Maharashtra, Haryana Assembly polls
Counting of votes tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Counting of votes for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, seen as the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity after the Lok Sabha polls, will be held tomorrow.

The vote counting for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and 90-member Haryana Assembly will start at 8 am in the two states which went to polls on October 15.

Haryana recorded its highest-ever turnout of 76.54 per cent, while Maharashtra recorded 63.13 per cent polling.

Exit polls have projected that the BJP will emerge as the largest party in both Maharashtra and Haryana stopping short of majority.

Counting will be held across 288 counting centres at 269 locations in Maharashtra. Trends are expected to be available around noon and final results will begin pouring in around 3 pm.

Altogether, 63.13 per cent voters cast their vote in the Assembly polls. Polling was also held for the Beed Lok Sabha bypoll on October 15. Counting for it will also be taken up tomorrow.

In Maharashtra, BJP fielded 280, BSP 260, CPI 34, CPM 19, Congress 287, NCP 278, Shiv Sena 282 and MNS 219.

A total of 4,119 candidates contested the poll. Of the 288 constituencies, including 36 constituencies in Mumbai, 234 are general, 29 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 25 for Scheduled Tribes.

In Haryana, the fate of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress Government, which is aiming at a third successive term, and BJP, which is eyeing to form a government on its own, would be known tomorrow.

The state had created history by clocking an all-time high polling of about 76.54 per cent, surpassing maximum of 72.65 per cent in 1967 in the high-stakes battle among top contenders Congress, BJP and INLD in a multi-cornered contest.

The fate of 1,351 candidates, including 116 women — the highest number since the formation of the state in 1966, was sealed during the single-day polling.

Unlike in the recent past, when the fight was mainly between the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), a number of new players have thrown their hats in the ring this time.

The ruling Congress is eyeing a win for the third time in a row, mainly banking on the development card, while main Opposition INLD is seeking to return to power after a decade of hiatus, banking on the charisma of its president Om Prakash Chautala and consolidation of the Jat vote.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said counting of votes for the Assembly polls will be held at 90 counting centers, set up at 57 places in the state.

"First of all counting of ballot papers would be carried out and the final results of elections are expected to come by late afternoon or evening," he said.

Trends would be available soon after counting starts at 8 am.

The key aspirants whose fate would be decided include top guns like Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Surjewala (Cong), former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala's son Abhay, daughter-in-law Naina and grandson Dushyant (INLD), former Union Minister Venod Sharma and his wife Shakti Rani (HJCP-V), former MP Kuldeep Bishnoi, his wife Renuka and elder brother former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan (HJC-BL).

Other candidates in the fray include Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma and Capt Abhimanyu (BJP), Arvind Sharma (BSP), and Gopal Kanda (HLP) who was booked in the Geetika Sharma suicide case.

Bansi Lal's son and former BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, daughter-in-law (late Surender Singh's wife) and Haryana Minister Kiran Chaudhary and Lal's son-in-law Sombir Singh are contesting as Congress candidates from Badhra, Tosham and Loharu segments in Bhiwani district.

Walgad said candidates of the Congress and BJP contested elections from all 90 Assembly constituencies of the state, whereas 88 candidates of INLD, 87 of BSP, 65 of HJC, 17 of CPM, 14 of CPI and 297 of registered parties, including two candidates of SAD and 603 Independent Candidates, also contested.

During the 2009 Assembly elections, the Congress had won 40 seats, INLD 31, BJP four, HJC-BL six, SAD and BSP one each and Independents seven.

The Congress had failed to get the required majority of 45 in the 2009 Assembly polls, but Bhupinder Singh Hooda managed to form the government after five Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) MLAs deserted their party and merged with the Congress, which also got the support of seven Independents and a lone BSP member. — PTI

BCCI has suffered huge losses due to WI’s decision: Sanjay Patel

MUMBAI: A livid BCCI has said it has suffered huge losses and that it will claim all the damages following the West Indies cricket team’s unprecedented move to pull out of the remainder of India tour in the wake of an acrimonious unresolved pay dispute with its Board back home.

