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Mahajan's condition continues to be critical

     Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan's condition continued to be critical five days after his brother shot him at his Worli residence in Mumbai. Doctors described Mahajan's condition as "critical but stable". According to doctors attending on him at Hinduja Hospital, there has been no change in Mahajan's condition in the last three days and he continues to be on ventilator and dialysis. Mahajan's kidneys are being supported by 24-hour dialysis. He is breathing with the help of ventilators and his dipping blood pressure has been propped up by medicines. Mahajan had received bullet injuries in liver, pancreas and small intestines after he was shot at by his brother Praveen on April 22.

    Praveen Mahajan was remanded to police custody on April 23 till April 29 by a local court on charges of attempt to murder following the police request to interrogate him further. Praveen is booked under section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder) and Section 450 (criminal trespass with intention to commit serious crime punishable with life imprisonment). He has also been charged under Section three of the Arms Act (misuse of licenced weapon). Meanwhile, police have questioned city-based businessman Uday Mishra, who has alleged that Praveen had cheated him of Rs 8.5 lakh in a business deal. Police are also looking into the aspect whether Praveen was facing any financial crisis and had sought help from Pramod, failing which he committed the crime.

71 pc turnout in third phase in Bengal (Go To Top)

      Kolkata: An estimated 71 per cent turnout was recorded in the third phase of assembly elections for 76 seats in Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas districts in West Bengal on Thursday. According to Election Commissioner sources, polls by and large passed on peacefully with no major untoward incident being reported from any of the constituencies, which voted today amidst tight security. The casting of votes in 76 Assembly constituencies began at 7 a.m. this morning. Braving the scorching sun, people turned out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. Women outnumbered men at several polling stations. In several booths under Belgachia East, Baranagar and Alipore constituencies, EVMs developed technical snags, forcing the polling to kick off late. More than 50,000 central para miliatry force personnel and mobile vans were manning all the 13,790 polling booths and patrolling streets. Like the first two phases, 3,000 digital cameras were in operation to take photographs of voters without having photo identity cards and of anyone indulging in malpractices. Among the three districts which went to polls were North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas which have 28 seats each followed by 21 in Kolkata. The total number of voters in the three districts was 12.4 million, and a total of 474 candidates were in fray. The prominent candidates are Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, his cabinet colleagues Asim Dasgupta, Subhas Chakraborty, Amar Chowdhury, Mohammad Amin, Manabendra Mukherjee, Gautam Deb and Assembly Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim. Some other candidates are Congress party nominee and former city Mayor, Subrata Mukherjee, film actors Tapas Pal (Trinamool Congress) and Biplab Chattopadhyay(CPI-M), are also fighting the elections. Polling for the first phase for 45 Assembly constituencies took place on April 17. The second phase polling for 66 seats was held on April 22. The third took place today, while the fourth and fifth phases of polling will take place on May 3 and May 8 respectively. 57 constituencies will go to polls in the fourth phase. Counting of votes will take place on May 11.

Pahalgam grenade blast injures 17 (Go To Top)

      Srinagar: At least 17 people were injured in a grenade blast at a crowded bus stand in the hill resort of Pahalgam on Thursday. The condition of five of the 17 injured was stated to be serious. Security forces have launched a search for those responsible for the grenade attack. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far. In a separate incident today, unidentified gunmen shot dead a head constable at Pastun village near Awantipore. Pahalgam serves as the base camp for pilgrims undertaking the march to the Amarnath cave shrine.This year's pilgrimage begins on May 11. Last year, a record number of over six lakh tourists visited the Kashmir Valley following a decline in militant-related violence.

Delhi medicos suspend OBC agitation (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Hours after Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh said that he was ready to meet medicos protesting against OBC reservation proposal, students of five premier medical colleges in Delhi suspended their agitation till May 12 here today. Following Singh's assurance, the students met at India Gate and announced to "suspend" their strike till May 12, a day after the counting of votes in the Assembly elections will be over. "If he (Arjun Singh) goes back on the assurance then we should not be held responsible for what happens after that," Sujit Shukla and Anirudh Lochan, representatives of the striking students, told reporters. Earlier today, Singh has said that he could not react to or interact with students on the reservation issue as he was bound by the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct during the duration of the April-May Assembly polls. "In the instant case, the students wanted to interact about the reservation issue with me.

    Unfortunately, because of the directions of the Election Commission I am not in a position to interact with them and I have to maintain silence till the elections are over," Singh said in an official statement.

Cabinet approves Bangalore metro (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a Rs 6,395-crore Bangalore Metro Rail Project. The project was finalised at a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) here today, Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said, adding that the project would follow the model of Delhi Metro Rail Project. The project, when completed, would cover a distance of 33 km including two corridors and is expected to be implemented by the year 2011. The project will have a debt equity ratio of 70:30 i.e the Centre and Karnataka Government would provide 15 percent equity each for the project. Besides, a Japanese Bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) would provide 45 percent loan to the Bangalore Metro Corporation for the project. The Government of India, which is the borrower of the loan on behalf of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRC), would have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Japan for the loan. The remaining 25 percent equity would be raised through subordinate debts.

Azad wins Bhaderwah seat in Jammu (Go To Top)

      Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has won the Bhaderwah Assembly seat in Doda district of Jammu region defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's Kaushal Kotwal by a huge margin of 58,015 votes. Azad, credited for bringing the Congress party back in power in the state after 27 years, is reported to have got 62,072 votes and Kotwal 4,057, out of a total of 66,129 votes polled. In the by-elections to Pattan, Sangrama, Rafiabad and Bhaderwah constituencies of the state held on April 24, over 60 percent voters had exercised their franchise. Highest number of votes - 66 percent - was registered in the Rafiabad Assembly Constituency followed by 64 percent in Bhaderwah. This is the first time when a Chief Minister has entered the assembly from outside the valley. All the former Chief Ministers have contested elections from Kashmir with National Conference leaders Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah choosing Ganderbal in Srinagar district as their safe seats. In 2004 by-polls, Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq was elected from Amirakadal constituency while Mufti Mohammad Sayeed came into the assembly from Pahalgam in Anantnag district.

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