Shillong, March 1
Curtains came down on the electioneering for the eight rounds of Assembly polls in the north-eastern hill state of Meghalaya today. The state goes to polls on March 3.

As many as 331 candidates from different political parties, including 73 Independents, are contesting election for 59 legislative Assembly constituencies in the state. Election to Baghmara constituency has been postponed due to death of a candidate. There are 19 women candidates in the fray.

The ruling Congress has fielded 59 candidates followed by 49 candidates from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The BJP has put up 23 candidates while the CPI has fielded only three. The Lok Janashakti Party has contestants on 18 seats. Rests of the candidates are either from regional political parties or Independents.

Among the regional political parties, the United Democratic Party has fielded contestants from 53 constituencies, the Meghalaya Democratic Party from 18 constituencies, the Hill State People’s Democratic Party from 15, the Khun Hynnewtrap National Awakening Movement from 16 constituencies and the Garo National Council for four constituencies.

The Congress and the BJP have hogged the limelight during the electioneering because of the involvement of high profile campaigners. The Congress, which has stationed a battery of AICC leaders in the state, roped in its president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for electioneering. Sonia Gandhi addressed two election rallies, one at Jowai and another at Tura, in the state on February 23 while the Prime Minister addressed a rally in Shillong on February 27.

The BJP’s campaigning was spiced up by the presence of its president Rajnath Singh, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu and former Bollywood actor Shatrughna Sinha. The saffron party, which has only two MLAs in the seventh Assembly, hopes to attain a position from where it will be able to do a ‘balancing job’ in the government formation process after the polls.

NCP president Sharad Pawar held several elections meeting in the state. The party banks on veteran Purno A. Sangma, former Lok Sabha Speaker, to wretch power from the Congress.

Shillong, March 1
A women candidate from the Congress Debora C. Marak, who is the incumbent health minister of Meghalaya, has declared assets worth over Rs 112 crore. She tops the list of 27 crorepati candidates in fray in the March 3 Assembly election in the hill state.

Significantly, Meghalaya is going to have the distinction of having a 'clean Assembly' as none of the total 331 candidates in the fray has any criminal background as per the affidavits signed by them before the Election Commission.

According to a survey conducted by the Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADM) on the basis of records available with the Election Commission, in all 27 candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Among these are ten from the Congress, seven from the NCP, four from the regional United Democratic Party (UDP), four Independents and one each from the regional Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) and Meghalaya Democratic Party (MDP).

The richest candidate is Debora Marak who has declared assets worth Rs 112,36,87,492 and three Boleros and one Accent. She, however, hasn't disclosed her Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Other prominent crorepati candidates included NCP general secretary and former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, Shillong-based media baron Manas Choudhuri (Independent), deputy chief minister and UDP president Donkupar Roy, deputy chief minister Dr Mukul Sangma (INC) and another sitting Congress minister Nehlang Lyngdoh.

However, three-time Chief Minister and Congress leader D.D. Lapang is yet to become a crorepati as per records available with the Election Commission.

Almost all candidates have shown a reluctance to disclose their PAN for reasons best known to them. Only seven candidates have mentioned their PAN including three from Congress, one from the BJP and three Independents. Nine candidates have declared that they don't have a PAN while the rest 315 candidates have avoided disclosing their PAN.

Lucknow, March 1
In a major victory for the IAS lobby, cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, a non-IAS officer, has relinquished his cabinet minister rank and is no longer the head of the administrative secretariat. The chief secretary has once again been given the overall control of the secretariat after a gap of 10 months.

In a move believed to preempt an adverse decision in a PIL pending before the high court, Chief Minister Mayawati today announced her government’s decision to this effect on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha.

She pronounced her government’s decision to withdraw the government orders amending the Uttar Pradesh Rules of Business, 1975, and the UP Secretariat Instructions, 1982, conferring powers on the cabinet secretary that among others include those vested with the chief secretary. He was also the vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission, a post having cabinet level rank.

Couching her decision in political correctness, Mayawati said Leader of the Opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav while responding to Governor T.V. Rajeswar’s address to the joint session of the legislative Assembly had expressed his reservation to a non-IAS officer Shashank Shekhar Singh being given a cabinet minister rank and being made the head of the administration.

Quoting Mulayam’s speech in the House, she said he had objected to cabinet secretary being privy to confidential documents without taking oath of office and secrecy.

“At that point I had not said much as the matter was pending in a court of law”, said Mayawati while revealing that now she could give a satisfactory reply to his charges.

She informed the House that on February 29 she received a letter from the cabinet secretary requesting her to allow him to relinquish the twin responsibility of the head of the administration and cabinet minister rank. She had accepted the request.

“Now the chief secretary would become the head of the administrative secretariat and the amended rules of business have been withdrawn”, declared Mayawati.

Panaji, March 1
The family of a 15-year-old British girl, who was found dead on north Goa’s Anjuna beach few days ago, has refused to accept her body demanding its re-examination.

There are clear ambiguities in the post-mortem report, which leads to suspicion that she was murdered, Fiona Mackeown, mother of Scarlette Eden Keeling, whose semi-nude body was found on south Anjuna beach on February 18, told PTI. The police had maintained that the death was due to drowning while her mother had suspected foul play in the entire episode.

Police sources confirmed that the body, which was all set to be sent to Davon in the UK via Mumbai was kept back in mortuary after the family insisted the re-examination.

The police is ignoring various evidences that point out that the death was not due to drowning but she was assaulted and killed, Vikram Varma, a Supreme Court lawyer and close friend of Scarlette’s family, said.

The family members have now demanded that the body be re-examined as several facts which are reported in the post-mortem are not considered seriously by the investigating agencies.

Varma said the post-mortem report revealed that Scarlette’s body had several bruises that means that she was brutally attacked before being put to death. Incidentally, the body was found above high tide line, which means that she was not floating in the water, he added. — PTI

New Delhi, March 1
Having floored the opposition with a “please-all budget”, the Congress is now moving ahead to convert it into votes. It will kick start this exercise with a massive farmers’ rally in Delhi on March 9 to be addressed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The basic objective of this rally is to send out a clear and unambiguous message to the people that the special package for farmers, especially the loan waiver, was included in this year’s budget at the behest of the Congress. It is meant to reinforce the grand old party’s ‘pro-poor’ image and underline that the Congress has not wavered from its electoral promise to the “aam admi”.

A series of similar rallies will be held in the state capitals and at the district and block levels in the the run-up to this year’s assembly elections to ensure that the message filters down. The Congress is depending on the budget to turn the tables in its favour in the coming polls. In fact, it is hoping that this “feel-good” mood will also see them through the Lok Sabha election.

Congress leaders, however, admitted that this would not be possible till the party cranks up its organisational machinery to spread this message to the people. They pointed out that V.P Singh had also gone in for a similar loan waiver for farmers but he failed to draw any electoral advantage from it because he did not have an organisation to convey this to the people.

“Now that the government has delivered on its promise, it is for the party to “hardsell” it to the people. It will be pointless if we are not able to take full advantage of this budget,” remarked AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh.

The party’s publicity committee, headed by Singh, will soon start preparing the necessary material on the budget’s salient features for distribution to party workers. It is also being suggested that the party access the names and addresses of all those who have benefited from the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver so that they can be told that the Congress had made it possible.