New Delhi, March 24
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, political parties are going all out to woo over eight lakh new voters that have been added to the voters' list since the Delhi Assembly polls in December 2013.

Senior officials of Delhi Chief Electoral Office (CEO) today said that the total voters in the city have been registered at 1.27 crore after the final roll scrutinized today.

The total registered voters during 2013 Assembly elections were 1.19 crore of which 78.80 lakh people cast their vote taking the voter turnout to 66 per cent, which was the highest in the national Capital. The figure escalated after the CEO carried out a summary revision in January this year.

The North West constituency has the highest number of registered voters, 21.93 lakh followed by West Delhi which has 20.38 lakh voters. North East stands at third number with 19.57 voters, East Delhi 18.29, South Delhi 17.52 lakh and North Delhi 14.89 lakh voters. Chandni Chowk has the lowest population of registered voters which is 14.47 lakh.

The male-female ratio has also shown improvement in the past one year as it has reached 804 from 788 per 1,000 in the past one year. North East Delhi has the minimum ratio at 708 females per 1,000 males while East has the best ratio at 843 to 1,000.

The Election Commission has decided to use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT) system in the elections, which gives a printout at the end of the voting stating the details of the votes cast by a person.

On the instruction of Election Commission of India, all critical events are being video-graphed. The events for videography will include filing of nominations, scrutiny, thereof and allotment of symbols, preparation and storage of Electronic Voter Machines, important public meetings, process of dispatching postal ballot papers, polling process in identified vulnerable polling stations, counting of votes, etc.

Digital cameras will also be deployed inside polling stations, wherever needed and inside all the counting centres.

Expenditure observers from the Central government services have been appointed to keep a close watch on election expenditure of the candidates and to ensure that no inducement is offered to the electors.

New Delhi, March 24
Taking on both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, BJP candidate from Delhi's only reserved Lok Sabha constituency North West, Dr Udit Raj today said the AAP and Congress are the two sides of the same coin who work to "resist the development move of BJP".

In the course of his public interactions in Narela, he pointed out that AAP and its founder Arvind Kejriwal are on a common agenda and that is to resist the development move in the country.

"The Congress has understood that there is a strong sentiment against it due to its poor governance, mounting corruption and rising inflation. People are now constantly following the development agenda of BJP and idea of good governance by Narendra Modi," he said.

During the day, he visited various places in his constituency like Mangolpuri, Peeragarh and Sultanpuri apart from Narela and interacted with people while pointing out the failures of AAP.

He told people during his public meetings that AAP tries to pretend as the most honest and responsible party while its former minister Rakhi Birla openly demands money. Kejriwal and the AAP told 49 lies during their 49 days in power. There was nothing during their rule that proved them to be honest and competent. 

New Delhi, March 24
The Delhi Congress today announced a rally by party chief Sonia Gandhi at Ajmal Khan Park on March 30 in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency.

It was announced by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Arvinder Singh Lovely, after Delhi Balmiki Samaj leaders and Safai Karamcharis and former MLA Charan Singh Kandera, rejoined the Congress.

He said the party has completed the first phase of its election campaign in all the seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. The second phase will start with rallies and meetings. "BJP candidates in Delhi are in trouble and the public support for the Aam Aadmi Party has completely vanished," he said.

Municipal councillor from the Kotla ward in Kasturba Nagar, Kusum Lata and the former president of Alipur Block Congress Committee, Virender Chauhan, also joined the Congress.

New Delhi, March 24
As the election date is approaching, candidates have started levelling allegations and counter-allegations. The BJP candidate from Chandni Chowk, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the sitting MP Kapil Sibal remembers Chandni Chowk only during the elections. Once they are over, he does not visit the place.

Vardhan was on a door-to-door visit to the Sadar Bazar area where people complained against Union Minister Kapil Sibal who had been representing the constituency for the last two terms, but did not frame any development scheme for the area, the locals told Vardhan.

Responding to their complaints, Vardhan said the traders have seen through his false promises and would ensure his defeat in the elections.

He also attacked the AAP, saying that the people of the area should not take the party seriously. This party's secret agenda is to "split the country". They believe in anarchy and lawlessness.

The sitting MP Kapil Sibal too did not spare anyone and attacked both the BJP and AAP.

He said that the Congress' base is strengthening in the constituency. A large number of people from AAP and others joined the Congress. People are fed up with the one-man show in AAP.

As far as the BJP is concerned, there is an intense fighting over the ticket distribution in the party. When its prime ministerial candidate cannot control a party, how he will control the government, Sibal said.

New Delhi, March 24
With a little over a fortnight left for the Lok Sabha elections, it is not only the Aam Aadmi Party whose candidates in the national Capital are going overdrive to draft their local manifestoes, the South Delhi Lok Sabha nominee Ramesh Bidhuri of the Bharatiya Janata Party has also come up with a constituency-specific manifesto.

With an aim to connect to the residents of mostly villages, Bijwasan, Palam and Mehrauli and slums like Sangam Vihar, Badarpur and Tughlakabad, from where he won assembly seat, Biduri has kept the character of the 10-point manifesto localised as he says, "Development can be deemed successful only if the foundation is strongly laid at the bottom."

The manifesto doles out promises such as constructing new colleges and hospitals, construction of play grounds and sports complex, getting water from the adjacent state Haryana to rehabilitation of slums, legalising unauthorised colonies and removal of colonies in the Ridge areas, extension of Lal Dora of villages.

