NEW DELHI: Sending out a strong message to party office bearers, the Aam Aadmi Party today sacked two leaders from Uttar Pradesh for demanding money in exchange of party tickets.

Addressing a press conference at his Tilak Lane residence, AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal announced sacking of Avadh zone convener Aruna Singh and Hardoi's treasurer Ashok Kumar for demanding money in lieu of giving party tickets for Lok Sabha elections.

"These two demanded money from prospective candidates in exchange of party tickets. We received complaints, following which we asked for evidence. When the party looked into the evidence, we found the allegations to be true.

"However, no kind of financial transaction occurred. Based on the evidence, we decided to sack the two," Kejriwal said.

A party leader said one Rajesh Kumar from Sitapur had alleged that money was being taken in exchange of tickets, following which a sting was done by a news channel.

"Initially, when the voice record came to us, it was not clear. So, we asked the TV reporter to get fresh evidence and verified it after which an action was taken against the two." said the leader.

Kejriwal asked the media and also the candidates looking for party tickets to conduct a sting operation if they found anyone demanding money.

"Whosoever does that, conduct a sting. We will verify it and the person will not be in the party for more than 24 hours after that," he said.

Kejriwal added that whenever such cases come up, the party looks for the voice and raw footage before arriving at any conclusion.

"I am sending out a clear message, whosoever paid money for the ticket should assume that their money will be wasted.

The candidate will also not get any ticket if he does this, Kejriwal said. - PTI 

RAIPUR: Infighting and protests have broken out within the Congress in Chhattisgarh over the distribution of tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

While supporters of former Union Minister, the late Vidyacharan Shukla are enraged over the denial of ticket to his daughter Pratibha Pandey, some senior leaders have parted ways with the party following the declaration of candidates.

Although nobody wants to speak about it openly, some party cadre feel that the rift within the Congress over the issue of ticket distribution may add to its woes, especially after its losses in three consecutive state Assembly elections.

Congress has declared nominees for all 11 parliamentary constituencies in the state, but speculation is now rife about a possible change of candidates for some seats.

After the deadly Jiram valley Naxal attack of May 25 last year, the party had given priority to the victims’ kin in ticket allotment for recent Assembly elections.

Given the above position, supporters of Shukla were confident that his daughter Ms. Pandey would be handed a ticket for the upcoming polls. And, their hopes rose when Deepak Karma, the son of the late Mahendra Karma, who was also slain in the attack, was declared as the candidate for the Bastar Lok Sabha seat.

All eyes were on the Mahasamund seat for Pratibha Pandey as her father had represented the constituency for several years.

But the expectations faded when former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was made the party’s nominee for the seat. Now, a section of Congress workers are opposed to his candidature. Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) general secretary and former minister Vidhan Mishra claimed that the sacrifice made by V.C. Shukla “had gone in vain”. “The martyrdom of the victims of the Jiram valley attack was honoured by giving election tickets to their relatives, then why was Pratibhaji was ignored?” asked Mishra.

Mishra, who was a close aide of Shukla’s, had earlier written to the party high command pressing Pandey’s candidature. Kin of Shukla and former minister Amitesh Shukla, too, said that, “Pratibha should have been given the ticket.”

However, he added that, “If the party high command has decided to go with Jogi then all party workers will together fight to make him victorious.”

The state leadership, however, claims they had recommended Pandey’s name in the proposed list of candidates. The party high command had taken the final call on the choice of candidates, the state Congress leadership said.

“We had recommended Pratibha’s name... (But) the final decision in this connection was taken by the central election committee,” PCC chief Bhupesh Baghel said.

Motilal Sahu, who was injured in the Jiram valley Naxal attack, was also seeking a ticket from the Mahasamund seat.

But, after the announcement of Jogi’s candidature, he resigned from the party along with hundreds of his supporters.Prior to that, Sahu had also staged a protest at the Congress headquarters in Raipur opposing Jogi’s selection.

In a similar move, the supporters of veteran party leader and MLA Satyanarayan Sharma ransacked the party headquarters after he was replaced as the candidate for the Raipur Lok Sabha seat.

Earlier, Chhaya Verma, who had been initially nominated as the Congress candidate for Raipur, was replaced by Sharma. However, Verma, who belongs to the Kurmi community, was later reinstated as the nominee for the seat.

When asked to comment on the rift within the party over the list of candidates, leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, T.S. Singhdeo, said that all party workers and leaders should show unity in contesting the polls and leave behind all issues.

