VARANASI: The BJP today mounted an all-out attack on the Election Commission (EC) over refusal of permission for holding a rally to Narendra Modi who questioned its neutrality, while protests were held here and in Delhi demanding removal of the Returning Officer (RO).

Top BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Amit Shah and Ananth Kumar sat on a dharna outside Banaras Hindu University protesting against the refusal and the alleged partisan approach of Returning Officer Pranjal Yadav.

In Delhi, workers sought to protest outside the Election Commission but the Delhi Police stopped them a short distance away while imposing prohibitory orders in the area.

The assault on the Election Commission was led by Modi, a candidate in Varanasi, who was denied permission to address a meeting in Beniabagh, a communally sensitive area chosen by the BJP.

"It is unfortunate that EC is not concerned about the institution's neutrality. That is why our 'karyakartas' (workers) have to embark on a Satyagraha," he said on Twitter.

Jaitley, who has been campaigning in Varanasi for the last few days, also hit out at the Commission, saying he cannot conceal his disappointment with the Election Commission.

"Men in constitutional offices need to be bolder. Timid men can dwarf high offices," he said.

Jaitley alleged that by condoning the Returning Officer’s stand on 'No-Modi rally' in Varanasi city the Commission has used the security card to prevent the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate's right to campaign in his constituency.

"If you can't ensure security, don't hold the polls in the country. But if you do hold the polls please provide a level playing field," the BJP leader, who is camping in Varanasi, said.

He said the EC cannot deny the candidate the right to campaign. "Rahul Gandhi can have a road show in Varanasi but Narendra Modi cannot have a rally. The security card is selectively used," he said. — PTI

Chidambaram slams Modi for 'outrageous' attack on EC

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today slammed Narendra Modi for his "outrageous" attack on the Election Commission, saying it showed BJP's desperation in the elections.

"I have a feeling that the BJP is getting a bit desperate. That is why it is making these outrageous attacks on the EC. The EC has allowed them to carry out their other events, then why should they take umbrage because just one event is denied", he told reporters at the AICC headquarters here.

Hitting out at Modi, the Congress leader said when the Prime Ministerial candidate of a political party makes "outrageous comments against the EC, it speaks more about him rather than the EC." 

"I don't think it diminishes the authority of the EC, rather it reveals the character of the person making the allegations", he said, adding that the authority of the EC must be measured by the outcome of the poll, the turnout, violence or absence of it and not by the allegations levelled by somebody.

Holding that by and large, the elections have taken place peacefully, he said the EC has done a "tremendous job, a splendid job".

At the same time, he said there are some aspects of rules and regulations which people can disagree with, but the overall job done by the EC is tremendous.

Chidambaram's remarks came as the BJP today mounted an all- out attack on the EC over refusal of permission to Modi for holding a rally in Varanasi.

Modi, a candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in Varanasi, questioned the poll panel's neutrality even as protests were held in Varanasi and in Delhi demanding removal of the Returning Officer.

On BJP's objection to the EC allowing a roadshow in Varanasi while not giving permission to a BJP rally, Chidambaram said the EC has already made a statement regarding it and if BJP is not happy, it should approach the poll panel.

He dismissed a question about Rahul Gandhi's reported presence in an EVM enclosure in Amethi, saying he cannot say whether norms were violated or not.

"I don't know. There is a Polling Officer and a Returning Officer. It is for the EC to see," the Congress leader said. — PTI

Jama Masjid attack: Delhi Police chargesheets Bhatkal, aide

NEW DELHI: Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his aide Asadullah Akhtar were today chargesheeted by the Delhi Police in a court here in connection with the September 2010 Jama Masjid terror attack case, where a bomb fitted in a car had exploded.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police filed its chargesheet before Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash in which Bhatkal and Akhtar were charged for offences under the provisions of the IPC, the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Information Technology Act.

The court has fixed the matter for May 22 on the issue of consideration of the chargesheet.

The police, in its chargesheet, said after the terror strike at the historic mosque here on September 19, 2010, the members of IM had sent e-mails to the media claiming responsibility for the attack.

It said that on the instructions of Pakistan-based leaders, Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal, top IM members, Yasin Bhatkal and his associates had decided to carry out the terror strike at Jama Masjid on the second anniversary of the September 19, 2008, Batla House encounter.

It said Yasin Bhatkal had prepared and planted a pressure cooker IED in a car which was parked near the gate number three of Jama Masjid.

The police claimed that on September 19, 2010, two suspected IM operatives had fired at a bus from which foreign tourists were descending near the gate number three of the mosque whereas Bhatkal had planted the bomb in the car.

Two Taiwanese tourists had sustained bullet injuries in the firing incident, it said.

There was a mild explosion in the bomb fitted in the car, the police said. 

The police had earlier filed a charge sheet against Yasin Bhatkal and Akhtar in connection with firing at tourists.

The charge sheet was filed against the two top IM men under various sections of IPC including sections 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.

The police had claimed in the earlier charge sheet that IM's India operations chief Yasin Bhatkal was instructed by Pakistan-based handlers to carry out terror attacks just before the beginning of 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) which were held in Delhi.

It had said the conspiracy for the attack was hatched to "dissuade foreign nations from participating in the same (CWG) and to portray the image of India, the host nation, as a weak and disturbed nation".

Yasin Bhatkal and Akhtar were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Indo-Nepal border on the night of August 28 last year. They were wanted for their roles in a string of terror attacks in the country. — PTI

NEW DELHI: India's air monitoring centre on Thursday dismissed data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that showed New Delhi's air as the dirtiest worldwide, saying the finding was biased and misleading.

A study of 1,600 cities across 91 countries released Wednesday by WHO showed Delhi had an annual average concentration of airborne small particles of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, known as PM 2.5, of 153.

This was almost three times as high as the reading for Beijing of 56 despite the Chinese capital's reputation for smog, and 10 times that of London.

"We have data for New Delhi which is not biased," Gufran Beig from the state-run System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) told AFP.

"It takes into account the data taken from 10 air quality monitoring stations spread around the capital in an unbiased way. It is not misleading," Beig said.

The WHO used data for New Delhi from 2010 to 2013 from five monitoring stations in residential and other areas.

The data from China, where authorities are under pressure to be more transparent about pollution, was from 2010, the last year for which figures were available.

"We are now studying the data for 2011-14 which we have procured from the US Embassy in Beijing. This will help us arrive at a more accurate comparison," Beig said.

The WHO stressed that its new air pollution database, which relies mainly on data gathered by the cities themselves, did not aim to rank cities, pointing out that "some of the worst ones ... are not collecting data regularly."

PM2.5 particles are very small in size and can easily enter the body and interfere with the functioning of the lungs.

They are also associated with increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.

WHO says concentrations of the larger PM10 particles should remain below 20 micrograms per cubic metre, averaged out over the year, while the limit for PM2.5 is set at 10 micrograms.

While Delhi ranked as worst on the PM2.5 scale, on the PM10 measure others were far more polluted.

Peshawar and Rawalpindi in neighbouring Pakistan trumped all other cities with readings of 540 and 448, respectively.

Delhi has had its air quality under scrutiny for some time now with a research by Yale University scientists in January this year also suggesting it was worse than Beijing.

A World Bank report last year that surveyed 132 countries ranked India 126th for environmental performance and last for air pollution.

State-backed Indian scientists have repeatedly denied the findings. — AFP