New Delhi, March 23
Almost five years after the Election Commission withdrew its guidelines banning opinion and exit polls, the poll panel today said it has convened an all-party meeting on April 6 to discuss the same.

“There are different opinions expressed on the subject by different political parties and the commission wanted to elicit the views of the parties”, EC spokesman A.N. Jha told reporters. When pointed out that the EC had earlier withdrawn its reference to Supreme Court, he said “if anything has to be done, it will be based on the consensus in the meeting”.

Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy had said in Kolkata last week that the EC was keen that the publication of exit and opinion polls should not come till the last phase of elections.

He had said the commission would re-examine the issue.

The poll panel had withdrawn its controversial guidelines on opinion and exit polls after the Supreme Court ruled the commission was not constitutionally empowered under Article 324 to issue such orders.

Withdrawing the guidelines, the commission had stated that the substantive issue of opinion and exit polls in a poor and half literate society needed to be debated by the country and the new Parliament.

The commission asserted there are ample provisions in the model code of conduct to prevent political parties indulging in personalised attacks during campaign in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

“You wait and see. There are ample provisions in the model code of conduct”, EC spokesman said.

He said the commission had received complaints about personalised attacks on political leaders, and “we are examining the specific complaints”.

Mr Jha said there were complaints from DMK and AIADMK and the commission had sought comments from both the parties on each other.

Meanwhile, the commission has asked the Labour Secretary to give its report by tomorrow on printing the BJP symbol on the social security form in Maharashtra.

The Congress has complained to the commission about printing of BJP symbol on the forms and also demanded resignation of Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma.

Mr Jha said the commission had collected various reports including materials and will give its views after taking views from the government. The commission said there would be separate queues for the senior citizens and the disabled at all polling stations to be set up for the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

However, the commission is unable to provide Braille facilities on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the benefit of the blind, he said.

Western Uttar Pradesh, March 23
Asserting that the Ram Temple will be constructed in Ayodhya, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who toured Western Uttar Pradesh as part of his “Bharat Uday Yatra” today, said the BJP’s stand on the “Foreign Origin” is not targeted towards an individual.

In his a series of public meetings en route his yatra in Mathura, Aligarh, Khurja, Bulandshahar and Ghaziabad, Mr Advani said the intention with which he had taken out the “Ram Temple Rath” 14 years back will be fulfilled now.

“The Ayodhya issue will be resolved amicably through negotiations and Ram Temple will be constructed in Ayodhya,” Mr Advani said amidst applause from the crowd. Mr Advani was accompanied all along by former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit Chief Vinay Katiyar.

On the issue of foreign origin, Mr Advani said the BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu’s proposal for a legislation to prevent the people of foreign origin from occupying high offices was not “targeted” at a particular person.

“It is an important national issue...it is not targeted against a particular individual” Mr Advani said adding sarcastically “that kind of legislation may not be needed as the writing on the wall for the Congress in the coming elections is very clear.”

Mr Advani, who used measured words on Ayodhya issue, cautioned Muslims against attempts by opposition parties to use them as “vote banks” and said the BJP had steadily and surely been able to win over the Muslim community during the six years of Vajpayee regime.

New Delhi, March 23
In a complete reversal of its stand, the Bharatiya Janata Party today struck a poll pact with the Janata Dal (United) for parliamentary and assembly seats in Karnataka. The BJP has got a major share in the pie and will contest 24 of the 28 parliamentary seats and 199 of the 224 assembly seats leaving the rest for its NDA ally.

The amicable accord was announced at a joint press conference here by the JD(U) president, Mr George Fernandes, senior JD(U) leader, Digvijay Singh, BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu and BJP leader, Arun Jaitley who is in charge of the state.

The two parties resumed talks at the state-level after Mr Fernandes spoke to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Mr Venkaiah Naidu and Mr Jaitley.

Mr Jaitley said the pact had been reached on the basis of winnability of each candidate for every seat at stake. He said the state leaders would work out a strategy for a joint campaign later.

New Delhi, March 23
The Election Commission said today that it would take “appropriate action” after studying the Andhra Pradesh High Court order lifting the ban on political advertisements on electronic media.

