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No observer
for EVM scrutiny in Kargil Photojournalist
hurt in blast |
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NC
withdraws poll boycott threat Campaigning
ends in Anantnag
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Kalam first President to visit LoC Subedar Swaran Singh and five other JCOs and jawans sat with Dr Kalam. The Army chief, General N.C. Vij, Lt Gen Hari Prasad, GOC-in-C, Northern Command, and Lt Gen Ashok Kapur, GOC, also sat with them to have lunch. The President had vegetarian food. Rajouri, May 3 Dr Kalam, talking to mediapersons during his visit to the Line of Control, said the ceasefire was one part of the game. He said there was a lot of difference in the situation between his last visit here and the current one. During his one-day visit of the Jammu division, the President also flew to Udhampur where he visited the Northern Command Hospital and met soldiers who were wounded in encounters or injured in landmine blasts. He also spent some time with the handicapped children of “Asha”, a school being run by the Army at Udhampur. Dr Kalam also met other school-children who had gathered at the auditorium for a question-answer session with him. The Army chief, General N.C. Vij, Lt Gen Hari Prasad, GOC-in-C, Northern Command, and senior officers accompanied him. Dr Kalam is the first President to visit the LoC in Jammu and inspect the border fencing. Addressing troops in Rajouri, he appreciated the Corps of Engineers that was constructing a three-tier 640-km fencing along the LoC to prevent infiltration. He said the fencing would be completed by June-end and was a remarkable achievement for the troops. He said the weight carried by the soldiers needed to be reduced considerably through the development of light-weight clothing, weapons, and communication system which would ensure greater mobility and boost combat efficiency. He said lethality was enhanced through weapon instrumentation having thermal weapon sight, laser-range finder, digital compass and GPS receiver. He appreciated the lightweight (875 gm) BAAZ computer that had been developed by the Manali-based SASE to make the soldier of the 21st century a smart soldier. The President said in spite of many challenges of mountain warfare and cross-border terrorism, “when I see you, you all look very smart and combat-ready and through gracious smiles on your faces, you look winning.” He recalled the contribution rendered by the soldiers and airmen in the development of missiles, combat vehicles and electronic warfare equipment by the research and development laboratories. Dr Kalam said “we want to become economically strong and for this peace is essential. Peace can come only through strength that the armed forces give us. Definitely, the country will ensure that your strength is continuously enhanced.”
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No observer for EVM scrutiny in Kargil Ladakh, May 3 The most critical of these tasks has been the scrutiny and sealing of EVMs for the 219 booths set up in Kargil. Even as the process of EVM surveillance began in Ladakh yesterday, Kargil waited in vain for an election observer to be present to supervise the significant task. Despite clear instructions, rules and regulations underlining the need and exigency of
scrutinising and sealing of EVMs in the presence of an election observer, Kargil witnessed the manual checking and subsequent sealing of EVMs with no observer in presence. While a senior election observer, Ms Sushma Nath, has been camping in Leh for about a week now, Kargil had a chance to host two election observers merely for two days, last week. One of the observers who visited Kargil last week was later held up in the Nubra Assembly segment of Leh for about four days. Nubra was cut off from the mainland due to untimely snow and inclement weather. After that no election observer has yet been to Kargil, which has 219 polling stations. Significantly, two rules have been thrown to the winds in case of Kargil district of Ladakh: one, the EVMs had to be finally packed off without the supervision from an election observer; two, keys of the strongroom, where the scrutinised and subsequently sealed EVMs are finally stacked, are now only with the District Electoral Officer (DEO). Ideally, one key to the strongroom lock has to be placed in the possession of the election observer, who must ensure complete transparency in the entire procedure. The Kargil District Electoral Officer, however, had little choice than to proceed with the job of EVM scrutiny as per the election schedule for Ladakh which goes to the polls on May 10. Meanwhile, the Returning Officer for the Ladakh Parliamentary constituency, Mr Satesh Nehru, admitted to The Tribune that the scrutiny of EVMs in the absence of an election observer in Kargil was unjustified and unlawful. He, however, added that since no observer was present in Kargil yesterday, the task had to be undertaken lest the poll schedule suffered. He also said that