New Delhi, November 18
In the list of 40 star campaigners, the BJP has six film stars while the Congress has one and other parties-BSP and JDU-will rely on their senior leaders. The SP has also fielded its candidates in Delhi but has not submitted the list of its star campaigners.

The BJP's star campaigners are Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Smriti Irani, Manoj Tewari, Kiran Kher and Hema Malini while the Congress has only Raj Babbar, an MP.

According to the BJP sources, the film stars will be taken to the assembly constituencies where the party will feel that the candidate is weak. People may gather in large numbers to see the stars. They may be used to attract crowds to hear the political leaders.

Other important star campaigners of the BJP are Rajnath Singh, L. K. Advani, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Harsh Vardhan, Murli Manohar Joshi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Varun Gandhi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Uma Bharti and Venkaiha Naidu while the Congress party's star campaigners are Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, Moti Lal Vora, Ajay Maken, Pratap Singh Bajwa president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Captain Amrinder Singh, Veerbhadra Singh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, three local MPs and many Union ministers.

The BJP has planned to organise three rallies, one each on November 23, November 30 and December 1 which will be addressed by its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Places of two rallies have been fixed - Red Fort and Sarojini Nagar. Sarojini Nagar is a segment of New Delhi Assembly constituency where former Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta has filed nomination against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

In the list of star campaigners submitted to the EC, the BSP has mentioned the names of former Chief Minister of UP Mayawati, MLAs, MLCs and senior leaders of the party. In the last election, the BSP had secured 15 per cent votes and its two candidates had won.

The JDU also mentioned the names of Sharad Yadav, its national president, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, four ministers of Bihar government, nine MPs and four senior leaders of the party. 

New Delhi, November 18
Demanding a white paper on the present status of Delhi Metro, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel today said frequent cracks in pillars have been reported of late and there seems to be no accountability.

The Delhi Government has a 50 per cent stake in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). However, there seems to be no action on the part of the Delhi government to take corrective measures, Goel said while addressing a conference.

He said the BJP wants to know as to whose accountability has been fixed for cracks in pillars and frequent technical faults. Besides, what action has been taken to stop frequent halts of Metro trains.

He said the DMRC had earlier rejected reports on major faults and cracks on the high-speed Airport Metro Express line in July 2012 and the sagging of Noida City Centre platform. The cracks on pillars at Noida City Centre were not considered serious initially.

It was only on September 28 that the DMRC admitted that there was deflection in one of the cantilever arms of the station that led to the sagging of its platforms.

Goel said that an audit conducted by the Delhi Government's transport department found that the security at the stations needs to be strengthened further.

Commuters enter the stations with their luggage and can easily go up to the ticket counters without their baggage being checked.

Terror threats loom large over the access points to the stations, Goel said.

New Delhi, November 18
As many as 41 candidates have filed nominations from Mustafabad and 27 contestants each are fighting from Burari and Okhla.

Mustafabad is followed by Burari with 39 nominations, Okhla-38, Kirari-36 and Mundka and New Delhi with 35 each applications. However, the highest number of candidates, 27 each, are contesting from Burari and Okhla. Kirari and New Delhi have the second highest number of contenders, 26 in each constituency, followed by Mundka-25, Rajouri Garden-24 and Ghonda and Mustafabad have 21 contestants.

On the other side, it seems that Patel Nagar has yet to acquire the fervour of election season with the constituency receiving only 10 nominations for the elections. Only four candidates are fighting from this area, one each from the BJP, Congress, Aam Admi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. It is followed by Greater Kailash which has only eight candidates in fray.

In terms of nominations, Bijwasan and Hari Nagar have received the second lowest applications with 15 papers filed from both the areas pursued by Krishna Nagar and Kasturba Nagar with 16 each applications. Ambedkar Nagar, Sharlimar Bagh and Greater Kailash have got 18 nominations.

While, Saturday was the last day of submitting the papers, the withdrawal of nominations has begun from today. Wednesday would be the last day for withdrawal.

A total of 1,140 candidates have filed 1,750 nominations from 70 constituencies for the December 4 polls.

Regular issues like electricity, water and rising food prices have been on the agenda of almost every political party contesting this year's polls, especially main opposition party BJP. However, the Congress is banking on its development model bought out in the past 15 years.

While, the Congress is contesting on the popular face on its three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the BJP announced Harsh Vardhan as its chief ministerial candidate around a month ago. The AAP, which is being viewed as the major factor determining the final outcome, is led by India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal.

New Delhi, November 18
A 23-year-old youth was arrested for allegedly throwing acid on a class 12 girl student and her aunt in outer Delhi yesterday. Manoj, who hails from Bihar, was arrested this morning. He works as a daily wage labourer.