The aggrieved Caribbean players, who were persuaded to take the field for the fourth ODI in Dharamsala on Friday, conveyed their decision to call off the remaining part of tour to the BCCI, which is now contemplating legal action against the visitors.

“We have suffered huge losses due to the decision of the West Indies to pull out of the tour. We are going to claim all the damages and pursue the matter with ICC. We have convened an emergent working committee meeting to discuss the issue as well as the visit, at short notice, by Sri Lanka,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told PTI from Baroda.

The Cricket Board has convened an emergent meeting of its all-powerful working committee in Hyderabad on October 21 to discuss the aftermath of the controversial pull-out.

“The working committee members will have dialogue on this and after that we may consider to not pursue further FTP programmes with West Indies.”

Patel said he was busy from morning till midnight on Friday in view of the sudden “unprecedented” move by the West Indies to abandon the tour after playing, with reluctance, the fourth and penultimate ODI in Dharamsala.

“I had a very hectic time and this was an unprecedented decision. We will discuss all these at the working committee. There will be a governing council meeting of IPL preceding the WC meeting,” he said.

Patel had said in a statement on Friday, “The BCCI would like to clarify that despite all its efforts, the Micromax Cup India vs West Indies ODI series has been curtailed because of the ongoing issue between WICB and its players, and the withdrawal of the WI team from the ongoing tour of India.”

Patel had also provided a timeline of the controversy-hit tour from the time the West Indies reached Kochi to play the first ODI till Friday when the BCCI received a communication from team manger Richie Richardson informing the former that the visitors will not play any more scheduled matches on the tour after yesterday’s ODI.

Mr. Patel also said that the Sri Lanka will play the ODIs between November 1 and 14 and that England and Wales Cricket Board was also willing to send its team.

“We had already contacted the Sri Lanka board who had accepted the invitation on short notice. But they have to go back home for their next series against England,” said Patel. — PTI

Was left with no option, says WICB

NEW DELHI: The West Indies Cricket Board has criticised skipper Dwayne Bravo and said it was left with no option but to call off the tour of India following a strike by its players in the wake of an acrimonious ongoing pay dispute with WICB.

The aggrieved Caribbean players, who were persuaded to take the field for the fourth ODI, conveyed their decision to call off the remaining part of tour to the BCCI, which is now contemplating legal action against the visitors.

"The WICB clarifies that players in the West Indies squad currently in India represented by Mr. Dwayne Bravo indicated to the WICB through the West Indies Team Management that the players have taken a decision to withdraw their services for the remainder of the tour of India," the WICB said in a statement.

"As a result of this action by the players the WICB was left with no option but to advise the BCCI that it will no longer be able to provide a West Indies team for the remaining five matches (5th ODI, T20 International, three Test matches)." The WICB has called for an emergency board meeting on October 21 in Barbados to decide all the "ramifications" arising of the players pullout and take any actions if necessary. The WICB did not rule out penalising players and it would be discussed at the meeting.

After the pullout following the fourth ODI in Dharamsala, a livid BCCI said it will be going to ICC and was planning to sue the WICB and claim for damages.

"We will not take this lying down as we have cooperated with them in every aspect," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel had said.

Patel pointed out that the WICB's inability to resolve the growing differences between players and West Indies Players Association (WIPA) over the payment dispute led to the current situation.

Though it did think of sending a replacement West Indies team, the idea was "not considered acceptable" to the BCCI.

The WICB "unreservedly apologised" to the BCCI, the sponsors and the fans both in Caribbean and India. — PTI

26 die in Iraq triple bomb attacks

BAGHDAD: At least 26 persons were killed and 96 injured on Saturday in three car bomb attacks in Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.

A car bomb went off in eastern Baghdad, killing 14 people and wounding 50, a police official told Xinhua.

