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Govinda kicks off campaign on train
What’s India Shining? They just know Kalyan will win Capt Yadav, Rao Inderjit lock horns over ticket Varun says he will not campaign in Rae Bareli against Sonia Cong, PDP cross swords in Baramula Minority vote crucial in TN Eves hold the key in TN Uma my only enemy, says brother after ticket denial
Women used as dummy candidates?
Choppers to keep vigil on Naxals ‘Son-shine’ in Rajasthan Contestants to feel the heat
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Govinda kicks off campaign on train Mumbai, March 26 As eager commuters rushed to shake hands with Govinda, the actor savoured the moment captured by hordes of television journalists specially brought in to cover the event. “Nothing has changed in the past 18 years since I stopped travelling by train,” Govinda told reporters. The actor grew up in a lower middle-class family in Virar on the last line in Mumbai’s Western Railway suburban railway network. However, after stardom beckoned in the early 1980s, Govinda shifted to a more upmarket address northwards in Juhu. Recounting his struggling days Govinda said his mother, Nirmala Devi, a thumri singer, used to struggle to get into the jampacked train. “Once when I saw her fail to get into a train at Andheri, I couldn’t help crying,” Govinda told reporters. On reaching Virar, Govinda was received by local-level politicians and reigning MLA from the area Hitendra Thakur. Govinda’s relationship with Hitendra and his brother, gangster Bhai Thakur, are controversial. However, the actor insists that Hitendra is his old schoolmate at whose request he attended public functions. Govinda is also known to make much publicised appearances at Ganpati festivals at Virar where he sponsors a big pandal put up by his former neighbours every year. Reports also have it that the actor donates generously to needy people in the area. Govinda is to challenge Union Minister for Petroleum Ram Naik who has won in the Mumbai North constituency five times earlier. Naik himself is dismissive of the actor. “I will win easily,” Naik told reporters at his residence in suburban Goregaon. But observers say Naik faces a tough fight despite all the work undertaken by him in the constituency. The veteran MP is credited with providing water supply to even inaccessible parts of his Mumbai North. Petroleum Minister Naik got Indian Oil to lay a water pipeline across the Manori creek to a small village, fulfilling a 20-year old promise. Though Naik’s moves earned him criticism from the opposition parties and the media, it only reinforced his reputation in the area as politician who cares for his constituents. The Congress party decided on Govinda after not being able to find any candidate to take on Naik. The actor is expected to woo the Hindi-speaking migrants and benefit from the Thakurs’ clout in the Vasai-Virar area which has seen a major increase in population in the past decade.
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What’s India Shining? They just know Kalyan will win Bulandshahr, March 26 There are no banners or posters to indicate that late next month the evenly-balanced electorate comprising Lodhs, Rajputs, Brahmins, Banias and Muslims will participate in the celebration of democracy. Right now it is mela time, a typical small town activity for killing time. The crowded roads have become even more crowded. There is nothing “Buland” about the town’s most popular sweet aptly given the unappetising name of ‘khajla’. It is an oversized puri-cum-kachori dipped in liquid sweet. Eleven out of ten shops seem to be selling this sweet! The search for an answer to how this town got the name it simply does not deserve took us to a chai shop-cum-dhaba on the road leading to Aurangabad Khanpur. Also known as Barahgawana (12 villages) that belong to the Pathans of Bulandshahr. Maqboolpur Barara has now become the better known of the 12 gaons because Mr Arif Mohammad Khan, the travelling politician, was born here. The motley crowd has no idea how Bulandshahr got its name. A Kashmiri salesman narrates a complicated tale that does not make any sense. A young man makes a more intelligent guess. The name could be a distortion of “Baran”, who once ruled this territory. Had any one heard about ‘India Shining’ or feel good? Silence. A middle-aged man says, rather apologetically, “How do we know, we are not literate”. The boot polish imagery brings a glint of understanding in the eyes of a person who had been following the India-Pakistan one-day series. “Wahi ho sakta hai ji India Shining. Baqi hum ka janey? As far as the elections are concerned, no one seems to have any doubt that Mr Kalyan Singh will win. The Bahujan Samaj Party will finish a distant second. And the Congress? Even the patrons of the decrepit chai shop did not miss the humour. Their suppressed laughter spoke a million words about the plight of the party that had ruled India for 45 years. A middle-aged Muslim patron said that no single caste can help a candidate win. Mr Kalyan Singh will win because he enjoys the support of his own Lodh community and now that he has rejoined the BJP, even the Brahmins and the Banias will vote for him. The Muslim vote has no value because it is split among the Samajwadi Party, the BSP and the Congress. The Muslim patron ran his hand over his beard and said, “Ab kya bataein Musalman bhi ab BJP ko bhi vote deney lagey hain”.
