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Bihar Assembly dissolution unconstitutional: SC

     New Delhi: The Supreme Court today held the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly as "unconstitutional" in a verdict on petitions filed accusing the UPA government at the Centre of subverting democratic norms at the behest of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to prevent JDU leader Nitish Kumar from seeking claim to form the government after the assembly polls in February this year.

     After a scrutiny of the malafide alleged against Governor Buta Singh in giving reports to the Centre, which led to the dissolution of the Assembly, the Constitution Bench, however, ruled that the process of election in the state will continue uninterrupted and the election scheduled to start on October 18 can be held as per the time table.

    Three National Democratic Alliance (NDA) legislators had filed the petitions challenging the May 23 presidential dissolution order. An Independent has also challenged the decision that was brought on after Bihar Governor Butu Singh recommended the action on May 21. The Union Cabinet met on May 22 and sent a midnight recommendation for dissolution to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who was in Moscow at the time.

500 candidates for first phase Bihar polls (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The first phase of polling in the Bihar Assembly elections on October 18 will see a total number of 584 candidates, including 39 women, contesting for 61 assembly constituencies, read an Election Commission release. The statistics released said that a total of 1,31,62,881 electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase, with Phulwari constituency having the maximum of 2,89,619 voters. It said that Nawada constituency has the largest number of 19 contestants. 18,635 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be used during the first phase in 14,343 polling stations. Assembly elections in the State will be held in four phases and the first phase of voting will take place on October 18. The remaining three phases of voting will take place on October 26, November 13 and November 19 respectively. Counting of votes in all the constituencies will be taken up on November 22, and date before which election process shall be completed will be November 23. The Assembly was dissolved in May this year by the UPA government at the Centre on Governor Buta Singhs recommendation. However, talking about the move, analysts had said that it was aimed at preventing the opposition forming a government in the state after a fractured mandate. And stamping their view, the Supreme Court today also held the dissolution as "unconstitutional".

IAF fighter plane Jaguar crashes at Gwalior Air Base (Go To Top)

     Gwalior: A Jaguar fighter plane of the Indian Air Force crashed at the Gwalior air base before taking off on Friday morning. However, no casualty or damage was reported. According to the report, the fighter aircraft crashed when it was about to take off on a strike mission at around 8.30 a.m. The pilot, Sqn Ldr V Gupta, however, safely ejected out of the aircraft. A court of inquiry was ordered into the crash in which prima facie report suggested technical fault as the reason behind it.

Two Maoist surrender in Maharashtra (Go To Top)

     Devali (Maharashtra): Two rebels in Devali town of Maharashtra on Thursday surrendered before the state police. The Maoists belonged to Naxal-affected Devali and Korchi subdivisions in Gondia District of Maharashtra. The rebels laid down their arms in front of Anup Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police. Singh said, the rebels decided to come back to mainstream. "They were lured by money into joining their group. Their work included carrying heavy loads from one place to another and were not trusted with any other work. Once they saw the reality of the Naxalite movement, they got disillusioned and came back," he said.

     The naxals, operating in seven states, are waging an armed struggle for peasant rights for the last 30 years. Roopsai Pandhare, a surrendered rebel said, the Naxals had lured him with money to join the group but later did not fulfill any of their promises. Thousands have died in three decades of Maoist insurgency across eight Indian states. Rebels have killed politicians and policemen and blasted factories and government offices. Naxalites derive their name from the eastern town of Naxalbari where their movement began in the 1960s. Maoist rebels in Nepal fighting to overthrow the nation's monarchy and their Indian counterparts have vowed to join together to promote communism, reinforcing fears that the bloody insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom could spill over into India. In August, Home Ministry had said there were about 9,300 armed Maoists in the country, adding that social and economic disparities in states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh were a key reason for the Maoists' influence.