M A I N   N E W S

Gill rejects ‘open ballot’ for RS poll

NEW DELHI, March 31 (UNI) — There is no question of adopting “open ballot” for the Rajya Sabha elections as it is against the individual rights of voters, Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill said tonight.

In an interview to Aaj Ki Baat on Star Plus, Dr Gill said: “The question of using ‘open ballot’ system does not arise at the moment . This is just an idea and it needs to be checked whether it fits in with our Constitution.

In light of large scale cross -voting and use of money power in Wednesday’s elections for 29 seats of the Rajya Sabha, the Home Minister Mr L.K. Advani, had asked the Law Minister, Mr Ram Jethmalani, to explore the possibility of adopting “open ballot” system for the elections to the Upper House.

Samata plea: The Samata Party has urged the Election Commission to find a suitable way to eliminate the use of money power which encourages cross-voting. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr M.S. Gill, Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly also sought the commission’s initiative to scrap the rule which requires candidates for Rajya Sabha elections to declare themselves as regular residents of the states from where they are contesting.

150 LTTE rebels killed

COLOMBO, March 31 (PTI) — Over 150 LTTE rebels have been killed and 350 injured in the past five-days of fighting for the control of Northern Jaffna in which Sri Lankan troops used heavy artillery and aerial attacks to prevent the rebels from advancing into the Peninsula, the Army said today.

Troops fired artillery shells at a convoy of LTTE vehicles last night which began to move from Vettilaikerny to Nagarkovil in the Eastern Jaffna coast.

As a result of it the rebels quickly abandoned the move and retreated, a Defence Department statement said here.

It said as per the confirmed reports, 150 rebels were killed and 350 injured.

RBI order
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31 — The “old Gandhi series” of Rs 500 notes will not be issued from banks to customers from tomorrow, according to RBI guidelines. However, the banks will continue to accept the “old Gandhi series” of notes, the RBI instructions say. This order shall not apply to the new series of Rs 500 notes that have RBI engraved in Hindi and English along the silver line running vertically across the note. The new series also has fluorescent coloured numbers and the image of Mahatma Gandhi is visible through the white paper when the note is held against light.