Patna/Ranchi, February 15
An RJD activist was killed today and more than 30 persons were injured as sporadic violence erupted during the second phase of the assembly polls in Bihar and Jharkhand. The turnout in Jharkhand was 55 to 60 per cent, while it was 50 to 52 per cent in Bihar, EC spokesman A.N. Jha said.

RJD activist Upendra Yadav was gunned down in Pratapur village in Sheikhpura constituency in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district during a clash between rival supporters, officials sources said. A CRPF jawan was among those injured.

The fate of 1,014 candidates in 82 constituencies in Bihar and 456 candidates for 29 seats in neighbouring Jharkhand was sealed, with the poll ending at 5 pm.

Among the important candidates in Jharkhand are Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who is contesting from Kharsawan, besides Tourism Minister Joba Manjhi and AJSU president Sudesh Mahato and former Speaker M P Singh.

In Bihar, prominent candidates are ministers Shakuni Choudhury, Pitambar Paswan, Ashok Singh and former Union minister Sanjay Paswan.

The polling in Bihar was marked by violence in which 17 persons, including two security personnel, were injured in attacks and bomb blasts, while an LJP candidate’s house was attacked.

An Independent candidate from Darbhanga constituency in Bihar, Sanjay Rai, was reported missing since Sunday, the police said. His family members lodged an FIR with the Lehariasarai police station this morning.

Smashing of EVMs and clashes were also reported from some of the constituencies spread over 15 districts.

The official vehicle of the Darbhanga district magistrate, Pradip Kumar, was attacked with crackers by some anti-socials near the Science College there. Kumar, his bodyguards and driver, escaped unhurt and no damage was done to the vehicle.

A TV journalist was taken into custody by the police in Samastipur for allegedly violating the secrecy of poll at a booth, District Magistrate Narmadeshwar Lal said. Voters also boycotted poll at four booths in Madhepura while protesting against some local issues.

Of the 82 constituencies, the RJD contested 67 seats, BJP 31 and the BJP’s ally JD (U) tried its luck in 49. The LJP also fought in 56 seats, BSP in 78, SP in 48, CPI in seven, CPI-ML in seven and NCP in 15.

Two persons were injured in a clash at two booths in Hussainabad constituency in Sheikhpura district, while two securitymen were injured after an altercation with the voters at Bhagatpur chowk in Munger town, where the police opened fire to foil a bid by supporters of a party to grab a booth.

Two persons were injured in a clash at a polling station in Rupauli constituency in Purnea district, prompting the police to open fire to disperse them. None was wounded in the firing, the sources said.

Though defects in EVMs were reported from several booths in Begusarai, Purnea, Munger, Jamalpur, Araria, Balia, Darbhanga, Samastipur and Saharsa constituencies, the polling remained unaffected as the faulty machines were promptly attended to or replaced.

An official report from Kishanganj said the CRPF jawans beat up some voters at a booth when they tried to disturb during the poll.

An EVM was broken at two booths by angry voters who also beat up the poll personnel, including the presiding officer, while protesting against deletion of their names from the voters’ list. The authorities later cancelled the poll at the two booths.

The house of LJP candidate Shamshad Alam was attacked by rivals close to a booth at Manigachhi in Darbhanga district. No casualty was reported.

An estimated 60 per cent of the 58,44,049 voters cast their ballot in 29 of the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly elections in the second phase polling today, according to CEO A K Pandey.

Barring stray incidents of clashes between rival party workers and snags in the EVMs, polling passed off peacefuly, he said.

RJD candidate for Ranchi constituency was arrested for his involvement in a clash in front of a booth.

An Independent candidate Bandhu Tirki was injured in a clash in Monder constituency.

The police also arrested about 50 fake voters from different places, including forty in Jamshedpur, official sources said. — PTI, UNI

New Delhi, February 15
The exit polls, conducted by television channels, for the second phase of elections in Bihar and Jharkhand, came out with different projections, thus refecting the confusion at the ground level.