The second car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad's Suleikh area about half an hour after the first explosion, which killed three people and injured 19, the official said.

The third car bomb detonated near the National Theater in central Baghdad's Karrada district which killed nine people and injured 27, the official added.

According to a UN report, terrorism and violence in Iraq has killed 5,576 civilians in the first half of this year and has injured more than 11,000. — IANS

WASHINGTON: As US President Barack Obama tapped a long-time Democratic operative to become his administration's Ebola response coordinator amid rise in confirmed cases in his country, the New York Times strangely chose to focus on "India's Public Health Crisis".

As of Friday, eight confirmed cases of Ebola have been or are being treated in the US, and one US citizen died abroad, having never returned to the country, according to CNN. Dozens of others are being monitored or are in some form of quarantine, it said.

However, citing Peter Piot, the British microbiologist who first identified the Ebola virus, it painted the "nightmare scenario" of an Ebola pandemic unleashed by an infected person travelling from West Africa to India and getting substandard treatment there.

"However, India's most troubling threat is not abroad, but at home: the crippled public health system", the Times suggested in an editorial noting it "spends less than 1 per cent of its gross domestic product on public health care."

"The Indian government has already shown itself incapable of dealing with lethal viral diseases," it said even as it acknowledged that India "has set up screenings for Ebola at international airports" and "so far, no cases have been found in India.".

"But with the World Health Organisation warning that Ebola infection rates could rise to 10,000 new victims a week by the end of the year in West Africa, and the fumbles dealing with Ebola in Spain and America, improving India's public health system is a national emergency," it said.

Meanwhile, Obama asked Ron Klain, 53, who served as Chief of Staff to both Vice-President Joe Biden and former Vice-President Al Gore, as his Ebola response coordinator.

He is charged with ensuring that "efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don't distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa."

Obama had been under pressure from Republicans for weeks to name an "Ebola czar" but Klain's appointment did not satisfy his conservative critics.

"This is a public health crisis, and the answer isn't another White House political operative," said Republican senator Ted Cruz.

House Foreign Affairs Committee's Republican chairman Edward R. Royce also questioned Klain's lack of medical credentials.

"Klain is not known for his health-care expertise, though he would get briefings on those policies in his capacity as a campaign strategist for Gore and the Democrats' 2004 presidential candidate, John F. Kerry," the Washington Post noted. — IANS

LONDON: The World Health Organisation (WHO) bungled efforts to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa, an internal report revealed on Friday, as President Barack Obama named a trusted political adviser to take control of America’s frenzied response to the epidemic.

The stepped up scrutiny of the international response came as US officials rushed to cut off potential routes of infection from three cases in Texas, reaching a cruise ship in the Caribbean and multiple domestic airline flights.

The WHO draft report pointed to serious errors by an agency designated as the international community’s leader in coordinating response to outbreaks of disease.

The document a timeline of the outbreak found that WHO missed chances to prevent Ebola from spreading soon after it was first diagnosed in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea last spring, blaming factors, including incompetent staff and a lack of information. Its own experts failed to grasp that traditional infectious disease containment methods wouldn’t work in a region with porous borders and broken health systems, the report found.

“Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall,” WHO said in the report, obtained by The Associated Press. “A perfect storm was brewing, ready to burst open in full force.”

The agency’s own bureaucracy was part of the problem, the report found. It pointed out that the heads of its country offices in Africa are “politically motivated appointments” made by the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, who does not answer to the agency’s chief in Geneva, Dr Margaret Chan.

Dr Peter Piot, the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, agreed that WHO acted far too slowly.

“It’s the regional office in Africa that’s the front line,” said Dr Piot. “And they didn’t do anything. That office is really not competent.”

WHO declined to comment on the document, which was not issued publicly.

Meanwhile, Obama moved to step up the US response to the disease, naming Ron Klain, a former Chief of Staff to Vice-President Joe Biden, as the administration’s point man on Ebola.