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Capt Yadav, Rao Inderjit lock horns over ticket CHANDIGARH: Top Congress leaders of Haryana may be reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha poll fearing that victory will take them away from the coveted office of the Chief Minister, the same is not the case with second-rung leaders of the party. While there are a number of Congress MLAs in the state whose names have figured among the aspirants for the Lok Sabha ticket, the most interesting contest is being witnessed in the Ahirwal belt where two Congress MLAs have locked horns for the party ticket for the Mahendragarh constituency. The only other seat where an intense contest between two Congress heavyweights is taking place for the ticket is Hisar where Mr Jai Parkash and Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala are the contenders. Mr Surjewala, however, is not an MLA and being the President of the Indian Youth Congress, membership of the Lok Sabha can be seen as his natural choice for electoral politics. Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, the Congress Deputy Leader in the Assembly, and Rao Inderjit Singh, also an MLA, are fighting it out for the Mahendragarh seat. The party is reportedly considering their names and also of Col Ram Singh for the ticket from the constituency, which is considered to be a stronghold of the Congress. The constituency has a large presence of ex-servicemen and Capt Yadav is playing up his stint in the Army to convince the party bosses about the usefulness of his candidature. Interestingly, Col Ram Singh, who has been a minister, an MP and an MLA could also flaunt his Army background, but his candidature is being challenged by Capt Yadav’s supporters, who say that being more than 80 years old, Col Ram Singh is no more fit for active politics. Capt Yadav and Rao Inderjit Singh have what can be termed as traditional rivalry even though both of them belong to the same party. Capt Yadav’s father Abhay Singh and Rao Inderjit Singh’s father Rao Birender Singh had fought elections against each other while Capt Yadav himself entered politics by defeating Rao Inderjit Singh’s brother in an Assembly byelection for the Rewari seat. During the sessions of the current Assembly, Capt Yadav had been a vocal participant while Rao Inderjit Singh had remained indifferent and spoke only when his name had been listed as a speaker on a certain issue. Both have won Assembly elections four times from their respective constituencies. Rao Inderjit Singh has won the Lok Sabha poll from the Mahendragarh seat once, but was defeated by a massive margin in the last LS poll by Ms Sudha Yadav, a Kargil widow who was the nominee of the INLD-BJP alliance. While Ms Yadav is being fielded by the BJP, the INLD, following its split with the BJP, has decided to field Swami Dharam Dev from Mahendragarh. Though the seat is considered a bastion of the Yadavs, the INLD, party sources say, has decided to put up a Panjabi candidate who is also a Brahmin because it feels that its candidate can take advantage of a split in Yadav votes. While all three Congress aspirants for the seat are Yadavs, the BJP candidate as well as the candidate of the Samajwadi Party, Mr Raghu Yadav, come from a local dominant caste.
