New Delhi, May 2
The BJP has finally bagged all three Mayor seats in Delhi. The party today succeeded in getting its candidate Savita Gupta, the councillor from Amar Colony, elected the Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Gupta got 66 votes and defeated Congress candidate Phool Kali by 20 votes. While Gupta got 66 votes Kali could manage only 46. Bir Singh, the BSP councillor from Madanpur Khadar, was elected unopposed the deputy Mayor.

Six councillors, four from BJP and two from Congress, were elected unanimously the standing committee members. The elected BJP councillors are Rajesh Gehlot, Anil Sharma, Simmi Jain and M Nagrajan. Rajesh Gehlot has been appointed the chairman of the standing committee while Subhash Arya will be the Leader of the House.

The election was keenly watched as none of the parties in the 104-member House had majority. The BJP has 44 members while the Congress has 29, NCP has 6, BSP 5, INLD 3, SP 1, RLD 1, JD (U) 1 and there are 14 Independent candidates.

Falling 24 seats short of the majority mark of 53, the Congress tried its best to capture the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. In fact, the party had earlier fielded its candidate for the post of Mayor. But with defeat being almost certain, it changed its decision and supported the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Phool Kali.

The INLD had fielded Seema Pandit and Krishan Pehelwan as candidates for the posts of Mayor and deputy Mayor, but they withdrew from the race after the BJP managed to woo them.

Reacting to all the three Mayors being from his party, BJP Delhi president Vijendra Gupta said it would help in the all-round development of Delhi.

He said the party fully respected the way in which the people of Delhi had reposed their faith in it.

"The party will make best efforts to provide all the facilities to the people of Delhi through the three corporations. People will not have to run from pillar to post for their works," said Gupta. 

New Delhi, May 2
With the three major power distribution companies (discoms) already filed their tariff petition before the Delhi Electricity Regularity Commission (DERC), the commission which has started the process of tariff fixation for the current year, is expected to announce the new rates within a month.

Observing that the cost of purchasing power has gone up significantly in the last few years, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited have demanded substantial hike in electricity rates citing severe financial losses.

However, several Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) boycotted the public hearing called by the commission for revision of power tariff, alleging that even though the DERC has failed to address the public grievances, it is discussing the tariff hike.

The RWAs protested against the DERC, saying that their demands are yet to be addressed by the commission and instead it has gone ahead with the process of revision of tariff.

"We asked the regulator to withdraw the concessions that are being given to different categories of consumers, including farmhouses, public schools, government and corporate hospitals, Delhi airport, Metro, the railways, chartered accountants and lawyers," said Anil Bajpai, president, Delhi Residents' Forum and RWA Federation, Delhi East. More than 20 categories of consumers are enjoying concessions without providing any benefit to the public, he said.

On the other side, the state government has denied any involvement in the finalization process of power tariff for the year 2012-13, saying it was an issue between regulator DERC and power distribution companies.

"The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission will decide the tariff. It is an issue between the regulator and the power discoms," said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The DERC will make a decision on the issue, she said.

Following sustained demands by the power distribution companies, the power regulator had hiked the tariff by nearly 22 per cent for almost all the categories of consumers in September last year. In February this year, the DERC has increased the tariff by five per cent to adjust the power purchase cost of the discoms.

New Delhi, May 2
In a major move for the benefit of thousands of engineering aspirants, IITs have decided to post answer keys of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) 2012 as well as the answer copies of the students on their websites.

IIT Delhi director R K Shevgaonkar today said, "While the answer keys of the exam will be displayed on May 3, the evaluated optical response sheets (ORS) of all the candidates will be displayed from May 5 to 10 on all the JEE websites."

"The aim is to provide students a window to lodge complaints, if any, before the results are announced. If the students have any doubt, they can log on to the website and complain. There would be a group of faculty from all the IITs who will see if the complaints are genuine and if there is an error, it will be corrected. The actual result will be displayed on May 18. Before that the evaluated ORS will be available on the website from May 5 to 10. Students can log on to the website and see their ORS," he said at a media interaction today.

This year over 4.79 lakh students sat for the examination, billed one of the toughest competitive tests. The move comes even as the government is preparing the ground for holding a single common entrance test for admission to undergraduate programmes in IITs and other technical and science institutes from next year.

New Delhi, May 2
One day before the Delhi Metro's foundation day, DMRC chief Mangu Singh said that the Reliance Infra-operated Airport Express should perform better. There are shortcomings with the functioning of the line, he said.

However, even with all the problems, Delhi Metro might end up awarding the contract to extend the line to Reliance Infrastructure. The Airport Metro Express would be extended till Gurgaon that would provide high-speed direct connectivity between Delhi and its satellite city.

"Here is a situation where the same line has to be extended to Gurgaon. You cannot construct another line to Gurgaon. So, here is a case where you don't have options," Singh said.

At a media interaction today, Mangu Singh said that even as DMRC has no intensions of a takeover as of now, the "commercial manner" in which the corridor is running isn't the best way.

