Kolkata, May 10
Belying all fears and apprehensions, the people at the Maoists-infested Lalghar, Jangalmahal and other disturbed areas in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore today came out in a large number and exercised their franchise for electing their representatives in 14 Assembly seats in today’s last phase of the polling, which passed off peacefully.

With polling in 14 seats today, the sixth phase of the Assembly elections in the 294 constituencies in West Bengal were completed. The elections were free, fair and peaceful. According to state chief electoral officer (CEO) Sunil Kumar Gupta, on an average a turnout of 84.5% was recorded in seven seats in West Midnapore, four in Purulia and three in Bankura.

At many places, even the hardcore Maoists and the Maoists sympathisers also took part in the polling.

The leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, Chandhar Mahato, who is in jail, participated in the election as an Independent fighting from the Jangalmahal seat. The results of the election will be declared on May 13.

The CEO thanked the state government, the central paramilitary forces and different political parties for co-operating with the EC in conducting free, fair and peaceful polling.

Kolkata, May 10
When the largest circulated Bengali daily newspaper, Ananda Bazar Patrika, carried a front page report on the cabinet to be formed by Mamata Banerjee later this month, the Left Front predictably saw red.

“How can any responsible political party distribute portfolios even before the polling in the state is over,” wondered a livid CPM state secretary, Biman Bose. Complaining that the report was meant to influence undecided voters to vote for the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance in the state, Bose rushed to the Election Commission with what he said was an instance of ‘paid news’.

He had reasons to feel upset. The unusual report gushed over Mamata Banerjee’s sagacity at doing some ‘forward planning’, her determination to have a lean ministry and over her ‘decision’ to ensure surprises by denying the usual suspects their preferred choice of departments.

But with the polling now over, the ruling Left Front is keeping its fingers crossed. It hopes to perform better than what the pundits have predicted. It also hopes to buck the trend of electoral reverses since 2008 and do better than the Lok Sabha election in 2009. It would also like to believe that ‘uncharacteristic’ modesty being shown by Mamata Banerjee of late indicates doubts in her camp about the cake-walk seen as a fait accompli not too long ago.

The Union Railway Minister, who has not contested the Assembly election, never made any bones about her belief that she is the next Chief Minister of the state. Although she had initially allowed some speculation that she might retain the Railway ministry in New Delhi while installing someone else as CM, and thus emulating Sonia Gandhi, she appears to have veered round to the view that nobody but her would be acceptable as the CM as and when the alliance dislodges the Left in the state.

Though she never objected to being described as the next Chief Minister of the state or as the ‘CM-in-waiting’, soon after the advance information about her ‘impending cabinet’ caused ripples, she turned coy, ticking off supporters for describing her as the next CM. The Left Front sees this as vindication of its belief that the contest in West Bengal will turn out to be closer than what the mainstream media predicted.

With the counting of votes scheduled for Friday, the suspense will last for just two more days. And whichever alliance wins on Friday, the Election Commission of India has already emerged a winner by holding a peaceful election against all predictions of a bloodbath.

Lucknow, May 10
The UPA government is trying to make the PAC a “puppet” in its hands and divide it on party lines when the mandate of the panel is to be bipartisan, Murli Manohar Joshi, chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee that examined the 2G Spectrum scam, today said.

“It is shocking that four ministers were sitting in the Parliament office of the Congress and sending chits and giving directions to their members in the PAC to do this or do that. In a way they are making PAC a captive committee,” Joshi told reporters here. He maintained that the PAC is not supposed to work on party lines.

“They (Union ministers) want to make PAC a puppet. They want to run it on directions of the government and the party (Congress). A probe against corruption cannot be held with these big hurdles,” Joshi said.

Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram, Pawan Kumar Bansal and N Narayansamy were present in Parliament on April 28 when the PAC meeting was on. “It is as if they (Congress members) are actors and these people (ministers) are producers. This is a serious insult to the Parliamentary process,” he said.

The senior BJP leader said while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that immediate action should be taken against those indulging in corruption, his own ministerial colleagues were making all efforts to stop the probe against corruption.

New Delhi, May 10
The killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan will not cast a shadow on the round of the Indo-Pak diplomacy kicked off after the “Mohali initiative” of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani. However, India will continue to press for action against terrorists holed up in the neighbour’s territory.

The scheduled talks at the levels of various secretaries of the two countries will continue unaffected. The water resources secretaries of the two nations will meet tomorrow, however, there will be no let up in India maintaining its stance that all terrorists have to be dealt with an iron hand.

Today, New Delhi upped the ante and asked Islamabad to disclose the whereabouts of Dawood Ibrahim, dismissing its Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s contention that he was not in Pakistan.

Just a day after the Home Ministry shared the details of the five masterminds involved in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said Pakistan Interior Minister should disclose where Dawood was living if he was not in Pakistan.

“If the minister is so sure that Dawood is not in Pakistan, he should tell us where is he.... According to information, Dawood is in Pakistan,” he told reporters here this evening.

Pillai said the India’s most wanted terrorist, who carried out the 1993 serial bombing in Mumbai, has houses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. “We have evidence of the same,” he asserted.