According to the police, Manoj was caught from a Bawana bus stand in outer Delhi, while he was trying to flee Delhi. A case under the Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) against Manoj at the Begumpur police station.

The police claimed that Manoj is married and was allegedly having an affair with the 16-year-old victim.

"He is the father of two children and has been staying separately from his wife for the past few months. It was during this period that he started having an affair with the girl," said a police officer.

The girl and Manoj had allegedly eloped a few weeks ago, according to the police. Her family registered a case of kidnapping. After they returned a week ago, the victim reportedly informed the police that she had willingly accompanied Manoj.

"Her parents didn't approve the relationship and asked her to stay away from him," said the officer.

As the girl started avoiding Manoj, he allegedly decided to take revenge. On Sunday evening, when the girl and her aunt were at a market in Begumpur, he allegedly threw acid on them.

They suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital. Later, they were shifted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital where they are recuperating. 

New Delhi, November 18
Five persons, including two juveniles who recently escaped from an observation home in Delhi, have been apprehended for allegedly killing a woman, while keeping her children captive and stealing 50 kg of silver ornaments from her house in Mayur Vihar earlier this month.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police arrested Mahesh Gupta (24), Ajay Rai (35), Narsing Kumar Verma (35) and two juveniles. The police are searching for three more juveniles, who are also allegedly involved in the murder and dacoity.

The incident took place on November 7 at the house of Ajay Gupta, who deals in silver ornaments. On that day the accused assembled at Ashok Nagar and left on two motorcycles, including a stolen one. They allegedly chose 2.30 pm as the time to strike, because Gupta would not be present at his home and only his wife, Madhubala, and two children, aged 15 and 10 years, would be there.

"One of the juveniles posed a courier boy and managed to get the gate opened. All five of them led by Mahesh forcibly entered the house and overpowered Madhubala. They took both the children as hostages in another room and started ransacking the house. Madhubala resisted and they strangled her and decamped with jewellery and cash," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.

On Sunday, the police working on a tip off given by arrested Mahesh, who is a cable operator in East Ashok Nagar. "He said five juveniles are involved in the murder and dacoity," said Yadav. One of the juveniles was apprehended from Noida. His other associates who were residing with him had escaped before the police reached there.

Another juvenile was apprehended from Haryana. The looted 50 kg of silver ornaments were recovered from the houses of Narsing Verma, who has a jewellery shop at Kulesara village, Noida, and Ajai Rai, who has a retail shop in Kulesara. They were also arrested.

According to Yadav, Narsing had a shop in New Ashok Nagar and there he came in contact with Mahesh. "Narsing was not doing well in business and he shifted his shop to Kulesara. He was in desperate need of money. Mahesh is married and has a three-month-old daughter. He also has a girlfriend. Narsing and Mahesh decided to earn easy money through crime. Narsing, being a jeweller, was aware that Gupta was in the business of silver ornaments," said Yadav.

A few months ago, on the pretext of striking a business deal, Narsing took Mahesh to Gupta's house and allegedly surveyed the house, said Yadav.

The five juveniles, who had escaped from an observation home in Kingsway Camp in October, were allegedly roped into the crime. "Mahesh, the mastermind in the case, is close to these juveniles. He became their 'godfather' and provided them with a rented accommodation. Narsing convinced them that the Diwali festival would provide an opportunity to earn money," Yadav added.

New Delhi, November 18
A 52-year-old US-based woman of Indian origin was yesterday arrested for allegedly shoplifting from a showroom in south Delhi. The CCTV footage reportedly showed her stealing three expensive Pashmina shawls.

The woman identified as Neetu Talwar was arrested from her brother's house in Greater Kailash. The three shawls were recovered from the house.

The police had received a complaint from the showroom owner on Thursday about the theft of the three shawls. They checked the CCTV camera footage and saw the woman allegedly stealing two shawls on Tuesday and then returning again on Wednesday to steal the third one.

She had come to visit her brother, while her husband and children are in the US.

New Delhi, November 18
The decomposed body of a minor girl was found here this afternoon in a drain in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area, police said.

The incident came to light when some locals spotted a box lying inside the drain in Trilokpuri area following which a PCR call was made, police said.

"Police rushed to the spot and found the decomposed body of a girl aged around 6-8 years. The identity of the girl is yet to be determined. We are now checking the cases of missing children registered in the past in the area," a police official said.

During investigations, it was learnt that a girl of similar description had gone missing from the area and a case regarding this had been registered on November 3. The parents of that girl are yet to identify the body.

Police are trying to get her DNA sample to ascertain her identity and see if it matches with any one of those missing.

"Although the body does not bear any marks of injuries, we are waiting for the postmortem report in the case," a senior police official said. — PTI