most of the visiting election observers were interested in being based at Leh than at Kargil. In Leh, on the contrary, everything has been progressing smoothly under the supervision of Ms Nath, who will remain in the district till May 13, the day of counting. Yesterday, Ms Nath supervised the scrutiny of 108 out of a total of about 250 EVMs for Leh district, which has 224 polling booths. About a 100 more EVMs were tested and sealed today. It may be mentioned that 10 per cent of EVMs have to be kept reserved in case any of the machines breaks down in the middle of the poll process on May 10. In Leh about 200 EVMs have already been loaded in the strongroom, with the keys in custody of both the DEO and the election observer. Kargil is yet to find a strongroom custodian, other than the District Electoral Officer. |
Srinagar, May 3 Those injured included H.U. Naqash, photojournalist, associated with The Asian Age, who was standing near the entrance to the local English daily, Greater Kashmir, at the time of the explosion. He received injuries in his abdomen and lower limbs. A police constable was also injured in the explosion. They have been admitted to the SMHS hospital. The explosion took place at about 4.30 pm in the colony opposite to Pratap Park, where a number of government quarters and flats are located. The offices of some local Urdu dailies and an English daily, Greater Kashmir, besides the offices of some correspondents of national and international media organisations, are also located here. Others injured included Mr Yusuf Jameel, then correspondent for the BBC. The incident had taken place after a parcel bomb left for Mr Yusuf Jameel in his office was opened. UNI adds from Anantnag: The security forces gunned down a militant of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen while unidentified gunmen snatched service weapons of two security officers of a National Conference leader in Pulwama district of South Kashmir. Sources said the security forces got a specific information that militants were holding meeting in Batapora Kulgam village, planning to disrupt the polling on May 5. They said the village was cordoned off from all sides and militants were asked to surrender but they opened fire. The security forces retaliated and in the exchange of fire, one militant, identified as Faizal, of Pakistan, was killed. In another similar attack, militants hurled a grenade at a CRPF camp set up for election duty at Imam Sahib in the district, but there was no loss of life or property, they
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NC withdraws poll boycott threat Srinagar, May 3 “The commission has taken cognizance of our complaints and assured us that a detailed report on the issue has been sought from the officials concerned,” NC President Omar Abdullah told reporters here. Mr Abdullah, in a letter to the Election Commission, had threatened to withdraw from the remaining phases of poll in Jammu and Kashmir, if their complaints against the PDP President for the alleged violation of election norms were not looked into. Ms Mehbooba, making a tour to the polling stations in second round of poll in Srinagar parliamentary constituency, had removed the veil of a woman alleging her to be a bogus voter. — PTI |
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Campaigning ends in Anantnag Anantnag, May 3 The contesting candidates tried to reach every voter while the anti-poll campaign launched by separatists leaders also attracted its due share of attention in the constituency, spread over 16 Assembly segments in Anantnag and Pulwama districts. Though many contestants are in the fray, the main fight is expected to be three-cornered, with ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti facing National Conference (NC) nominee Mehboob Baigh and CPI state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami. While the PDP chief Mehbooba and Mr Baigh are making all out efforts to turn the tide in their favour, Mr Targami could also spring a surprise. Almost all senior leaders of the PDP and the NC have campaigned for their candidates as the contest generated interest after the offspring of two leaders of the south Kashmir joined the fray. The contest is being considered a litmus test for the two regional parties, with both the PDP and the NC having high stakes here. The ruling party is trying to consolidate the surprise gains it made in South Kashmir in the last Assembly elections when it bagged 10 of the 16 Assembly seats in the constituency while the NC is striving to regain its lost glory in the area. — UNI |
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Procession teargassed Srinagar, May 3 Official sources said a procession was taken out by the Islamic Students League from Abi-Guzar near here. However, after passing through Lal Chowk, the processionists reached Bohri Kadal where the police tried to stop them and resorted to a
lathicharge. Six processionists were injured, the sources said.
— UNI |
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