Earlier, Malik said in an interview that Dawood was not in Pakistan. “I think marrying a lady in Pakistan does not give a certificate that Dawood is in Pakistan,”

Dawood’s daughter is married to the son of former Pakistan Cricket captain Javed Miandad.

Meanwhile, India is readying itself to share another firm pointer to Pakistan’s link with the Mumbai terror attack. The packaging carton of the Global Positioning System (GPS) used by the terrorists has been found in a house in Karachi at the control room for orchestrating the 26/11 strike.

The number, model of the GPS and the packaging date of the carton matches with the device found in the fishing trawler “kuber”, officials privy to investigations said.

India will share this information with the Pakistan judicial commission when it visit India to take the statement of the magistrate, who had recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Amir Kasab to pursue the case there.

The commission was to come in May end, but no dates have been conveyed so far, sources said.

New Delhi, May 10
Dismissing all allegations of nepotism,corruption and misuse of office by its chief ministers and governments in Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Punjab, the BJP blamed it all on a biased Central Government out to malign the BJP and a motivated CBI working at its behest.

The chief ministers’ conclave of the party in its second day here today, lamented at length about the “step-motherly treatment” meted out to BJP chief ministers and their governments both in terms of victimisation and attempts to trap BJP leaders in false trumped-up cases and starving the BJP states of funds for their welfare schemes.

The two-day conclave devoted a full session to corruption attacking mainly the UPA government and discussing a strategy to launch a nationwide agitation against UPA scams, particularly the latest PAC report indicting PM Manmohan Singh in the 2G scam.

While Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj made the inaugural speech for this session, party president Nitin Gadkari forewarned the chief ministers and others attending the meet regarding the Centre attempt to implicate BJP leaders.

New Delhi, May 10
The Supreme Court today directed the high courts to throw out all corrupt elements in the subordinate judiciary that affected the image of the entire judicial system across the country.

A Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra issued the directive while disposing of a contempt petition filed against Delhi’s Additional District Judge Archana Sinha.

In a shocking move, judge Sinha had effectively stayed an eviction order passed by the SC in a tenancy dispute case.

“We are constrained to say that a certain section of the subordinate judiciary is bringing disrepute to the whole judiciary of the country by passing orders on extraneous considerations,” the Bench observed.

“We do not wish to comment on the various allegations which are often made to us about what certain members of the subordinate judiciary are doing, but we do want to say that this kind of malpractices have to be totally weeded out. Such subordinate judiciary judges are bringing a bad name to the whole institution and must be thrown out of the judiciary,” it added.

The Bench further said certain members of the subordinate courts “do not even care” for the orders of the SC. “When the SC passed an order on October 6, 2010, granting six months’ time to vacate, the judge, Archana Sinha, had no business” to pass an order on April 23, 2011. But she has stayed the warrants of possession, meaning thereby that she has practically superseded our order and overruled us,” the Bench ruled.

Quashing the order passed by judge Sinha, the SC asked the Delhi HC Chief Justice to conduct an inquiry into the matter and take necessary disciplinary action against her.

New Delhi, May 10
The Delhi High Court today confirmed June 1 as the date for collecting the blood sample of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari for a DNA test to ascertain the claim of Rohit Shekhar (32) that he is the biological son the 85-year-old Congress leader.

A HC Registrar also directed Tiwari to pay Rs 75,000 to Rohit. The amount represents the cost imposed on him for filing a frivolous petition seeking deletion of certain portions in Rohit’s paternity suit.

Today was the last day for paying the cost, but Tiwari’s counsel sought time for one more week for the purpose which was granted by the court.

Rohit and his mother Ujjawala Sharma would also give their blood samples that day for conducting the DNA test at a laboratory in Hyderabad. Rohit claims he was born out of a relationship Tiwari had with his mother.

New Delhi, May 10
The Supreme Court today suggested that the fair price shops (FPSs) under the Public Distribution System (PDS) should be utilised for storing foodgrains in view of the shortage of godowns in the country.

Taking note of the destruction of a huge quantity of paddy in a fire that broke out at an open storage facility in Punjab recently, a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma said the FPSs could be given double the quantity of foodgrains to which these were entitled.

This would somewhat address the problem arising from lack of storage facilities due to which the foodgrains procured from farmers were getting rotten, eaten away by rats or destroyed in fire or rains. This was all the more necessary in view of the bumper crop this season and the ongoing procurement season, the Bench reasoned.

BRIEFLY

Kani exempted from appearance
NEW DELHI: DMK MP Kanimozhi was on Tuesday exempted from personal appearance on May 12, 13 in connection with the 2G Spectrum scam case by a Delhi court, which allowed her to appear on May 12 before Chennai Income Tax Office to respond to summons for alleged tax evasion. KTV Managing Director Sharad Kumar has also been exempted. — PTI

More trouble for Reliance honchos
NEW DELHI: Three top executives of the undivided Reliance Group-A N Sethuraman, Shankar Adawal and V Balasubramanium-will face criminal proceedings on charges of possessing confidential government documents after the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to give them any relief. — PTI

Tirumala Temple gold plating
NEW DELHI: Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanam (TTD) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has shelved the controversial decision on gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati, the world's richest temple. — PTI