New Delhi, November 13
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will be seen as the star campaigners of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for December 4.

Other prominent names to be invited as star campaigners to propagate the programme of the party during the elections included Sukhdev Singh Dhinsa, Member of Parliament (MP), Balwant Singh Ramuwalia, senior vice-president SAD, Balwant Singh Bhunder, MP, Tota Singh, senior vice-president, SAD, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, MP, Avtar Singh Makkar, Member PAC and four cabinet ministers Gulzar Singh Ranike, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Bikram Singh Majithia and Sikander Singh GK.

A list of 12 such campaigners was submitted at Delhi Chief Electoral Office by SAD leaders today. SAD is contesting on four seats, Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Kalkaji and Shahdara.

A party can register maximum up to 40 political leaders as star campaigners for the elections.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) also submitted a list of 17 senior leaders who will be campaigning for the party as star campaigners. General secretary CPI, Sudhakar Reddy, secretaries, AB Berdha, Amarjeet Kaur, Atul Kumar Anjan, Samim Faizee, D Raja, Dhirendra Sharma, Members of Parliament, Gurudas Gupta and Probodh Panda and assistant secretary Dinesh Varshney are among the senior leaders to participate in the campaigning.

As per the Election Commission of India’s instruction, the prior registration of star campaigners with the Delhi electoral office will exempt the candidates from bearing their travel expenses which would otherwise be added to the expenditure of the contestant who invites them to his rally or public meeting.

New Delhi, November 13
A 48-year-old man succumbed to his injuries today after two Delhi Police constables allegedly set him on fire in south Delhi where they were trying to extort money from his son who drives an autorickshaw.

The deceased has been identified as Uday Chand. He had sustained 90 per cent injuries and was admitted to the burns department of the Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday. He succumbed to his injuries at 1 pm today.

After his death, his family, friends and some autorickshaw drivers reached the hospital and protested against the alleged police brutality. The protestors, who were mainly women, heckled the area's Sub-Divisional Magistrate, who visited the hospital after Uday's death.

The police said that the murder charge would only be added after the postmortem confirms that he was murdered.

The police had added the Indian Penal Code sections of attempt to murder and extortion to the case, after the incident. Uday's son, Naveen, who drives an autorickshaw claimed that the two constables, Rajkumar and Surender, had doused his father with petrol and then set him on fire.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South District) B S Jaiswal claimed that there were some eyewitnesses who allegedly saw Uday dousing himself with petrol and then setting him on fire.

Uday's sons Navin and Bhairav ply an autorickshaw which they had taken on rent. The two constables who are deployed at Sainik Farms had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from the two brothers to allow them to ply their autorickshaw. 

New Delhi, November 13
Doctors of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) conducted a life-saving stent procedure on a month-old premature baby weighing only 1.8 kg.

According to doctors, the case is the first with the lowest recorded weight and age of a baby who has undergone the complex stent procedure which helps to open narrowed or blocked arteries of the heart.

The baby was referred to FEHI by a government hospital in Delhi when she stopped breathing and showed signs of heart problems.

"The baby was brought with respiratory problems and immediately put on ventilator and had been oxygen-dependent for three weeks. The artery going towards her lungs was found obstructive and this made her treatment complicated," said a team of doctors comprising Dr S. Radhakrishnan, director and HOD, Paediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases and Dr Neeraj Awasthy, pediatric cardiologist under whose care she remained at the hospital.

Explaining the complexity involved in the operation, Dr S. Radhakrishnan said "Initially we kept the baby under ventilation for a few days and when she started responding to our treatment, we decided to wean her from the ventilation. On further examination, it was found that the right ventricular outflow track was blocked and stent procedure should be performed. The baby would need a future surgery once she weighs 8-9 kg."

Pediatric cardiologist at the hospital Dr Neeraj Awasthy said her prognosis has been good given the complexities.

"When the case first came to us, her survival was a question. Such a case had never been attempted before anywhere in India. Today, after the surgeries, she is responding well to her treatment," added Dr Awasthy.