Singh said the operator has reduced the speed of the trains on the line from the existing 105 kmph to 80 kmph due to some technical problems in the track structure.

Singh's predecessor Sreedharan had also warned the Airport Metro last year that Delhi Metro would take over it if it did not improve the functioning.

Singh also dismissed suggestions that Delhi Metro was "soft" on Airport Express operator and said a huge amount of money has been levied as penalty on them.

New Delhi, May 2
The Delhi police has arrested the father-in-law of a 24-year-old woman who was found dead at her house two days ago.

The accused father-in-law, Arshad Ali (53), was arrested yesterday. He had been absconding ever since the body of the victim, Sabina, was found.

The police has claimed to have recovered the weapon of offence and a blood-stained mobile phone.

Acting on a tip-off that Ali would go to Jamunwala Park in the Hauz Rani area to meet his sister, a police team nabbed him there.

According to the police, Ali has confessed to have murdered Sabina. He has disclosed that he was infatuated with Sabina. In the past, he had tried to coarse Sabina into having physical relationship with him, but the matter was sorted out with the intervention of family members. Though Sabina did not lodge any complaint against Ali then, the incident had left him embarrassed and he had been looking for an appropriate time to seek revenge from her.

On the evening of April 29, Ali once again tried to get physical with Sabina. He had gone to her room and found that she was alone with her daughter who was sleeping. He tried to convince her into getting physical with him, but Sabina refused and slapped him. On this, Ali got furious and allegedly stabbed Sabina repeatedly with a chopper. He then escaped from the spot. He threw the blood-stained knife and his shirt in the hilly area near M-Block, Sangam Vihar.

Sabina is survived by her husband Sabir and a two-year-old daughter. Sabina, Sabir and their daughter lived as tenants on the first floor of a house at Sangam Vihar. Ali lived on the second floor of the same building.

New Delhi, May 2
Depressed over several financial disputes with four other businessmen and subsequent court cases, a businessman attempted suicide at New Delhi's Taj Hotel on Mansingh Road, police officials said today.

Debt-ridden Ravinder Singh Bawa is 48 years old and deals in property. He is a resident of Karol Bagh. Bawa's wife told the police that he had borrowed money from several people and there were court cases in this regard which made him depressed.

"He checked into Room No 708 of the Taj Hotel on Mansingh Road near India Gate on April 30, where he allegedly consumed alcohol laced with poison. We came to know about the incident when a doctor at Jeevan Nursing Home in Karol Bagh informed that Bawa was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state after consuming poison," a senior police official said.

"The family was searching for Bawa throughout the day after his mobile phone was found switched off. Later, they located his Mercedes car outside the hotel.

After the family approached them, the hotel staff knocked at his door several times. When there was no response, they opened his room with a spare key and found him lying in an unconscious state," he added.

According to the doctor, he was brought into the hospital by his family in an unconscious state with froth coming out of his mouth. The hotel staff had informed the family about the incident.

The police found two empty alcohol bottles, a broken glass and a bottle of water after searching his hotel room. A case of attempt to suicide has been registered against him.

New Delhi, May 2
A 50-year-old man today succumbed to the injuries he suffered after his cycle was hit by a speeding car in the Delhi Cantonment area of south-west Delhi yesterday. His relatives allege that he died due to negligence on the part of Safdarjung Hospital.

The victim, Khushi Ram, was a resident of Kailashpuri in Palam Colony and worked with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) as a labourer. He was hit by a Maruti Alto car, driven by one Omwati Grewal, near the Dhaula Kuan bus stand around 5.45 pm, said a police official today.

"After receiving information about the accident, a team from the Subroto Park police post rushed to the spot and took the victim to hospital. He, however, passed away around 4 pm today," the official added.

Ram's relatives, meanwhile, allege that he was shifted from the emergency ward to general ward after a few hours and was not provided proper treatment.

A case under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 337 (causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code was initially registered against Grewal.

"However, after Khushi's death, the charge may be converted to causing death by negligence," the official added.

In a separate incident, a 59-year-old Delhi police sub-inspector assigned to VIP escort duty was injured when a speeding car hit him at Tuglak Road.

Ramesh Chand, a resident of Police Colony in Andrews Ganj, was in front of the All-India Police Sports Control Board office at Akbar Road when the accident took place around 1 pm on Tuesday.

"Ramesh's escort vehicle was parked in front of the office and he was standing on the footpath when a Hyundai Accent car coming from Mansingh Road hit him. After being hit, Ramesh flew up in the air and came down on the car's windshield," another police official said.

His colleagues rushed to help him and took him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

"The 59-year-old suffered minor bruises on his hands and legs and was discharged from hospital after treatment," the official added.

The errant car driver has been identified as Vijay Kumar, a resident of Animal Quarantine and Certification Services (AQCS) Campus, Ministry of Agriculture, in Kapashera. He has been arrested and booked for rash driving and causing hurt.