Though the polls showed that Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will suffer substantial losses in Bihar, the Zee TV poll, nevertheless, indicated that the RJD-Congress combine would scrape through with a slender majority while Star News has forecast a hung assembly.

In the 82 of the total of 243 assembly seats in Bihar which went to polls in the second phase of elections today, the Zee News exit poll states RJD is projected to lose 13 seats while the Congress and the BJP are set to gain three and two seats, respectively.

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is expected to play a key role in the formation of the next government or will be an important player in providing stability to the new dispensation.

After tabulating the results of the two phases of polling, Zee News has given the RJD-Congress combine 122 seats, just enough to form a government in the 243-member assembly. Star News, however, has forecast a hung asssembly with this alliance geting 100 seats. According to Zee News the BJP and its allies are projected to win 76 seats, the Congress 46 and others, including the LJP, 41.

The Star News exit poll has forecast 91 seats for the RJD and just nine for the Congress. The BJP and its allies are projected as winning 90 seats and others 20.

As regards the exit poll for the 82 seats in the second phase, the Zee News pegged RJD at 31, the Congress at 13 while the BJP is projected to win 28 seats and others 10.

The election in Jharkhand promises to be a close match with Zee News stating that the JMM-Congress would win 38 seats in the 81-member assembly with the RJD bagging four and the BJP and allies projected to win 34 seats.

Star News has forecast 39 seats for the JMM-Congress-RJD combine and 36 for the BJP and allies and six for others.

New Delhi, February 15
Evolving a new law to protect the right of a deserted wife to have roof over her head, the Supreme Court has held that she could defend a suit for eviction from a rented matrimonial home in the same capacity as her husband would have done to save the tenancy.

"A deserted wife cannot be deprived of the roof over her head where the tenant-husband had conveniently left her to face the peril of eviction attributable to default or neglect of himself," a Bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Mr Justice G.P. Mathur and Mr Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan ruled.

"We are inclined to hold — and we do so — that a deserted wife continuing in occupation of the premises obtained on lease by her husband, and which was their matrimonial home, occupies a position akin to that of an heir of the tenant-husband if the right to residence of such wife has not come to an end," the Bench said.

Stating that the court was evolving a new law in this regard to protect the right of a deserted woman, the Bench said a wife placed in such a situation, has only to fulfil two conditions that her husband has given up the contest for the same tenancy and her suit to retain it would not be on higher footing than that of the husband.

New Delhi, February 15
Major Surinder Singh, who was found guilty by the General Court Martial (GCM) of faking encounters with the enemy at the Siachen glacier, will be provided copies of only some portions of the documents relating to the proceedings of the GCM, with the Army telling the Delhi High Court that certain documents were “classified”.

Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra told a Bench comprising Justice D.K. Jain and Justice H.R. Malhotra that the Army had passed an order on Major Surinder Singh’s representation for the supply of documents relating to the GCM proceedings against him by which he would only be allowed to inspect the classified documents.

However, advocate R.S. Randhawa and Mamta Mehra appearing for Major Surinder Singh submitted that it would be for the court to decide whether the documents claimed to be classified by the Army were secret or not, as the former Army chief N.C. Vij had kept the GCM proceedings open for the media.

The counsel contended that it was the normal practice to supply the copy of the order of the GCM proceedings. Following this, the Bench asked the Army to file a reply within two days on the petition of Major Surinder Singh and fixed February 25 as next date of hearing on the issue.

Meanwhile, the court said Major Surinder Singh could inspect the classified documents and the Army, in the meantime, would supply him other documents.

The court, on January 11, had restrained the Army from confirming the sentence awarded to Major Surinder Singh till further order.

