THE HEADLINES
- BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejects opinion polls predicting majority for AAP; reiterates Center's commitment to the development of North-East people.
- Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi says, he asked the former UPA Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to protect environment and tribals.
- Election Commission assures Aam Aadmi Party there is nopossibility of tampering of Electronic Voting Machines.
- Campaigning for Delhi Assembly elections comes to an end tomorrow.
- Former Police Chief of Gujarat P.C.Pande discharged in Tulsi Ram Prajapati fake encounter case.
- Sensex declines 117 points to close at 28,883 points.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today rejected opinion polls which are giving an edge to Aam Aadmi Party over BJP in Delhi assembly elections. He asked people not to get swayed by surveys terming them as lies and claimed that BJP will get full majority. Addressing a rally in South Delhi, Mr Modi in an apparent reference to AAP, said in the last assembly elections, the party had claimed that it will get 50 seats but could not become even the largest party. The Prime Minister said, during the Lok Sabha polls the survey had predicted that he is losing in Varanasi but he won.
The Prime Minister said that his government has taken concrete steps to curb corruption. Talking about various welfare schemes undertaken by the Centre to help the poor, he said his politics is all about development. In a veiled attack on Aam Aadmi Party in connection with dubious funding, Mr. Modi said, such people should not be given space in public life.
Referring to the error in BJP's vision document where it had mentioned the people of North Eastern region as immigrants, Mr. Modi said, the mistake has been rectified. He reiterated Centre's commitment for the development of the region.
Mr. Modi urged people to vote for a stable government in Delhi.
Meanwhile, in Assam, several political and civil society organizations have protested against the BJP for terming the people of North East as immigrants in its vision document that was released yesterday in Delhi. Congress, Asom Gana Parishad, All Assam Students Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti have participated in the protest. More from our Correspondent:
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Assam has witnessed massive outrage over the use of immigrant word for the people of North East. Assam Congress Leader Mehedi Alom Bora claimed that following the public pressure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed regret. The party has demanded action against those who hurt the sentiment of North East. Spokesman of Asom Gana Parishad Manoj Saikia said, the party will continue their agitation on the alleged betrayal of the Centre. Meanwhile, State BJP leader Shantanu Bharali said, political parties are trying to create an issue on it. Manas Pratim Sarma, AIR News, Guwahati.
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Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today said, he had asked former UPA Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to save the environment and tribals. His statement came following allegations by Ms Natarajan that Rahul Gandhi had interfered during her tenure in the Environment Ministry. Addressing a rally in Delhi today, Mr Gandhi said, he had only asked Ms Natarajan to look after the welfare of the poor, tribals and environment. He further said, he has always fought for the underprivileged and will continue to do so fearlessly.
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The Delhi High Court today refused to strike off Aam Admi Party, AAP Chief Arvind Kerjiwal's name from the electoral rolls after the Election Commission of India, ECI said, his name has been correctly enrolled in the voters' list for Saturday's Delhi assembly polls. Justice Vibhu Bakhru said, the election process has begun, so there is no point in interfering with it. The Court further said that the objection raised by the Congress leader Kiran Walia and NGO Maulik Bharat Trust with regard to inclusion of AAP leader's name, is pending before the Electoral Registration Officer and shall be considered after the election.
The court order came after ECI informed that Kejriwal's name was correctly enrolled in the voters' list of Delhi and was also verified by the poll panel officials who had submitted that he was presently residing at B K Dutt colony in South Delhi.
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Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal met the Chief Election Commissioner and conveyed apprehension about tampering of the Electronic Voting Machines, EVMs. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Kejriwal said, the poll panel dismissed his party's apprehension about the EVMs. The AAP Convenor said, the Commission has assured that if any physical damage or technical snag is found in the machines it will be rectified.
Election Commission has said, that Electronic Voting Machines can not be tampered. There can be few technical objections in the machine and it can happen anywhere. Physical damage is evident in few machines, and those machines are being changed. And, no one should have any question or doubt about the elections.
The BJP and Congress have criticised Mr Kejriwal for knocking the doors of Election Commission over the issue.
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With campaigning for the Delhi polls coming to an end tomorrow, BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are making all out efforts to convince people to vote for their candidates by making promises. Discussions about the main contenders are visible on the social media platforms. Our Correspondent reports that top leaders remained engaged in addressing election rallies.
Promising job opportunities to youth, BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, his government is working towards this end. In a rally at Ambedkar Nagar, he also made an indirect attack on AAP in connection with alleged dubious funding.
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Rejecting BJP's allegation of receiving dubious funds, AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal dared the Government to arrest him if he has violated any law.
