Midnapore:
Maoist rebels in West Bengal have put up posters giving
open death threats to people who vote in the national elections
now underway. Sixteen states including West Bengal will
vote for the lower house of parliament on May 10. The Maoists
or Naxalites as they are known locally, are fighting for
peasent rights and radical re-distribution of land. They
have traditionally targeted rich landowners and government
offices besides boycotting elections. In the Midnapore region,
bordering the Naxal-hub of eastern Orissa and Jharkhand,
area police have been put on high alert and security has
been beefed up in busy marketplaces and polling booths.
But fear-struck locals who have been facing the rebel threat
for years, say they had little faith in the administartion.
"What I feel is that people will boycott these polls here
because they have lost trust in the administration," Khudiram
Pal, a villager said. "Police will be there during the polls
to provide security but after they move off, what do we
do? the villagers, who have to stay here. So I have not
yet decided whether I will cast my vote or not," Palitha
Ahir, another villager, added
Tight
security in Delhi for polls (Go
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New
Delhi: Elaborate security arrangements have been made
in Delhi ahead of polls on Monday. The five phased polls
to elect government enters the last lap with 16 states slated
to poll on Monday. Campaigning close on Saturday in the
remaining 182 constituencies, the largest number in any
phase, including seven seats in Delhi. The police in the
capital is all prepared to ensure a smooth voting, said
KK Paul, Commissioner of Police. "All border checkposts
have been strengthened, borders will be sealed and all the
incoming vehicles will be checked to make sure that anything
which can disrupt the polls, cannot be brought in," Paul
told a news conference. Monday's last round of the three-week
poll, the world's largest democratic exercise, is the toughest
for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), which leads the ruling coalition. Opinion polls
predict the BJP and its allies will struggle to win more
than a third of the seats being contested on Monday and
could leave his coalition short of a majority.
Congress campaign ends in Delhi (Go
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New
Delhi: India's mammoth election campaign draws to a
close on Saturday with parties making last-ditch appeals
to voters as exit and opinion polls showed a close race
to the finish line. Congress party, buoyed by the entry
of the Gandhi children, Rahul and Priyanka, into the poll
fray, ended its campaign with a mammoth rally at the seat
of power, Delhi. Thunderous roars greeted party chief Sonia
Gandhi as she asserted her party's strength saying the last
two rounds of voting had left BJP-led coalition nervous
and on a shaky ground. "Today, the BJP is nervous. The alliance
is feeling shaky and they are looking for new friends but
one thing is clear that in the Lok Sabha, on one side there
will be the BJP and on the other an even stronger Congress,"
Gandhi said.
Pilot killed after being hit by chopper
blade (Go
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Jaspur
(Uttaranchal): In a freak accident, a pilot was killed
on Saturday after being hit by a blade of a helicopter in
Jaspur town. The helicopter, owned by state-run Pawan Hans
company, was about to take off after an election campaign
by Union minister Rajnath Singh for Vijay Bansal, a BJP
candidate for Nainital constituency in Uttaranchal. Anil
Nakhra who was hit by the blade of the chopper, later succumbed
to his injuries in the local hospital. "As soon as the car
came near the helicopter...the blade hit them," said Captain
Bhatia, pilot, Pawan Hans company. He also added that just
before taking off, there was a major snag in the chopper.