Major Surinder Singh, a Gorkha Rifles officer, who was dismissed from service and sentenced to three-year rigorous imprisonment on December 21 after he was found guilty of all charges by the GCM held in Jodhpur, had approached the court for a stay on further proceedings with regard to the confirmation of findings and sentence awarded to him during the pendency of his petition. He has also sought the records of the GCM proceedings. Major Surinder Singh was tried for faking encounters during forward deployment of his battalion in the glacier in August-September last year.
— PTI

New Delhi, February 10
The former Chief of Army Staff, General Nirmal Chander Vij, has been identified to be facing a threat from the militants. He has been granted the Z-plus security along with a government house in New Delhi cantonment.

Sources here while confirming that General Vij had been granted the Z-plus security said he had been perceived with a threat due to leading the anti-insurgency operations and also being from Jammu and Kashmir. His house in Jammu came under attack from the terrorists last year and now his parents living there are also apparently staying in a government accommodation with adequate security.

General Vij becomes the first retired Army Chief to get the Z-plus security cover almost two decades after Gen K. Sundarji, the officer who led Operation Bluestar and the Indian Army into Sri Lanka, was provided with similar security cover.

Incidentally, the house for General Vij has also come under the scanner for the alterations and renovations which have been carried out at Mandir Marg, Delhi Cantonment, house to ensure adequate security for the former Chief of Army Staff. He demitted office on January 31 and as per practice straight away shifted to the Mandir Marg residence.

What has also come under scanner is that even Gen V.P. Malik, who was the Army Chief during the Kargil war, and Gen S. Padmanabhan, who marshalled massive troop mobilisation code-named Op Parakram following the attack on Parliament House in 2001, retired with just Z security.

Reports here said General Vij had been allotted the house on Mandir Marg as his personal house in Palam Vihar, which is more of an enclave of former service chiefs, was not found suitable from the security point of view. The renovation, the cost of which was not being disclosed, has been done keeping in mind security requirements laid down by the government.

Although the Ministry of Home Affairs did perceive the threat to General Vij but all arrangements for the secured living of the former Chief of Army Staff have been done by the Army, sources said. Reports suggested that over Rs 1 crore have been spent to ensure adequate security for General Vij.

New Delhi, February 15
Moving ahead with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s personal mission to deliver a more accountable and responsive bureaucracy, the Centre now proposes to set up an Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to recommend radical changes in the civil service.

The ARC, which is likely to be constituted shortly, will take a cue from previous top-level official committees which had also made far-reaching recommendations on making the civil service leaner, efficient and honest. Besides the Hota Committee, set up during the NDA regime, a Core Group of Administrative Reforms headed by Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi was constituted more recently.

While going into the recommendations made by earlier panels, the proposed ARC will also give its own suggestions in order to meet the government’s promise to provide a transparent, honest and people-friendly bureaucracy.

The Core Group has suggested radical and far reaching reforms in the civil services, including reduction in the recruitment age, weeding out corruption after periodic review and introduction of clearly defined norms for monitoring the performance of officers and for fixing accountability.

The Hota Committee, which had made as many as 63 recommendations, had gone as far as to suggest that an officer who is not honest and whose performance is found wanting be weeded out on completion of 15 years. It also said that annual property returns of all public servants be put on the website.

In addition, the Surinder Nath Committee had submitted a comprehensive report to the Centre two years ago suggesting the introduction of a fresh system for performance appraisal, promotion, empanelment and placement for all the civil services.

Then there was a committee headed by Mr B.N. Yugandhar which dealt with improving the skills and competency of officials by providing training to officers at different stages of their service careers.

Bangalore, February 15
The Navy is seeking a replacement for its ageing fleet of Sea King anti-submarine warfare helicopters and talks will take place tomorrow in New Delhi with US company Lockheed Martin for the acquisition of its MH-60R helicopter.

The company had received a Request for Information (RFI) for 16 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft from the Navy, forwarded to them by the US government, and the offer being made was for the MH-60R “Romeo” multi-mission helicopter being developed for the US Navy, Micheal Middleton, in charge of the US Navy requirement for the company, told The Tribune during Aero India 2005 here last week. The response on “price and availability” information had been given to India towards the end of January and further negotiations will be held during the Delhi meeting.