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Varun says he will not campaign in Rae Bareli against Sonia
Nasik, March 26 Varun, who was here to campaign for Shiv Sena-BJP candidate Harishchandra Chavan from the Maharashtra Malegoan Lok Sabha constituency, refused to be drawn into the matter. Addressing newsmen after an election meeting at Dindori in Maharashtra, Varun also said, “It would be decided later on whether he would join the new ministry at the centre that would be formed after the elections.” Varun who refused to speak in front of cameras of various T V channels during his tour of Nandurbar. — PTI
Sarangkheda (Maharashtra), March 26 Addressing a rally at Sarangkheda in Dhule district of North Maharashtra yesterday in support of the BJP candidate in Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency, Dr Suhas Nathwadkar, Varun noted that while the Adivasis had supported the Congress for the past 50 years, their problems of unemployment and starvation and rights as basic citizens, were never addressed. ‘‘Hence, the advasis should now support the BJP for their development’’, he said. He said there was need of a leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee to develop the country. BJP Maharashtra unit president Gopinath Munde and Shiv Sena’s district chief Deepak Gavte were among those present. Criticising the state government, Mr Munde said the Democratic Front (DF) government had not been able to provide water, electricity, employment and fodder to the people, and hence had no right to stay in power. Comparing Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her nephew Varun, he said whereas the former read out her speeches, the latter delivered his speeches looking at the people. The Congress President had last month visited this area and addressed a public meeting.
— UNI
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Cong, PDP cross swords in Baramula Jammu, March 26 However, in the other five constituencies these parties would have electoral adjustment by fielding common candidates and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed would himself campaign for the Congress candidate, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Public Works Minister, in the Jammu constituency. It is learnt that the PCC chief, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, who flew here yesterday to make a last- minute effort to patch up with the Mufti on the Baramula seat, told Congress leaders here that Mr Ghulam Rasool Kar, a former PCC chief, would go ahead with filing his nomination papers against Mr Nizamuddin of the PDP. The Congress leaders had vainly been trying to persuade the Mufti to leave the Baramula seat for their candidate so that the Congress could at least make its presence felt in the Kashmir valley. However, this was not acceptable to the PDP that has announced its candidates for all three seats of the valley and left only two seats of Jammu for the Congress. Polling for the Baramula and Jammu constituencies will be held in the first phase on April 20. The Mufti has asked PDP activists to campaign for the Congress nominee in the Jammu constituency. Indications of both the Congress and the PDP fielding their respective candidates for the Baramulla seat were available last week when the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain
Baig, did not budge from his stand during talks with senior Congress leaders in Delhi. The Congress and the National Conference (NC) candidates, Mr.Madan Lal, and Mr S.S.
Salathia, for the Jammu seat filed their nominations today. The state BJP chief, Mr Nirmal Singh, will file his papers tomorrow as the controversy over his eligibility to contest the elections was cleared by the court today. The PCC chief and Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister, led a large procession to the office of the returning officer for filing of nomination papers of Mr Madan Lal. A former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, accompanied Mr S. S.
Salathia, NC nominee, for filing his papers. Later, the Mufti convened a meeting of PDP activists at his residence and asked them to fan out in the Jammu constituency in support of Mr Madan Lal. He said leaders of the PDP and other alliance partners should highlight the spectacular performance” of the coalition government.
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Minority vote crucial in TN Chennai:
Voters belonging to the minority communities and the Dalits will play a key role in the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.Two separate rallies held on Sunday is an indication that while the Muslims are cut up with the ruling AIADMK in the state, the Dalits favour the party because one of their leaders,
Thirumavalavan, had fallen out with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. While the largest Mulism organisation, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam
(TMMK), held a protest rally in Thanjavur, demanding the right to education and jobs, the Dalits and economically backward classes rallied in Salem to support their leader Thirumavalavan for the Lok Sabha poll. The TMMK passed a resolution demanding job reservations for Muslims in government as well as the private sector and in educational institutions and decided to support the DMK-led Progressive Democratic Allaince (DPA). A TMMK leader said its support to the DPA was because the alliance led by the DMK and the Congress was “secular”. The Muslim body had nothing particular against the AIADMK but for its alliance with the BJP. Here, too, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa lost out because of her tie-up with the BJP. The TMMK is demanding a legislation to provide 20 per cent reservation in Central Government organisations and 13 per cent in the state government for Muslims. To woo the minorities, Mr Karunanidhi tried to cut an edge between the moderate image of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.On the lines of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Karunanidhi, too, lashed out at Mr Advani hinting that he was trying to replace Mr Vajpayee. He said there was a move within the ruling BJP to sideline Mr Vajpayee and capture the Prime Minister’s post. Mr Karunanidhi said he came to this conclusion from the Prime Minister’s statement that he had decided to contest the Lok Sabha poll only to prevent “the country from sliding into anarchy and disintegration”. Expressing respect for Mr Vajpayee he said, “This is not an ordinary statement. It indicates that Mr Vajpayee is aware that a net has been cast around him.” Mr Karunanidhi reminded voters of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti’s statement that if returned to power, the BJP would certainly build a Ram temple at the disputed Babri mosque site in Ayodhya and Congress President Sonia Gandhi would be asked to perform “kar seva”. He said it proved that “anarchy” would prevail in the country if the BJP came to power. Though the minorities and the Dalits do not hold sway in a majority of the 39 Lok Sabha seats, their respective block votes might lead to a swing, which can determine the fate of many candidates.
