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Low voter turnout in Gujarat depresses BJP
55 pc turnout in
Maharashtra JD(D) seeks repoll in Gowda’s
Kanakpura
Exit polls give edge to NDA |
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We will win 100 seats, claims
BJP Angry protests over missing names in voters
list SAD asks Sikhs not to vote for Cong Protests over missing names RLD leaders join Cong Leadership camps for Muslim women
Unified commanders’ conference
ends Why run after Oscars, asks Bachchan
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Low voter turnout in Gujarat depresses BJP
Ahmedabad, April 20 For the BJP, it will not only have an adverse impact on the future of the National Democratic Alliance but will also put a serious question mark on the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. For the Congress it will be totally demoralising and force the party to go for a total overhaul. A low turnout has a direct bearing on the final results as it is being feared that it may bring the Congress candidates in reckoning in the state which is considered the stronghold of the BJP. Mr Modi had all along claimed that the BJP would win all 26 seats but even the exit poll are saying that the Congress would still manage three seats. BJP leader Jay Narayan Vyas said despite the low turnout, the party would win 23 seats as Gujarat is the laboratory of the Indian politics. Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley described the lower turnout as a normal phenomenon saying that the BJP would win more seats than what it had won in 1999. Even in the Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani’s Gandhinagar parliamentary seat, a low turnout was witnessed despite the best efforts of the state administration and the RSS. While BJP state unit President Rajendra Singh Rana, a Lok Sabha candidate from Bhavnagar, admitted in the afternoon that it was a cause for worry and his workers would make their best efforts to bring out the voters to exercise their franchise, Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmad Patel said the low turnout would favour his party. When in the afternoon, the BJP leadership realised the consequences of the disinterest of voters, they started spreading out to make sure higher poll participation. With their concerted efforts, the polling percentage reached between 40 and 42 per cent. Even though the exact polling figures would be known later, it was unlikely to make much difference, an official said. PCC vice-president Shakti Singh Gohil alleged that frustration and a possible defeat had forced the BJP to resort to booth capturing in the Mehsana parliamentary constituency where Mr Modi’s Cabinet colleague Nitin Patel is fighting a close battle with Jivabhai Patel of the Congress. The BJP has changed its sitting MP Punjaji Thakor and this has caused resentment among party cadres. The Congress candidate was injured today in Mehsana. The Congress further charged that 12 booths were captured in Mehsana. Main reasons for the lower participation is primarily high temperatures but disillusionment with the state administration. Besides, the arrogant style of functioning of the Chief Minister has contributed no less to the disinterest of not only the electorate but also of the party cadres. Mr Patel held the prevailing communal situation responsible for the low turnout saying that this would expose the BJP. A VHP leader from South Gujarat, Mr Dineshbhai Navadia, said going away from the core issues like the Ram temple, scrapping of Article 370 and a common civil code has resulted in the low turnout. In Jamnagar, voters of Rasnal boycotted the elections protesting lack of basic amenities. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, there was a 48 per cent turnout which had resulted in 20 seats for the BJP. In 1996, a lower voters turnout of 35.92 per cent had resulted in 16 seats for the BJP and 10 for the Congress. In 2002 Assembly elections, there was 45 per cent polling and it led to record results for the BJP. Earlier, Governor Kailashpati Mishra, Mr Advani and his wife Kamla Advani, Mr Modi, Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and former BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthi caste their votes in the Gandhinagar constituency. |
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Voters in nine Gujarat villages boycott poll Gandhinagar, April 20 In Bhavnagar district also, residents of Anida, Haripur, Jhapoda, Rabarika and Mewas villages boycotted the polls on similar grounds. As many as 1,600 voters of Hadmatia and Khokhri villages in Rajkot also boycotted the poll —
UNI |
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55 pc turnout in