Assuring voters of his areas of basic amenities, Bidhuri intends to provide BPL ration cards to all the poor and JJ residents of the constituency, eradication of corruption from the system, apart from removal of Sections 33 and 81 and implementation of DLR Act of 1954.

"People here are deprived of basic necessities and I will ensure to get which is ours from Haryana and starting the underground reservoir," he said taking pot shots at the existing Congress administration.

His reference was to his Congress opponent and sitting MP Ramesh Kumar, who among all the seven MPS has been dubbed as the worst-performing when it comes to the utilisation of MPLAD funds. Of the total fund Rs 10.32 crore to him by the Union government he managed to spend nearly Rs 3.71 crore.

"Concerns at the ground have been neglected and my aim is to provide people of my area basic infrastructure and other facilities. The promises are local because this is the starting point for a greater national vision. With much to be done at local level it would be irrational to only look at the bigger picture," he elaborated on his vision for South Delhi.

New Delhi, March 24
Students from AIIMS, Dyal Singh College and NDMC schools formed a human chain and participated in a rally to express solidarity with TB patients in order to raise public awareness about the debilitating disease in association with Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD India), a leading medical technology company on the occasion of World TB Day.

The rally was flagged off by the director of AIIMS, Dr M.C. Misra, and witnessed teachers and students from DU and NDMC schools holding banners in their hands informing locals about the seriousness of TB and its preventive methods. Secretary, Government of India and DG of Indian Council of Medical Research Dr. V.M. Katoch gave away prizes to children who topped in various competitions held during the day.

Participants raised slogans urging people not to spit around and seek diagnosis if cough persists for more than two weeks.

Prof Sarman Singh, faculty in charge, microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, AIIMS said, "Tuberculosis has inflicted much misery in terms of suffering in the past, but wherever we have taken strong measures, the number of people falling ill has declined remarkably. The Government of India should generate its own data reading efficacy of various diagnostic tests, as some of the recently introduced molecular methods have shown poor performance in detecting the drug resistance."

India ranks number one in the world and constitutes one-fifth of the global TB burden. Every year, in India close to two million people develop the disease with nearly 40 per cent of them being infectious. As per the WHO, India contributes nearly 50 per cent to the global burden of Multiple Drug Resistant TB.

HIV patients at high risk, say experts

With 25 per cent of AIDS deaths in India being related to TB, experts here stressed the need for early TB diagnosis for an effective AIDS response on World TB Day. TB is a major concern for people living with HIV (PLHIV) as their impaired immune systems make them particularly vulnerable to the disease.

Despite the risk associated, people affected with HIV do not report to clinics for testing due to the double stigma, said representatives from the section. "It remains difficult to persuade such people to undergo testing for TB and HIV to learn their TB status," they said.

These people are among the most vulnerable to falling ill with TB. We need to do more to diagnose the HIV-infected people with TB and reach out to them for treatment," said Manoj Pardesi, general secretary of the National Coalition of PLHIV in India.

Mona Balani, a woman living with HIV, said, "In some cases, detection of TB happens too late. Many HIV patients get treatment at a terminally ill stage."

The total number of PLHIV in India is currently estimated at 21 lakh, which is third highest in the world (Source: Annual Report 2012-13, Department of AIDS Control). India is also has the highest TB burden in the world with an estimated 2.2 million new TB cases occurring annually. TB is the most common opportunistic infection among PLHIV in India.

HIV and TB co-infection can be fatal. Of more than 1,00,000 presumptive TB cases identified among PLHIV at Antiretroviral Treatment Centres, more than 20 per cent were found to have TB , going by the TB India 2011-Annual Status Report.

New Delhi, March 24
A 33-year-old woman, her paramour and his friend have been arrested for allegedly killing her 40-year-old husband by beheading him and then throwing his head under a water pipeline and body in a bush in northeast Delhi on the day of Holi.

The woman's paramour identified by the police as Tinku Singh (30) was arrested on Sunday. The woman, Sashi Bala, and Tinku's friend, Sandeep (23), were arrested this morning.

They have been arrested for murdering Sashi's husband, Inderpal Singh.

A police officer, privy to the case's investigation, said that at about 3 pm on March 17, the day Holi was celebrated, Inderpal and Sashi were having an argument. The accused told the police that Inderpal was drunk and was abusing Sashi. "The couple didn't get along well," said the officer.

Tinku who resides nearby in Gautam Vihar was watching them argue.

"As he intervened and an argument ensued between him and Inderpal. He pushed Inderpal, who fell to the ground and became unconscious," said the officer.

According to the officer, Sashi asked Tinku to "take care of Inderpal". She then left with her children to her sister's home. Later, Tinku allegedly called his friend, Sandeep, to Inderpal's residence at about 7 pm. "The two men used a butcher's knife to cut his head off. They placed the head in a polythene bag and kept the body in a sack. They then threw the head at a nullah that was created under a water pipeline and threw the body in a bush. These places were located near Inderpal's residence," explained the officer.

The officer said Tinku and Inderpal had worked as masons across Delhi for a couple of years. Later, Inderpal started working as a rickshaw-puller. He and his wife had been staying at their Gautam Vihar residence for the past two years.

"About eight months ago, Tinku started staying with them. And since then, he and Sashi had been carrying an affair," said the officer.