“We will study the final order and then take appropriate action”, Deputy Election Commissioner A.N. Jha told mediapersons.

The high court, through an interim order, lifted the commission’s ban on political parties from using the television and radio channels for campaign purposes.

New Delhi, March 23
The Congress today asked the Election Commission to take immediate action with regards to an advertisement at present being aired on several news channels which, the party said, was violative of the code of conduct applicable to political parties.

The Congress party’s representation further requested the Election Commission to direct the Kamakshi Education Society,which released the advertisement, and the news channels and cable operators to desist from telecasting the advertisement.

This advertisement conveys how Bhagat Singh, along with other national icons, threw out ‘videshis’ while depicting the atrocities being committed by the ‘videshis’.

It further states that some people in India , particularly suggestive about the Congress, are trying to install a particular ‘videshi’ in power, meaning Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The film ends up saying this will never be allowed at any cost.

Implying that the BJP was responsible for this “surrogate advertisement”, Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal said they kept raising such extraneous issues because their party’s popularity graph was dipping.

New Delhi, March 23
After being admonished consistently in the past by the Supreme Court for its failure to provide justice to riot victims, the Gujarat Government today submitted before the Apex court that fresh evidence needed to be recorded in the sensitive Best Bakery case, in which all 21 accused were acquitted by the lower courts.

Gujarat’s counsel Mukul Rohtagi told a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat that Zaheera and other witnesses’ “additional evidence” required to be considered afresh to determine whether the acquittal of the accused was correct or not.

The submission was made by the state government’s counsel during the hearing of State as well as Zaheera’s appeal against Gujarat High Court’s January 13 judgement upholding the acquittal of the accused.

Zaheera Sheikh’s statement that she had deposed before the trial court under “fear” was relevant, “it should have been taken on record and proved or disapproved by the High Court,” Rohtagi said.

The court made it clear that before hearing the appeals on merit, it would examine the issue whether additional evidence could be taken on record in the case.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Zaheera said the High Court’s admission in its judgement that there were many lacunae in the prosecution case, was a sufficient ground for recording additional evidence.

It was clearly reflected in the High Court order that the investigation had not been carried out properly by the police, wrong people were named as accused and the witnesses were threatened, he contended.

Zaheera had in her statement to the police given the names of certain persons for their alleged involvement in the case related to the burning of 14 persons alive in the Best Bakery run by her family at Vadodra. The victims included nine of her close relatives and family members. But she had retracted her statement in the court and later told mediapersons that she had done it under threat.

Sibal said if the Apex court decided to record evidence afresh, the same should be done outside the state to ensure that the witnesses deposed freely and fearlessly.

But this was opposed by the government counsel. He said the Gujarat High Court was competent to deal with the matter. He said first it had to be decided which of the three statements of Zaheera was correct as she had given different versions to the police, the trial court and in her affidavit before the Apex court.

Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for some of the accused persons, contested the claim of State and Zaheera for recording of fresh evidence, saying the High Court had dealt with this question and dismissed their plea.

The High Court had come to the conclusion that there was nothing on record to suggest that the witnesses had deposed before the trial court under threat or fear, he claimed.

New Delhi, March 23
The Supreme Court has ruled that the University Grants Commission (UGC) will have full control of any institution granted the status of a “deemed university” and the state concerned will have not role regarding the managing of its affairs.

“For proper maintenance of academic excellence, as intended by the UGC Act, admissions to a deemed university have to be made under the control of the commission,” a Bench of Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mather said.

Mumbai, March 23
The Bombay High Court today stayed the conviction of film financier Bharat Shah in a case of alleged nexus of Bollywood with underworld.

New Delhi, March 23
Former high court judge and human rights activist V.M. Tarkunde died here last night. He was 94 and is survived by his daughter.

Known for taking the cause of human rights at every level, Justice Tarkunde breathed his last at a hospital here, family sources said.

He had found the Citizens for Democracy after resigning as Bombay High Court judge and was the moving force behind the activities of People’s Union of Civil Liberties in the country.