Klain does not have any medical or public health expertise. But the White House said he would serve as “Ebola response coordinator,” suggesting his key role will be to synchronise the actions of many government agencies in combating the disease.  — AP

Indian-American jailed in US for selling fake sculptures

NEW YORK: An Indian-American foundry owner, who claimed that he had been invited to participate in building the world's largest statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel in Gujarat, has been sentenced to prison for selling fake bronze sculptures for millions of dollars in the US.

Brian Ramnarine, 60, of Queens was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 30 months in prison for fraudulently selling and attempting to sell, for more than USD 11 million, bronze sculptures that he falsely represented to be works of art by prominent artists Jasper Johns, Robert Indiana and Saint Clair Cemin, federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said in a statement.

Ramnarine, who was arrested in November 2012 and had pled guilty in January this year, was also sentenced by US District Judge John Koeltl to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit the fake sculptures and pay about USD 70,000 to his victims and as forfeiture.

Described by Bharara as a "con artist", he was given special permission by Koeltl to attend the September 28 grand reception hosted by the Indian-American community at Madison Square Garden here in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Indian leader was also allegedly presented with a 'Peace Warrior' statue that Ramnarine had cast, according to a report in the Courthouse News Service.

Ramnarine's lawyer Troy Smith said in a New York Daily News report the prison time would cost his client a big opportunity as he had been invited to participate in the building of Patel's statue, touted as the world's largest once completed.

A project close to his heart, Modi has set aside $ 33 million to help fund the construction of the bronze-and-iron 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat.

Ramnarine admitted to the charges five days into his trial early this year and during his sentencing he told the judge that he is "sorry to bring shame on my family." The prison term is well below the eight to 10 years Ramnarine faced. He has to report to prison in January next year.

Smith had sought a lenient sentence citing Ramnarine's "serious health issues." Bharara said Ramnarine's "only art was as a con artist" who concocted and carried out three separate schemes to peddle fake sculptures to unsuspecting buyers for millions of dollars, pretending that they had been made by well-known artists. — PTI

UNITED NATIONS: More than 1.2 billion people are living on less than $1.25 a day and 2.4 billion are living on less than $2 a day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

He told the UN observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty that at least 700 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty between 1990 and 2010 and he is determined to help UN make “poverty a history.”

Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, Ban said inequality has grown more pronounced and discrimination against women and girls remains “a blatant injustice.” He warned that “entrenched poverty and prejudice and vast gulfs between wealth and destitution, can undermine the fabric of societies and lead to instability.”

The UN chief on Friday pointed to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, saying the disease is not only threatening health but economic progress and the inroads against poverty being made in the three hardest-hit countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The observance coincided with the release of a UN report by international experts on financing sustainable development which cited research from the Brookings Institution showing that about $66 billion is needed annually to increase incomes of the poorest to $1.25 a day.

Finnish Ambassador Pertti Majanen, co-chair of the experts committee, said government aid to developing countries is about double that amount.

The experts said trillions of dollars a year are needed to finance development that preserves the environment.

Annual global savings of $22 trillion are sufficient to pay for such things as renewable energy and measures to mitigate climate change, the experts said.

The challenge, they said, is for countries to promote financial systems that give incentives to reallocating a percentage of savings to development programs, including combating climate change.

Majanen told a news conference that institutional investors’ assets today are $ 80-90 trillion, and only a very small percentage is used for development efforts. He said a better dialogue with the private sector could open “huge possibilities” for greener investments to promote development.

But Majanen warned that “if the Ebola situation will really be exploding and becoming a ... big problem all over the world, getting universal,” financing for sustainable development can be severely affected.

“This money I’m discussing, a very big portion of it will be needed for some other purposes there is no choice,” Majanen said. “We have to look into the priorities every day and try to select the right priorities, but Ebola will really change the picture.” — PTI