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Andhra Assembly poll results today Hyderabad, May 10 The NDA’s southern mascot N. Chandrababu Naidu will be the first to know his fate as counting for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections will be taken up tomorrow while the rest of the country will have to wait till Thursday. The performance of Naidu, a key ally of the BJP-led NDA, will be keenly watched as his TDP’s electoral fortunes are closely linked to NDA’s prospects at the Centre. President among the first to vote
‘Superstitious’ Sonia votes by Hindu almanac
Ballot not secret for VP
Mamata makes it just in time
Ghising votes after 8 years
Kalawati (108) is helped into a polling station to cast her ballot in New Delhi on Monday. — Reuters
photo
Sunil files suit against Sena’s Nirupam
EC orders repoll for Brus in Tripura camps
ARO lodges FIR against MLA in Nagaland
Walking on hot sandbars, crossing jungles to vote
Waiting for lone voter...
Rajasthan MLA, 4 others booked
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Andhra Assembly poll results today Hyderabad, May 10 The performance of Naidu, a key ally of the BJP-led NDA, will be keenly watched as his TDP’s electoral fortunes are closely linked to NDA’s prospects at the Centre. Fighting the elections in alliance with the BJP, Naidu’s performance is sure to serve as a barometer to assess how the NDA might fare at the hustings, given the common factor of anti-incumbency facing both of them. Early counting has been ordered in Andhra Pradesh to fulfil a constitutional obligation of putting in place a new government by May 13 when the six-month deadline of the caretaker TDP government ends. The state Assembly was dissolved on November 14, 2003 and the new Assembly will have to be convened by May 13 in accordance with constitutional norms. Naidu, who is making a valiant effort to secure a hat-trick, had opted for early elections, hoping to harness perceived public sympathy in the wake of the assassination bid on him by Naxalites in October last year. As many as 10,000 polling officers have geared up to share out more than 3.5 crore votes cast for 1,896 candidates contesting from 294 Assembly constituencies in the state. Counting for the 42 Parliament seats in the state, however, would begin only on Thursday along with the rest of the country. This is a do-or-die battle for the opposition Congress, which having lost two elections in the past 10 years, is hoping to make a comeback. The exit poll results by various television channels, projecting the defeat of the TDP and resurgence of the opposition, have further boosted the party’s confidence. Besides anti-incumbency, Naidu had to fight, for the first time, the might of the combined opposition as Congress had forged a strategic alliance with the newly-formed Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), besides entering into electoral understanding with the Left parties. The TDP-BJP combine had faced internal squabbles this time, with both the parties accusing each other of fuelling rebel candidates. While the halfway mark is 148 in the 294-strong Assembly, the state has always returned either the Congress or the TDP with a comfortable majority. However, for the first time in the recent past, there is a hint of a hung Assembly, in which case the TRS would play a key role in the formation of the next government. Such a scenario is expected to throw up new challenges for its alliance partner Congress as the TRS is bent upon carving out a separate state for the backward Telangana region “within six months.” |
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President among the first to vote New Delhi, May 10 The President arrived at the polling Centre of Rajendra Prasad Senior Secondary School, Rashtrapati Bhavan exactly at 7 am and exercised his franchise. The President told mediapersons that he “felt beautiful” at the time of casting his vote. When asked was it proper for the President to cast his vote, Dr Kalam, who had earlier made an ardent appeal to the country men to vote, said, “Yes, it is an important right.” About his experience of casting vote on electronic voting machine, the President said it was fantastic. About 4,000 Rashtrapati Bhavan staff and their families would cast their vote at this polling centre.
— UNI |
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Kalam, CEC’s kin not on voters’ list
Chennai, May 10 A report from the temple town of Rameswaram, the native place of Dr Kalam, said the first citizen’s brother and his son Jainullabuddin (38) were surprised when they went to the polling booth at a school at Vardhagan street in the town and found their names missing in the list. They possessed valid voter identity cards and had exercised their franchise in the previous Assembly elections also. Of the six members in the family of 76-year-old Maraickaiyar, the voters’ list, however, contained the names of all the four women members, who cast their votes. Meanwhile, Mr Jaishankar also found to his dismay that his name was missing from the electoral list as he came to the polling booth situated at Stella Maris College to cast his ballot. Mr Jaishankar, residing in the Poes Garden area, possessed a valid voter identity card and had voted in the last Assembly elections. Similar cases of names missing from the electoral list and mass deletions were reported in various booths when UNI Reporters toured all the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the city. In a number of places, names of Government employees and teachers were found missing from the voters’ list. Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association president N. Sreedharan said the names of several employees were missing in K K Nagar, Nanganallur, Saidapet, Mylapore and Triplicane areas.