Maharashtra Mumbai, April 20 About 55 per cent of votes exercised in the state, according to official sources. The polling was peaceful except for minor incidents of altercations between politcal workers, according to the police. Voting began at a slow pace in the morning but picked up during the day. By 3 pm, 35 per cent of the 29.4 million voters had cast their vote. In many parts of Maharashtra, voters braved threats by Naxalites as well as inclement weather to turn up at polling stations in large numbers. In Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, the hotbed of Naxalism, more than 30 per cent voters had cast their vote by noon. On Monday night, hours before the polling stations opened, violent clashes were reported between armed Naxal groups and paramilitary personnel. According to the state police control room here, armed groups in Gadchiroli shot at election staff moving out to man polling stations on Monday night. Though no government official was injured, some Naxalites received bullet injuries. Tuesday morning saw a large contingent of paramilitary forces including the Rapid Action Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol, the Central Reserve Police Force and the state police take position to ensure peaceful polling. Elections to the 24 constituencies in Maharashtra during the first phase were scattered across the state. Eleven seats in Vidarbha, six seats in Marathwada, four seats in Northern Maharashtra and three in Western Maharashtra went to the polls today. Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde cast his vote at a polling booth in Solapur. |
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JD(D) seeks repoll in Gowda’s Kanakpura New Delhi, April 20 “We have complained to the Chief Election Commissioner, the Chief Electoral officer and the Returning Officer about large-scale rigging and proxy voting by Mr Shiv Kumar and his supporters and have sought a repoll for the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in the Satanur segment of the Kanakpura Lok Sabha constituency,” party spokesman Kunwar Danish Ali said. “He has rigged the election,” Mr Ali said, alleging that Mr Shiv Kumar stormed the Satanur Assembly segment with his supporters in 50 buses, who “took over” booths and indulged in “proxy voting.” They also threatened the police officer on duty who opposed them, he said. Demanding a repoll, the party urged the commission to fix another date for voting under the supervision of the Central Reserve Police Force and election observers. —
PTI |
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Exit polls give edge to NDA New Delhi, April 20 While ‘Aaj Tak’ put NDA on the top with 93 seats, seven more than in the last elections, ‘Star News’ projected that the BJP-led combine would get 80 seats. Congress and allies were projected to get 53 by ‘Star News’ and 44 by ‘Aaj Tak’, while the two channels gave “Others” three and seven, respectively. The Zee-Taleem survey showed NDA getting between 63 and 78 seats and the Congress and its allies between 37 and 50 seats. It gave up to 16 seats to “Others”. The DRS-Sahara exit poll showed the saffron-led combine getting 82 seats, six less than in 1999, and the Congress 55, nine more than last time, and “Others” 3. Based on the assumption that similar polling trends would continue in the remaining phases of elections, ‘Aaj Tak’ gave “early seat projections” for all the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, predicting 288 for the NDA, 159 for the Congress and allies and 96 for “Others”. By and large the polls today showed a sweep for the BJP in Gujarat, but a neck and neck race in Maharashtra. While the Aaj Tak polls showed BJP getting 23 out of 26 seats in Gujarat, Zee showed the party getting between 18 and 20 seats and the rest going to the Congress. In Maharashtra, the polls showed the Congress-NCP winning in 12 out of the 24 seats for which polls were held today. The BJP-Shiv Sena is likely to get 11 and the BSP two to three, the Aaj Tak Survey said. Zee projected 10-12 seats to Cong/NCP and 6-8 seats to BJP-Shiv Sena. In Andhra Pradesh, TDP-BJP combine was seen to be lagging behind with eight while Cong and allies were getting 13 in 21of the 42 seats that went to polls, Aaj Tak said. Zee gave the Congress combine 10-12 seats and the TDP-BJP 8-10 seats. Surprisingly, according to Zee the TDP and BJP were doing well in Assembly polls and were ahead in 63-71 seats while the Congress was close with leads in 70-76 of the 147 seats where polling was held today. Aaj Tak survey in Karnataka showed BJP ahead with 11seats and Congress in four of the 15 Lok Sabha constituencies which went to the polls, while the Zee gave BJP 3-5 seats, Congress 4-6 and JD(Secular) 2-4 seats. In Bihar where polling was held in 11 seats, JD(U)-BJP combine was ahead in nine, while Congress-RJD was ahead in 2-3 seats, Zee showed, while Aaj Tak gave same projections. Aaj Tak showed Congress getting two seats in Orissa and the BJP-BJD combine ahead in nine of the 11 seats, while Zee gave BJP-BJD 5-9 and Congress 3-5. In Jharkhand, Zee showed BJP ahead in five of the six seats, while Aaj Tak gave it the lead in four seats with the remaining going to Congress. In Chhattisgarh, they showed the BJP ahead in 5-7 and Congress ahead in 3-5 in the eleven seats of the state. — PTI |
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We will win 100 seats, claims
BJP New Delhi, April 20 “But for some incidents of poll violence in some states, the way people exercised their right of franchise is very satisfying and we are sure that we will win 100 out of the 140 Lok Sabha seats that went to the polls today,” BJP spokesperson M. A. Naqvi told newspersons here. Mr Naqvi also claimed that the reports received from party state units indicated that a number of minorities had voted in favour of the BJP, especially in Bihar. He claimed that in Andhra Pradesh, the voters had voted for development and expressed anger against the Naxal menace and the attitude of the Congress towards it. When pointed out that most of the poll violence had taken place in BJP-ruled states, Mr Naqvi said as compared to the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, election violence had been less, which was due to “adequate security arrangements”. |
