New Delhi, March 19
The nomination process for the elections of three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) began today with only six candidates filing their applications, including one from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

According to Election Commission (EC) officials' report from 68 Returning Officials (RO), only six candidates have filed the nominations. The list of candidates comprised three independents filing nominations from ward No. 8 and 214 while one candidate of the Jan Lok Shakti from ward No. 15. The BSP candidate filed application from ward No. 253.

Ensuring full transparency in the municipal polling to be held on April 15, Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said that the names and details of the candidates would be uploaded on the website of the EC within 24 hours. "We will upload the details like educational background, property assets and criminal record on the website," said Mehta.

The two major political parties in the fray, the BJP and the Congress, are still examining candidates and making lists of contenders from various wards. They may take another four to five days to wind up the process and release the final list, said party sources.

However, the BJP has already shortlisted candidates from five districts out of total 14 districts at a daylong meeting that was expected to continue till late night. The party has selected two candidates from each district. The list will be forwarded to party chief Nitin Gadkari, who will have the final say in selecting the candidates, said party insiders.

"Though we have shortlisted two candidates per district, but that stands conditional as they can also be cancelled if the party chief feels so," said one of the sources.

On the other side, the Congress has also not prepared its list of candidates. The party may take a little longer to scrutinise its candidates, said the sources. "They will not release anything before 25 March," the sources added.

The civic elections will witness a total of over 12,000 polling stations in 2,700 buildings with 68 returning officials, 7,500 booth-level officials and 34 expenditure observers to look over the expenditure of around Rs 25 crore that the EC is expected to spend on the poll related arrangements. This is the first time that the elections will be held after trifurcation of the civic body into south, east and north Delhi corporations.

New Delhi, March 19
Investigations into the theft at the office of a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official have revealed that the police is suspecting the involvement of a personal assistant.

The theft of a laptop and pen-drive consisting of sensitive information occurred at the office of Amit Narang, a Deputy Secretary (United Nations Economic and Social) of the MEA. The office is situated at the South Block, which is a high-security zone, where the entry is strictly restricted.

A police officer said, "To enter the MEA office one needs to gain the approval of an official. "

He added that it is clearly impossible to enter the MEA office.

"It appears that an insider, probably a personal assistant might be involved in the theft," said the officer.

According to the police, the theft possibly occurred on March 10 or 11.

"When Amit Narang came to his office, room number 235-I on March 12, he noticed that his laptop and pen-drive were stolen. He did not come to his office on the weekend and left for his residence on Friday. There are other expensive items such as computers in his office, which were surprisingly not stolen. But, since there is a tracking system in the laptop, the thief will be easily traced," said the officer.

A case under IPC Section 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) was registered at the Parliament Street police station on March 16.

New Delhi, March 19
The Christian community that has good educational institutes in Delhi and also dominated in the field of education now feels that it has been put aside politically in the Capital.

Not a single Christian has been given ticket to contest election after Independence, said a group of Christians at a community meeting.

At the meeting, they decided to approach Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Jaiprakash Agarwal and a few MPs with a request to give ticket to a few Christian candidates so that they can raise the community issues in the corporation.

They said that Muslims, Sikhs and Jains had their representatives in corporation and assembly. Though Christians had a good number of voters in a few wards, they had been ignored.

They decided to approach Congress leaders for two tickets - Nisha Samuel from Majnu Ka Tilla in North Delhi and Rajeev Joseph from Sriniwaspuri. Both have been active in politics for the last many years. Nisha is a member of the Public Grievances Commission and secretary in the DPCC while Joseph is president of the Congress South Indian Cell. He has toured the country on a cycle a few years ago.

As far as Nisha is concerned, she has been active in the local politics for the past 15 years and has worked with many senior leaders. She is a teacher.

According to sources, both the candidates approached the Delhi Minorities Commission member, AC Michael to put their case before the party. There is a rumour in the political circle that money matters for contesting the lection, but these candidates have a good image in their respective areas. If given ticket, they will win the election.

New Delhi, March 19
Decrying violation of labour rights by NGOs, representatives of Blind Workers' Union (BWU), a unit of All India Federation of Blind Workers, today demanded punitive action against the erring employers along with creating alternative job opportunities for the section, which constitutes one per cent of the country's population.

According to them, while the promise of creating one lakh jobs for the disabled in the public sector under the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities 2006 is still a distant dream, finding way to the private concerns is an uphill task.

This leaves people with disabilities (PWD) with no choice than relying on the "social service" organisations thus making them vulnerable to the whims of these NGOs, maintains the section.

In this regard, a group of visually impaired and people with low vision under BWU today gave an ultimatum to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for addressing their concerns, failing which they would go for a "blockade of rail" in many places, including the national Capital, said Alok Kumar of BWU.

"Since November, we have raised the issue of violation of basic labour rights of the blind workers, relating to minimum wages, overtime payment, bonus and PF and have also made several representations to the social ministry along with going on hunger strikes. But the ministry has failed to intervene and safeguard our rights. So now we have set a deadline and if the government doesn't take action, we will go on "rail roko" in many places," said Kumar.

Importantly, the protest was triggered off after the National Federation of the Blind introduced the new wage pattern for all its employees based on production instead of the previously followed fixed wage structure through an order of November 9.

In Delhi where the minimum wage for last fiscal year was Rs 6,440, nearly 150 blind workers have demanded minimum wages and parity with the sighted employees at workplaces.

"We had always been deprived of minimum wages and with the target-oriented wage structure, our wages were further cut down. The central government should stop funding NGOs which fail to comply with the country's statutory labour laws and take over the production units run by organisations such as NFB," said representatives of BWU.

New Delhi, March 19
A 40-year-old Delhi police head constable was seriously injured after he was attacked by hooligans at Madangir, when he tried to stop them from creating a ruckus while celebrating India's win in the cricket match with Pakistan last night.

Head constable Brahmanand Sharma and other policemen tried to prevent the unruly youths from becoming a nuisance. The youths became angry and started pelting the policemen with stones. The incident occurred at 10 pm.

Sharma sustained severe head injuries when he was hit in the head by a brick. He was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Sharma is posted at the Ambedkar Nagar police station in southeast Delhi. A case under the appropriate sections of the law has been registered.

The police has arretsed one of the hooligans, Venkatesh Sharma's son Sonu said, "We were informed about the incident from the hospital. When we reached there, my father's colleagues told us that he and other policemen asked some youths to stop creating a nuisance. The youths became infuriated and started throwing stones at them."