— UNI |
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‘Superstitious’ Sonia votes by Hindu almanac
New Delhi, May 10 Though Congress officials had said Gandhi would vote in the first hour of polling that began at 7 a.m., she drove in only at 9.15 a.m. to polling booth no. 84 at the Nirman Bhavan government office here. According to the Hindu almanac, Rahu Kalam, an inauspicious time of the day, fell between 7.30 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. Monday. Gandhi was the 16th voter at the polling station and was the only person allowed to drive inside the Nirman Bhavan premises, which was heavily guarded for her visit. Policemen at the booth saluted Gandhi and welcomed her with a traditional namaste. Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi, who also is to vote at the Nirman Bhavan booth, did not accompany his mother. Accompanying her was Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, party general secretary Ahmed Patel and her party’s New Delhi Lok Sabha seat candidate, Ajay Maken. Gandhi got out of her bullet-proof car on her way home to greet her supporters outside the polling station who shouted slogans glorifying her.
— IANS |
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Ballot not secret for VP
New Delhi, May 10 Mr V. P. Singh said in the absence of any third front candidate, his choice was limited between the BJP and the Congress, and since he could not vote for the BJP, he voted for the Congress. Talking to mediapersons in front of a polling booth at the Race Course Road, he said he had already made his preference known in this regard.
— UNI |
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Mamata makes it just in time Kolkata, May 10 |
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Ghising votes after 8 years
Darjeeling, May 10 The abstinence of Mr Ghising and his outfit from the electoral process had given a cakewalk to the CPM in the last three elections. The sudden turnaround in the GNLF supremo's attitude was prompted by his party’s decision to support the Congress, an ally of the People’s Democratic Front, which brought the opposition juggernaut to an abrupt halt. The Mr Dawa Narbula (Cong) is pitted against Mr Mani Thapa (CPM) in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.
— UNI |
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108-yr-old woman casts vote in Delhi New Delhi, May 10 A frail and shrivelled Kalawati, a refugee from Myanmar, was carried on a chair by members of her family after a taxi ride to the booth from her home. “I have voted for the Congress. I always vote for that party as it had helped us migrate to India during the China-Burma war,” she revealed after voting in a polling booth in Nirman Bhavan in Central Delhi. Congress President Sonia Gandhi had cast her vote at the same polling centre only minutes earlier.
— IANS |
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Sunil files suit against Sena’s Nirupam
Mumbai, May 10 Dutt has charged Nirupam with defaming him in the election campaign. The court has deferred the matter to Friday for hearing the complaint and issuing a notice to Nirupam. Nirupam had campaigned that the actor had barely attended Parliament on three occasions in the past five years, Dutt said. He said the statement was highly defamatory and that Nirupam had misled the voters by doing so. Dutt said he had attended the 13th Lok Sabha 99 times, and he had documentary evidence to prove it. Outside the court, Dutt and his lawyer Majeed Memon told reporters that Nirupam’s statements were defamatory. They also said that they had earlier issued a legal notice to Nirupam to modify his statement, but he refused to do so, forcing them to file a defamation suit.
— PTI |
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EC orders repoll for Brus in Tripura camps
Aizawl, May 10 Eight Assistant Returning Officers left Aizawl for Tripura today after the Election Commission a repoll for the Bru voters, Returning Officer for the Mizoram’s lone Lok Sabha seat, Mr C Tawnluaia told PTI. A company of the state armed police has accompanied the election officials to Tripura to ensure a free poll. “The AROs have to return here not later than May 12 as the counting commences on May 13. They would bring the boxes containing postal ballots here for counting,” he said. The EC ordered a repoll following a series of incidents and controversies surrounding the casting of votes by Brus. The Mizoram Secular Forces (MSF), a conglomerate of three political parties — the Congress, the Mizoram People’s Conference and the Zoram Nationalist Party — alleged that the postal ballots issued earlier to the Brus were rigged by Bru rebels. The MSF alleged that the ballot papers were forcibly collected by underground Bru National Liberation Front leaders from the voters and posted in a post office in neighbouring Silchar of Assam. Meanwhile, two persons, posing as election officials took away a mail bag containing Bru postal ballots from Aizawl post office on May 5. The two, identified as ZNP leaders, were at large.