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Targetting the Narendra Modi Government, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi asked whether the lives of common people have improved in the past seven months. He also goaded AAP for not holding any protest against corruption since the new government came to power.
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As big promises are being made by the leaders, now it is upto the voters to take a call for choosing a better candidate. With Anand Kumar, Shiela AIR News, Delhi.
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The Election Commission has banned dissemination of exit polls of any kind from tomorrow morning till Saturday evening, the date of polling for assembly elections in Delhi. Besides, the Commission also prohibited displaying of any election matter including results of opinion poll or any other poll survey in any electronic media during the period of 48 hours, including the hour fixed for conclusion of poll. The Commission has also asked the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to ensure that electors do not carry the camera and mobile phone within a distance of 200 meters of the polling station.
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A CBI court in Mumbai today discharged Gujarat's former police chief P. C. Pande in the fake encounter killing case of Tulsiram Prajapati, an aide of slain gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Special CBI court judge M B Gosavi said that for want of sanction from the state government for his prosecution, the charges against the accused are dropped. The court had last month discharged BJP President Amit Shah in the Sohrabhddin Sheikh and Prajapati cases after holding there existed no case against him and that he had been implicated for political reasons.
Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. Tulsiram, an aide of the gangster and an eyewitness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police in Banaskantha district in Gujarat in December 2006. The Sohrabuddin killing case was transferred to Mumbai in September 2012 at CBI's request for fair trial. In 2013, the Supreme Court had clubbed Prajapati's encounter killing case with that of Sohrabuddin.
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In Assam, security forces have arrested five terrorists of ULFA and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) from different areas today. Official sources said that police arrested two ULFA militants from Chandmari area in Guwahati.
In another incident, a joint team of the army and police have apprehended three terrorists of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) in Chirang district. Arms and ammunitions have been recovered from the militants.
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The National Investigation Agency or NIA has arrested a close aide of suspected Burdwan blast mastermind Sheikh Rehmatullah alias Sajjid for allegedly running a recruitment camp for Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, JMB terror outfit from a madrassa in Murshidabad in West Bengal. The number of arrests in the case has gone up to 17. PTI reports, the person is identified as Mufazzil Haque and was arrested from Mokimnagar area of the district bordering Bangladesh last night.The blast in Burdwan took place inside a house on 2nd October last year, leaving two persons dead.
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In Kolkata, the Alipur court today released Trinamool Congress MP, Srinjoy Bose on conditional bail in Saradha chit fund scam. The court released him as the CBI failed to frame chargesheet against him within the stipulated period. Mr. Bose was arrested by the CBI on Saradha Realty case on the 28th of November last year.
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Falling for the fourth straight session, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange declined 117 points or 0.4 per cent to close below the 29,000 mark at 28,883. The Sensex has now lost almost 800 points in four days. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange dropped 33 points to 8,724. The rupee weakened 8 paise to 61.75 against the dollar. Gold declined 180 rupees to 28,090 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver fell 50 rupees to 38,400 rupees per kilo. And global oil prices fell, after surging about 19 per cent in the past four days. Brent crude oil futures dropped towards 57 dollars a barrel while U.S. crude slipped towards 52 dollars a barrel. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News.
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The Uttar Pradesh government today decided to raise the superannuation age of the faculty in government medical colleges to 65 years from the existing 60 years. A decision about it was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The cabinet has also decided to relax the maximum age limit for recruitment of medical teachers in view of adverse effect on medical education due to constant decline in the teaching staff, an official communique said.
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News just in, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami has reportedly been sacked. Earlier, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had summoned Mr. Goswami in connection with reports that a top Ministry official had allegedly made attempts to stall arrest of Congress leader Matang Sinh by CBI in connection with the Saradha scam. This meeting was immediately followed by Mr. Singh calling CBI Director Anil Sinha, who apparently briefed the Minister about the sequence of events that unfolded ahead of Sinh's arrest.
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In the 35th National games being held in Kerala, on the fourth day today, Haryana top the medals tally with 21 gold medals,8 silver medals and four bronze medals. Services are a close second with 21 gold medals five silver medals and nine bronze medals. Maharashtra,with 11 gold medals,18 silver medals and 14 bronze medals are in the third position. Hosts Kerala are in the fourth spot with seven gold medals, seven silver medals and nine bronze medals.
Sajan Prakash struck the gold for Kerala, winning the 200 metres butterfly stroke,setting a national record.This is Sajan's fourth individual gold medal in the games.
Richa Mishra of Madhya Pradesh won the gold in the women's 200 metre butterfly stroke with a meet record.
In 70 kilogram free-style wrestling, Haryana's Amit Damkar won the gold medal.
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