Kolkata, May 3
A record turnout of 93% was witnessed at Singur and Nandigram in east Midnapore in the fourth phase of Assembly poll in West Bengal, which passed off peacefully. The overall percentage of polling in three other districts - Howrah, Hooghly and Burdwan — was 89%, according to the state chief electoral officer Sunil Kumar Gupta.

"Polling has gone off very peacefully just like the previous three phases," he said.

The latest phase of polling covered 63 constituencies. Of the total 294 constituencies, 242 have been covered in the four phases. The last two phases - May 7 and May 10 - will cover the remaining 52 seats. The election results will be declared on May 13.

The Election Commission had put Chief Electoral Officers of Bihar and Orissa as special observers, over and above the general observers and expenditure observers to monitor the polls.

People boycotted polling in four polling stations on developmental issues and the poll commission has removed two presiding officers following complaints from observers, Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi told reporters in New Delhi.

Replying to a question on seizure of unaccounted money in West Bengal, Zutshi said the EC and the Income Tax Department together have seized a total of Rs 8.35 crore so far in the state.

Asked whether the EC proposed to take any action against veteran West Bengal CPM leader Anil Basu for allegedly using abusive language against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, he said the commission was awaiting his final response to its notice.

Meanwhile, Mamata thanked people for coming out in large numbers to exercise their right to franchise. She claimed the massive turnout was a clear indication that the people are fed up with the Left Front rule and want to uproot it.

She promised that if voted of power the Trinamool-Congress government would return 400 acres of land to Singur farmers that was "forcibly acquired by the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee" for Tata's Nano project.

Left Front chairman and CPM state secretary Biman Bose, however, alleged that there were series of incidents of large-scale rigging, booth-capturing and assaults on Left supporters in different places in east Midnapore, Hooghly, Howrah and Burdwan.

He alleged that despite repeated intimations, the EC did not take appropriate steps for protecting Left Front candidates and their supporters.

The important candidates whose fate was sealed today included Nirupam Sen (Industries Minister), Sudharshan Chakraborty (Minister for Higher Education), Pratim Chatterjee (Minister for Fire Services) and Becharam Manna (leader of the Singur land protection committee). (With PTI inputs)

New Delhi, May 3
The Congress has set the ball rolling for next year’s crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Party president Sonia Gandhi will sound the poll bugle at two-day convention of state leaders in Varanasi on May 18 and 19.

While AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be the opening speaker, Sonia Gandhi will wrap up the convention the next day which will be followed by a public rally.

The Varanasi meet comes on the heels of last week’s joint rally addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi in Bundelkhand which marked the begining of the Congress poll campaign in this electorally-crucial state. Sharpening their attack against the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), both the PM and Rahul Gandhi held UP Chief Minister Mayawati responsible for the prevailing backwardness in the Bundelkhand region.

While castigating Mayawati, the two leaders were also quick to underline that instead of the state government it was the Congress-led UPA government which had been shown sensitive to the people of this region by allocating a special package of Rs. 7,300 crore for various development programmes in Bundelkhand.

The venues for the Congress party’s two major programmes, meant to kick off the party’s electoral campaign, have been carefully chosen. While Rahul Gandhi has been working on bringing development to the poverty-stricken region of Bundelkhand for the past two years, the AICC general seccretary has also been focusing on the poor “bunkars” or weavers of Varanasi, who are largely Muslims. In fact, both Mayawati and the Congress have been making overtures to this community in the run-up to next year’s assembly elections.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee allocated a special package of Rs 3,000 crore for weavers in this year’s Union Budget after Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of party workers to the Prime Minister seeking relief for handloom weavers who, he said, faced acute misery because of the increased price of yarn..The UP Chief Minister had promptly followed up Mukherjee’s announcement with a debt relief package for the community.

As all the political players get ready for next year’s electoral battle, Congress leaders said their campaign will focus on attacking the Mayawati government by highlighting its poor record in governance.

New Delhi, May 3
Former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and other PIL petitioners, who have sought a Supreme Court directive to the government to bring back an estimated $ 1.4 trillion stashed illegally in secret overseas bank accounts, today said the proposed treaty with Switzerland was an “eyewash” and the setting up of a multi-departmental committee was a ploy to delay the probe and pre-empt the SC from constituting a special investigation team (SIT).

Arguing for the petitioners, senior counsel Anil Divan said the government had agreed to sign a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with Switzerland under which the banks in that country would 
be obliged to divulge details of secret bank accounts held by Indian nationals only with effect from April 1, 2011.

The proposed DTAA would have only prospective effect and would not apply to past account details. This amounted to “throwing dust into the eyes” of millions of people who had been waiting for years for unearthing all the black money stashed in such accounts for decades, Divan said.

Amid strong protest from Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, Divan also contended thtat the government was dilly-dallying on the black money issue as the SC Bench dealing with the PILs would change following the retirement of Justice B Sudershan Reddy in July. Justice SS Nijjar is the other member of the Bench.