— PTI |
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ARO lodges FIR against MLA in Nagaland
Kohima, May 10 The incident occurred after a boycott of repolling by voters of three polling stations under the Phek Assembly constituency. According to reports received here, the ARO, who is also the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate, reportedly lodged the FIR against the legislator for allegedly threatening to kill the sector magistrate and the SDO (civil) on May 5 and inciting a mob against the magistrate on duty. The legislator also allegedly obstructed the Magistrate from discharging his duties. He also allegedly moved around the polling stations with armed bodyguards on the day of elections. The electorate of Old Phek town and two polling stations of Phek village boycotted the repolling on May 8 last, alleging that polling on May 5 was free and fair. Meanwhile, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has alleged that Mr Nienu incited a mob against a woman official, who is the SDO(C) of the district. The NPCC also said that it would shortly meet the Election Commissioner of India with a
memorandum. — UNI |
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Walking on hot sandbars, crossing jungles to vote
Chennai, May 10 Take for instance the Thanda settlements where the gypsy tribe Lambadis live, speaking the Gorboli dialect that has no script. The tribe of herdsmen are found all over India. In Tamil Nadu, they are found in the forested and hilly tracts of Dharmapuri and Salem. There are 10 settlements of the Lambadis in Dharmapuri and two in Kolatur in Salem. Many young people in the community are no longer nomads but migrate to small towns like Tirupur to work in the textile industry. They come back to their remote settlements to cast their vote. So there is generally a festive atmosphere during elections as families are reunited. Donkeys were used to transport electronic voting machines (EVMs) to remote areas like Girimalai, Chittamalai, Palsilambu and Kottamalai in Dharmapuri district for Monday’s elections. In Emanur, another polling station across a river, EVMs had to be taken in boats. In Gobichettipalayam, special task forces were deployed to guard the scantily scattered booths, polling agents as well as candidates. The forested area is frequented by gangs of kidnappers, led by the notorious forest brigand Veerappan. On the east coast’s Cuddalore and Chidambaram region, ferries were used to take officials, old people and students to polling booths. There are about 2,200 polling stations in these two districts where boats are used on the many tributaries of the Cauvery and other small rivers. In the Nagapattinam district, poll officials took a two-hour boat ride on the Bay of Bengal to get to the island of Kodiyampalayam, off the coast of Sirkali where 600 odd people live. Another remote region was Dhanushkodi with its sandbars in Ramanathapuram district. There is no road on this densely populated eight-kilometre sandbar, which is used by fishermen to set sail and land their catch. Most families spend three-fourths of the year on this sandbar, living in temporary shanties. About 100,000 people use the stretch daily and are voters. In 1964, a devastating cyclone destroyed the fishermen’s settlements there, washing away trains and uprooting rail lines and electric poles.
— IANS |
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Waiting for lone voter...
Kozhikode, May 10 The officials at the single-voter booth, falling under the Koorachundu panchayat in the constituency, were hoping that Dasan, the lone voter, would turn up soon. The booth, is situated at the KSEB office at the Kakkayam dam site about 14 km away from Kakkayam town. As the voter has to travel three km through the forest to reach the booth, it was learnt that he was waiting for a vehicle to bring him to the booth. However, polling sources said, Dasan was expected to cast his ballot around noon and the poll officials were waiting to register ‘cent per cent’ polling in the booth once he turns up. For N. K. Nambiar, the presiding officer at the booth, who had done election duty earlier too, it is the first time that he is coming across such a ‘strange’ situation. Dasan, a native of Pambady in Kottayam, came to Kakkayam as an estate employee in 1968.
— pti |
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Rajasthan MLA, 4 others booked Jaipur, May 10 A case under sections 148, 149 and 356 — IPC was registered against the MLA from Manoharthana Jagannath Verma and others at Aklera police station, official sources said. The five were charged with beating up the SHO of Bhalta police station and damaging his vehicle on May 6 when the officer went to seize a jeep allegedly used for booth-capturing in the area during polling on May 5. The police arrested Verma’s brother, Gopal, and five others on May 5 on charges of booth-capturing, but they could not seize the vehicle that day.
— UNI |
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Mobiles services suspended Dun, May 10 However, political parties have expressed fear that in the garb of maintaining law and order misuse of official machinery could not be ruled out. According to police, the decision to suspend the mobile services was taken following the order of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). The three mobile players in the state including the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Reliance Mobile would suffer a loss of several lakhs of rupees as a result of the decision.
— UNI |
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New Delhi, May 10 The ramp at a polling station in Kinari Bazar area of Chandni Chowk constituency was so steep that its supposed beneficiaries — the physically challenged — felt that staircase itself could have been better for them to climb and caste the vote. “Jo bhi ispe chadega, ulta girega (whoever tries to climb this will fall down),” said polio-stricken Ram Lal in front of the polling station — the 150-year-old Atma Ballabh Jain Dharamshala. Another voter quipped: “The building itself is quaint. So the ramp at its entrance should also be in tune with it, isn’t it?” Chimed in another voter: ''It (ramp) is waste of government money. Another eyewash.”
— UNI |
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3 natural deaths in Kerala booths Thiruvananthapuram, May 10 An exserviceman, recruited as special police officer for poll duty, collapsed and died in a polling booth at Neduvathur in Adoor Lok Sabha constituency this morning. A report from Kochi said K. J. Antony, a polling agent for the UDF candidate at Edappaly, suffered a massive heart attack and died on reaching the A 35-year-old plantation worker, Cheriyarmani, who was standing in the queue at Shanthanpara community booth in Idukki
district fell unconscious and died before reaching hospital. — PTI |
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In video: Delhi's high-flung leaders cast vote. (
