to address an election rally on the same ground on 5 May, they refused to hand over the ground to us for 6th. So, we have changed our meeting to 7 May. The Tamil Nadu Government is indulging in unwanted activities to disturb our function. For example,they were passing the Island Ground only after 12 p.m. so that we are left with only 10 hours to make arrangements. But still, we will make sure that our meeting is a grand success," Vasan said.

Secular front will form a stable government: Sitaram Yechuri (Go To Top)

         Tirupparankunram (Tamil Nadu): The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and politburo member, Sitaram Yechury, has claimed that a secular Third Front will form a viable, stable and alternative government at the Centre after the elections. Addressing an election meeting at Tirupparankunram in Madurai constituency, Yechuri said that the incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would not come to power after the elections.

           "We want to tell Mr. Vajpayee that you please do not get worried. The secular parties have much larger talent than your BJP-lead NDA. We have many people who are capable of leading this countr," said Yechuri. "Five years ago, when Vajpayee assumed office he promised four things amongst others, that he will liberate India from hunger, corruption, fear and he will generate one crore new jobs every year. On each one of these fronts, the situation today is much worse than it was five years ago. Not only that is much worse, if we do not correct the situation, it will lead to disintegration of India itself," said Yechuri.

Muslim village in Vajpayee's constituency boycotts polls (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: Scores of Muslims in a village coming under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Lucknow constituency today refused to exercise their franchise in protest against the dilapidated condition of their residential areas. Muddy puddles, potholes and partially-broken roads mark the minority-dominated area, where many people are literally being forced to live with drain water running into their homes. Locals say repeated pleas to the local authorities and even to Vajpayee have borne no fruit. Angry and disillusioned, the residents say the politicians have lost credibility. "Politicians think that they can just use the minorities as vote banks and then they forget us. Even the Prime Minister has been ignoring us and we believe that he will continue to do so," one of the villagers said. Their protest came even as the third phase of the polls got underway this morning, focussing on the politically crucial northern "cow belt".

NDA set to return to power: Advani; Sonia in Kerala (Go To Top)

          Haridwar: Buoyed by favourable exit polls after the third phase of India's five stage national election on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was set to return to power. Television exit polls predicted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies would come close to a majority in parliament. "The day some newspapers reported that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) might not come to power, dozens of prime ministerial candidates popped up. I am telling you nothing like that is going to happen. There would be no hung parliament. NDA would get a clear mandate and Atal Bihari Vajpayee would become the Prime Minister," Advani told a public meeting in Haridwar.

           Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi trained her guns on the ruling coalition saying it had failed on all fronts. She was addressing a rally in Thiruvananthapuram. "Against the key indicators of good governance, the performance of the BJP-led coalition has fallen far far below than the performance of the Congress governments in the 80s and 90s. The overall growth rate has gone down, the per capita availability of foodgrains has gone down and the availability of water has gone down, growth in power generation capacity has gone down and the annual increase in pucca roads has gone down. As a direct result of economic mismanagement, prices have risen sharply," said Gandhi.