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New Delhi, March 26 The widest margin where women voters outnumber men is the Perambalur (SC) parliamentary constituency where women voters are 5,19,617 as against 4,79,548 men voters — a difference of 40,069. The smallest margin where the women outnumber men is the Madras South parliamentary constituency where there were 319 more women voters. The maximum number of women voters in a single parliamentary constituency in the state is Madras North (9,84,075) followed by Madras South (9.39,420) and Coimbatore (7,87,124). However, out of 18 women who contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1999, only one could get elected. Parliamentary constituencies in the state where men outnumber women are Madras North, Coimbatore, Nagercoil and Madras Central.
— PTI
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Uma my only enemy, says brother after ticket denial Bhopal, March 26 In sheer desperation, Mr Lodhi met several Congress leaders, including the PCC President, Mr Subhash Yadav. He was told that he was welcome to join the Congress, but there was no promise of the ticket. “Let him first formally join the Congress and then we’ll see”, Mr Yadav told reporters. Mr Lodhi was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on the BJP ticket in 1998 from the Malehra constituency in Chhatarpur district from where Ms Uma Bharati was elected in the December elections. On the last Assembly elections, he contested the Pichhor constituency in Shivpuri district and lost to Mr K.P.Singh of the Congress. Mr K.P. Singh was a member of the Digvijay Singh Cabinet. Last year also, Mr Lodhi had denounced the BJP and Ms Uma Bharati and had been hobnobbing with Mr Digvijay Singh for which he was served a show-cause notice. He was, however, persuaded by Ms Bharati to retract his criticism of the BJP. Mr Lodhi was confident of getting the Lok Sabha ticket from the Khajuraho constituency, which was Ms Uma Bharati’s constituency till 1999 when she had in a surprise move shifted to the Bhopal constituency. Now the BJP has shifted Mr Ramakrishna Kusmaria, the sitting MP from Damoh, to Khajuraho.
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Women used as dummy candidates?
New Delhi, March 26 Agitated and disappointed over the political parties’ “hypocritical” attitude, the front said it was outraged over labelling of women contestants as “dummy” candidates who are extremely unlikely to win their respective seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Going by the list of candidates released by various political parties so far, women are likely to contest in only 10 to 11 per cent of the total seats, which is far less than 1998 and 1999 when it was 16 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, the front observed. “What concerns us is not just the number of candidates going down but also the way ticket is allotted for the coming elections. More women will be among losers as there are so many candidates who are unlikely to win against their strong opponents,” the front coordinator, Dr Ranjana Kumari, said. In 1998, out of the total number of women candidates, 43.75 per cent had won the elections while in 1999, 66.15 per cent won their seats. However, the winnability of the women candidates is very likely to go down this time as there are quite a few instances of women candidates contesting against each other. Also, the so-called “dummy candidates” are going to affect the success rate of women candidates, she pointed out. The women candidates pitted against strong opponents include Ms Madhu Gupta of the Samajwadi Party contesting against Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee in Lucknow, Jaya Prada of the Samajwadi Party against Nur Bano of the Congress in Raipur, Nafisa Ali of the Congress against Mamata Banerjee in South Kolkata, Sarita Bhadoria of the BJP against a strong candidate of BSP in Itawa and Anjana Prakash of SP against Rajesh Mishra of Congress in Varanasi.