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Angry protests over missing names in voters
list Bangalore, April 20 Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Dasgupta said they were enquiring into how the names were left out in spite of many voters producing ID cards issued by the Election Commission. “May be it was human error or negligence.” Violence was witnessed in several parts of the city, where electronic voting machines (EVMs) were snatched. The police fired in the air in Gurappanapalya in Jayanagar in Bangalore South and in the neighbouring district of Kolar. The voter turnout was much lower than in 1999, which recorded 67 per cent (1999). In Raichur and Bijapur the EVMs were not working and polling could not take place for a couple of hours. In Hoskote near Bangalore, news photographer Sreenivas Murthy and reporter K.V. Subramanya of The Hindu were manhandled by a mob. |
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SAD asks Sikhs not to vote for Cong New Delhi, April 20 SAD (Delhi) President Avtar Singh Hit told mediapersons today that Ms Sonia Gandhi’s decision to give ticket to Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and their advocate R.K. Anand was deplorable. The Sikh Forum, a group of Sikh intellectuals, has issues a similar appeal. It has asked “all those who respect human rights” not to vote for the Congress. |
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Protests over missing names Bangalore, April 20 Violence was witnessed in several parts of the city, where electronic voting machines (EVMs) were snatched. The voter turnout was much lower than in 1999, which recorded 67 per cent (1999). |
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RLD leaders join Cong New Delhi, April 20 Former minister Kailash Nath Singh Yadav, Vice-President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Mr Suresh Pal Singh, its General Secretary, joined the Congress at the AICC in the presence of Mr Birender Singh. —
TNS |
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Cong candidate for Meerut New Delhi, April 20 |
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Leadership camps for Muslim women New Delhi, April 20 Dr Syeda S. Hameed, founder of the forum and former member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) told TNS here yesterday that young Muslim women could play a crucial role as agents of change. In its report `My voice shall be heard-state of Muslim women’ published in August last year with support from UNIFEM, the forum identified three major traumas that plague about 65 Muslim women in India. These are triple “talaq, polygamy and absence of ‘Mehar’ and maintenance. Dr Hameed said that the MWF recommended the abolition of triple talaq and polygamy. The report was based on public hearings of Muslim women in seven states. The MWF project is meaningful as India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The forum is planning a brain-storming session in Delhi to identify leaders and target beneficiaries in various states. About a month ago, MWF started a programme to impart basic livelihood skills to poor Muslim women in Nehtaur in Bijnore district of Uttar Pradesh. |
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Unified commanders’ conference
ends New Delhi, April 20 The conference of the three services’ chiefs and top commanders of the integrated defence staff started yesterday. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said the conference “reviewed the emerging geo-political strategic scenario and the capabilities required for India’s Armed Forces to respond to any contingency”. The conference was addressed by all chiefs of staff, Chief of Army Staff General Nirmal Chandra Vij, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh. Sources, however, said the commanders also discussed the issue of creating the post of the Chief of Defence Staff, which had been hanging fire for almost three years. The conference also discussed the report of the Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff Committee, which commented on different aspects of the security situation. Vice-Admiral Raman Puri, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, said “jointness” in all facets of military operations was “the only way ahead in the future of the Armed Forces.” The tri-service organisation’s chief supervises the Integrated Defence Staff, chairs all multi-service bodies and the Defence Crisis Management and is also responsible for coordination for long-range plans, five-year plans and annual budgetary proposals of the three services. |
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Why run after Oscars, asks Bachchan Jaisalmer, April 20 To a question over Oscar Awards during an interaction with the media here yesterday, the mega star shot back: “Why do you see this award as a big gun? Why should we run after these awards? Do they (Hollywood people) know as to how to take our culture, languages and arts in the proper perspective?’’ Mr Bachchan was on a trip to this border town for the shooting of his film ‘Deewar’. Boasting of the Indian film industry’s status and development, the big B maintained that the industry was well-placed vis-a-vis other film industries around the world. —
UNI
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