“It’s not possible to make all the ticket aspirants in the party happy. This is the time to show sportsman spirit and together contest the elections,”  Singhdeo said. - PTI

PATNA: Supporters of Shatrughan Sinha clashed here on Friday with some people waving black flags against the actor-turned-politician when he was on way to file his nomination papers.

Sinha is to contest Lok Sabha polls from the Patna Sahib seat. His supporters attacked those who showed him black flags and beat them up, police officials said.

"Sinha was shown black flags by a group of slogan shouting people opposing his candidature from Patna Sahib. But they were roughed up and beaten up by BJP workers and supporters," said a police official, who was part of police team accompanying Sinha.

Later, Sinha along with his wife Poonam Sinha and his son Luv Sinha filed the nomination papers at the district magistrate's office here.

It was the second consecutive day when Sinha faced protests and black flags were shown to him. A group of BJP workers opposing his candidature were beaten up by another group of party workers, reportedly supporters of the former actor, Thursday.

Supporters and opponents of the actor-turned-politician, popularly known as "Bihari Babu", clashed in front of the state Bharatiya Janata Party office on Bir Chand Patel Marg here.

Some BJP leaders said there was resentment among party workers after it fielded Sinha, who rarely visits the constituency.

"Not only party workers, the majority of people in Patna are not happy with Shatrughan Sinha," a BJP leader said. - IANS

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Friday annulled the February 2 general election for failing to hold nationwide voting in every constituency on the same day, court officials said.

The court’s judges voted 6 to 3 to void the election, which was boycotted by the opposition Democrat Party and could not be held in 28 of 375 constituencies nationwide.

“The election was not held on the same day nationwide, which goes against the Constitution,” court spokesman Phimon Thampitakpong said.

No balloting was held in 28 constituencies, all of them in southern provinces that are the traditional power base of the Democrat Party, because no candidates had been registered amid anti—government protests.

The ruling Pheu Thai party effectively ran unchallenged for the other seats because of a boycott by the opposition, which accused the government of corruption and vote-buying. - Agencies

CHANDIGARH: The rolling pin has always been part of every household. But now an NGO wants to use the `belan' as a symbol to fight against the growing menace of drugs and liquor abuse in Punjab.

The `Belan Brigade Punjab' is not positioning itself to be an alternative to the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAPs) election symbol `jhaadoo' (broom), but wants to fight against social evils that have affected scores of families across Punjab.

In the run-up to the April 30 Lok Sabha elections for Punjab's 13 parliamentary seats, it wants to take its message to every household to fight against drugs and liquor abuse.

"The `belan' is the symbol of a lady's strength. It is one thing with which every woman starts her day. We want women to use this symbol and speak up against social evils," Aneeta Sharma, who has set up the `Belan Brigade' in Punjab's industrial hub Ludhiana, told IANS.

Activists and supporters of the brigade carry `belans', wooden and metallic, to carry home their message.

"Women should not mind using these to ward off social evils. They can also use these for self-defence," Sharma said.

Though the `Belan Brigade' wants to use the campaign period to spread the message against drugs and liquor, they do not want political parties and leaders to be part of it.

"These very political parties and leaders are the ones who encourage these evils to influence votes. We are against such activities. We don't want to associate with such parties and leaders," Sharma said.

The brigade wants to take its campaign to other districts in Punjab. It has also sought a hotline telephone number from the election commission.

Sharma, 42, who is an architect by profession, says that the idea of `Belan Brigade' came to her through the NGO Navkiran Women Welfare Association, which she set up in 2003 to help women.

"Drugs and liquor consumption is a major problem across Punjab. I think that except for a few households, every family in Punjab has one or more people who are hooked to drugs and liquor. Be it slum colonies, villages or residential areas, there are hardly any households without drug addicts. We want to associate with other NGOs and activists to take our campaign to the affected households," she said.

"There have been allegations that some political parties and leaders clandestinely issue `parchis' (slips) for drugs and liquor to people to influence them for votes during elections," social activist Swaran Singh said.

Studies done in recent years have shown that over 70 percent people in rural Punjab could be hooked to drugs and liquor intoxication.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had referred to this during a students' rally on Panjab University campus here in 2012.

Even the Election Commission of India (ECI) has acknowledged that drugs abuse during elections was a major problem peculiar only to Punjab. - IANS