The multi-departmental committee, set up by the government on April 22, 2001, was supposed to have already been there for years under the SC verdict in the Jain hawala/Vineet Narain case, Divan contended.

The government had failed to set up the committee either after the SC verdict or the filing of the PILs more than three years ago. The government had constituted the committee headed by the Revenue Secretary in the Finance Ministry and including the Directors of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, only to prevent the SC from putting in place an SIT headed by eminent people who could not be brought under pressure, Divan said.

It was possible that the investigators were going slow due to pressure from powerful politicians who had a stake in such wealth, he argued.

The NN Vora committee report on the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and underworld elements had clearly called for breaking this link for dealing with the problem of black money, he said.

In view of this, there was need for appointing a retired SC Judge and a sitting High Court Judge to monitor the black money probe, the PIL petitioners pleaded. The arguments would continue tomorrow.

Guwahati, May 3
Despite the ‘best efforts’ put up by over 3000 personnel from various defence forces of the country, including Army, the ITBP, the SSB, the BRO and the IAF braving the extremely bad weather conditions, the search operations to trace the missing helicopter of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu in all seven priority areas have failed to come across any clue for the fourth day today.

Union minister V Narayanswami who is camping in Itanagar along with two other union ministers Mukul Wasnik and B K Hadique, said today there was zero visibility at Tawang region due to extremely bad weather, snowfall in higher altitude and thick cloud formation. All combined have foiled the aerial search operations by helicopters while ground search too has been made difficult.

The union minister while stating that there has been overwhelming cooperation from authorities in Bhutan to the search operations, ruled out sounding the neighbouring China for help stating that the chopper could not have reached such height so as to go inside the Chinese territory.

He said the issue about sounding China for help was discussed in the crisis management team, but “the team as well as those at the helm of affairs” ruled out sounding China for the matter.

He informed that seven locations had been identified for search operation around Sela Pass, Twang region and along the India-Bhutan border on the basis of ‘clues’ provided by satellite imageries of the ISRO and pictures taken by Sukhoi 30 aircraft.

Hyderabad, May 3
With the Muslim vote emerging as a key factor in the coming by-elections in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, the major contenders are vying with one another to attract the minority community.

The YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is facing his maiden political test, created a flutter today when he announced that he would provide “political reservation” to Muslims in his party and challenged his rivals to declare their policy on empowerment of minorities.

Addressing a series of public meetings during the road show in his home district of Kadapa, Jagan, who is seeking re-election from Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, said his fledgling party would earmark four per cent quota for Muslims in the party posts.

He dared the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party to spell out their stand on the issue. Recalling his father and former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s initiative to provide four per cent reservations for Muslims in government jobs and educational institutions, Jagan told the gatherings that he would take the initiative forward and extend the quota to the political sphere.

The quota policy, formulated in 2004, was touted as a major victory of the YSR regime despite the legal hurdles. Projecting himself as the sole inheritor of his father’s political legacy, Jagan has promised to further strengthen the quota policy by extending the benefit to the party posts.

Jagan, the 38-year-old industrialist-turned-politician, and his mother Vijayalakshmi are seeking re-election from Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies, respectively. The mother-son duo had resigned from the Congress in November last year after Jagan’s claim for Chief Minister’s post was rejected by the high command.

New Delhi, May 3
In the ensuing milieu over Osama bin Laden’s death, the Government of India last evening announced that the path-breaking Foreign Contribution Regulation Act has come into force. The act will be in place from May 1, said the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Under this, no political party, non-government organisation (NGO) or religious body can receive foreign funds as donation without prior information. It seeks to “tighten the noose” around individuals and organisations which are “helped” through unaccounted foreign contributions inform of funds, gifts, free junkets, hospitality and other allurements.

However, foreign remittances sent by workers in foreign lands to families back home in India and also funds accruing from legitimate business, commercial activities and services have been kept out of the ambit. The United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are also exempt.

The framework is aimed at regulating the flow of Rs 10,000 crore annually in form of aid to thousands of voluntary organisations which may be of social, cultural or religious nature in India.

The Act prohibits the acceptance of foreign hospitality and foreign funds for candidates contesting elections, government officers, political parties and their office bearers, Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assemblies, organisations of political nature and editors, columnists, reporters and owners of newspapers and television channels. The act says government employees and officers will have to seek prior approval in case any hospitality was being extended to them in foreign land.

The government will get sweeping powers to prohibit any person or organisation from accepting foreign contribution or hospitality if it is determined that such acceptance would likely ‘affect prejudicially’ (i) the sovereignty and integrity of India, (ii) public interest, (iii) freedom or fairness of election to any legislature, (iv) friendly relations with any foreign State, or (v) harmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic or regional groups, castes or communities.

Notably, the Home Ministry has aimed to prohibit organisations which are political in nature without being listed political parties. The Central Government will decide which of these will fall under the umbrella of “political nature”. This could include several so-called civil rights organisations, NGO’s and even some religious bodies.