— UNI
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New Delhi, March 26 The protesters, under the banner of the Disability Rights Group, submitted a five-point charter of demands to the EC to help, according to estimates, about 45 million disabled voters exercise their franchise without difficulty. The five “easy steps for a disabled-friendly election” include transport facilities, wooden ramps and Braille print-outs. “It will be a mockery of democracy if the disabled people are not allowed to vote,” said Javed Abidi, convener of the Disabled Rights Group (DRG). According to Mr Abidi, the protest was “forced upon the disabled people” after the EC did not meet their representatives even after scheduling a meeting on March 16. He said the DRG sent a letter to the EC on March 4 seeking a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner to apprise him of the problems faced by the disabled voters. “We were promised a meeting on March 16, but it was cancelled. The commission said wait till March 22 or 23, still nothing materialised. So we decided to go for direct action,” said Abidi. He said the commission’s guidelines allowing separate queues for the disabled voters are not enough. “The vehicles of disabled voters should be allowed to go right up to the booth. There should be wooden ramps to enter the booth and braille prints of candidates’ numbers be pasted on the electronic voting machines to help the blind voters,” said Abidi. A delegation of the protesters submitted their charter of demands to the Election Commission after the sit-in. — UNI
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Choppers to keep vigil on Naxals Nagpur, March 26 The Naxalites of the outlawed Peoples War Group have called for a boycott of the Lok Sabha elections and distributed printed materials in this connection at a few places in four districts, the Inspector-General of Police, Nagpur Range, Mr Pankaj Gupta, said here. Helicopters will reach here 15 days from the polling date and will be positioned one each at Gadchiroli and Bhandra to monitor Naxalite activities. About 25 companies of para-military forces either from the BSF or CISF, trained in anti-insurgency operations would be deployed at Chandrapur, Bhandara and Gadchiroli and Gondia during the polls, Mr Gupta added. A huge police force which includes officers of the rank of one additional SP, 16 deputy SPs, 25 inspectors, 35 assistant police inspectors, including a few police sub-inspectors, 3000 men, 2595 home guards and 500 forest guards, would be positioned in the affected districts.
— PTI
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‘Son-shine’ in Rajasthan
Jaipur, March 26 Making a debut in the political arena is Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh, who will try to retain the Jhalawar seat for the BJP held by his mother for five terms since 1989. She resigned from the seat following her election to the Assembly after becoming Chief Minister on December 8. Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manavendra Singh, who lost the last Lok Sabha election, is again contesting as BJP nominee from Barmer. Senior Congress leader and former diplomat Natwar Singh’s son Jagat Singh managed to get an entry into the Assembly in the elections from
Alwar. — UNI
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Jaipur, March 26 There has been an early rise in day temperatures in the current season that will make poll campaigning a bit tough for contestants, who will have to brave scorching heat in the desert land where the mercury level has already crossed 40°C. However, the first four Lok Sabha elections were conducted by holding more than two-day polling. — PTI
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All LS results to be out by May 13 noon
New Delhi, March 26 “We hope that results of all the parliamentary elections as well as assembly elections, wherever it is being held, will be available in the late afternoon of May 13 because of the usage of EVMs throughout the country”, Deputy Election Commissioner A N Jha told newspersons here today. He said to count the votes in an assembly takes around four to five hours and since each assembly segment is counted simultaneously, the result can be declared within six to seven hours. “If printed ballot papers are used, it used to take two to three days for counting a parliament seat”, he said.
— UNI
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Kaif not to campaign, says dad
Allahabad, March 26 “Kaif will solely focus on cricket and spare no consideration for any other matter at the moment,’’ he said.
— UNI
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EC to redress parties’ grievances Sikkim residents to vote thrice! Parties in a fix
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