THE HEADLINES:-
- Counting of votes begins for Delhi Assembly Elections.
- Political crisis in Bihar continues; Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi calls a Cabinet meeting; Nitish Kumar seeks time from President to parade his 130 MLAs.
- Finance Minister says, government is probing additional names revealed in HSBC's list in connection with stashing black money abroad.
- And in Sports,Archer Deepika Kumari steers Jhakhand to Golds in recurve team events at Kerala National Games; Services continue to top the medals tally.
- India take on Afghanistan in their final warm-up of Cricket World Cup in a short while from now.
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Counting of votes has begun for the Delhi Assembly elections. It is being carried out at 14 centres across the city amidst tight security. The counting started at 8 AM and all results are expected to be out by afternoon. The entire counting process is being video graphed.
The Election Commission is displaying the trends and results on its website
Results and trends are also available on our website
Delhi had witnessed a record 67.14 per cent voter turnout in the polling which was held on Saturday.
Most of the exit polls have predicted a majority for the Aam Aadmi Party. The BJP has rejected the exit polls and exuded the confidence of wresting power in Delhi after a gap of 16 years.
Most of the exit polls have predicted a majority for the Aam Aadmi Party. The BJP has rejected the exit polls and exuded the confidence of wresting power in Delhi after a gap of 16 years.
A total of 673 candidates including 63 women were in the fray for 70-member Delhi assembly.
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Bihar JD(U) Legislature Party leader Nitish Kumar has sought time from President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow to parade all 130 MLAs supporting him. Party General Secretary KC Tyagi said, all 130 MLAs belonging to the JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPI and Independent will accompany Nitish Kumar to Rashtrapati Bhawan to be present before the President to press for an opportunity to form a new government in Bihar.
In another development, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has been declared an unattached member in the State Assembly following his expulsion from the JD(U). The Chief Minister has called a Cabinet meeting in Patna today.
Manjhi met State Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi yesterday and requested the Governor to give him time to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly.
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The Centre will give special attention to the development of the Left Wing Extremism affected states, particularly Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. It may also consider necessary relaxations in the policies and schemes for development of these areas. This was agreed to at a meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh with the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra and senior officials of Telangana and Odisha in New Delhi yesterday.
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The Gujarat government has revoked the suspension of senior IPS officer PP Pandey and has reinstated him as Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order). The development came four days after a CBI court granted him bail in the fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and 3 others.
Pandey was Additional Director General of Police CID (Crime) when he was arrested by the CBI in July 2013 after he surrendered before a court. He was the city's Joint Commissioner of Police when the encounter took place.
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The Bombay High Court has restrained the Maharashtra government and the police from taking any coercive steps, including arrest, against Shirin Dalvi, the Editor of an Urdu daily which published the cover page of French magazine Charlie Hebdo that featured a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. Dalvi was earlier arrested in the case, but is now on bail. The interim order was passed yesterday on a petition by Dalvi, whose Mumbai edition has been shut down. She has sought quashing of the cases against her and clubbing together all cases filed against her. The matter was adjourned till tomorrow after the Public Prosecutor sought time to seek instructions from the government on the relief sought by Dalvi.
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Initial trend available shows that BJP is leading in 3 constituencies while Aam Aadmi Party is leading at 3 seats. Congress is leading in 1 seat.
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The News Services Division of All India Radio will broadcast a live bilingual discussion "Dilli Chunaav Vishleshan" just after this bulletin till 1200 NOONtoday. It can be heard on Rajdhani and FM Gold channels.
All India Radio will also broadcast a special live bilingual phone-in-programme"Verdict of Delhi Election" from 9.30 PM to 10.30 PM. The programme will be available on Indraprastha and FM Gold channels.
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government is probing these additional names revealed in HSBC's list in connection with the stashing of black money abroad. Commenting on a news paper report which published details of the list yesterday, he said some new names have been revealed. He said the veracity of these names is being checked by the Ministry. Mr Jaitley, however, said, most of the names in the list are known to the Government.
Emphasising that the new government has put a vigorous system in place for digging black money in the last six months, the Finance Minister said that sixty prosecutions have been launched on those who have stashed money in foreign banks.
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In Jammu and Kashmir, a youth was killed and another was injured yesterday when police allegedly opened fire on a group of stone throwing protesters at Palhalan in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Sources said, a group of youth took to streets and clashed with police and para-military CRPF forces in the area. Police fired teargas shells and pellets to disperse protesters.
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Initial trend available shows that BJP is leading in 6 constituencies while Aam Aadmi Party is leading at 6 seats. Congress is leading in 2 seat.
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Haryana Police have said that eight of the accused in the brutal rape and murder of a mentally challenged Nepalese woman in Rohtak have been arrested, while the ninth has committed suicide. State DGP Yashpal Singhal said that the 8 were arrested from Gaddikhera village, 9 kms from Rohtak, while the ninth committed suicide at Bavana in Delhi. Singhal said, the accused are in their twenties and appear to be criminals. He said they have confessed to the crime. The Haryana government has decided to give financial assistance of 5 lakh rupees to the family of the victim.
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A 20-year old Japanese tourist has filed a police complaint that she was drugged and raped on the outskirts of Jaipur on Sunday night. The accused in his early 20s also robbed her of her phone and cash. The woman, who arrived in Jaipur on Sunday afternoon, had gone out for a stroll near the Jal Mahal. She was approached by the accused who introduced himself as a tourist guide. Police said, they will release a sketch of the accused and all CCTV cameras along the route are being scanned.
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Archer Deepika Kumari steered Jharkhand to Gold medals in the Recurve Women's and Mixed team events at the 35th National Games in Kerala yesterday. The former Commonwealth and Asian Games medalist, however, surprisingly missed out on an individual podium finish.
The Athletics events started yesterday. In a shocker, star long jumper Ranjit Maheshwari of Kerala could not make it to the finals due to a faulty start.
Services is way ahead at the top of the medals tally with 51 Gold, 16 Silver and 17 Bronze. Maharashtra is second, with Haryana at third position.
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India will take on Afghanistan today in their second and final warm-up game of the ICC Cricket World Cup. The match, which will kick-off at 9 AM Indian Time, will be played at the Adelaide Oval.
India had lost its opening warm-up game against Australia by a 106 runs on Sunday.
The World Cup will begin on Saturday, with a Pool-A match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Australia will play England in the other fixture of the day.
Team India, which is in Pool-B, will play Pakistan in their opening group match on Sunday at the Adelaide Oval.
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Initial trends in the Delhi Assembly polls show that there is neck and neck fight between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. BJP is leading in 6 and AAP is also leading in 8 other constituencies and Congress in two. Others are leading in one.
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NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
- We begin the day's Press Review with a front-page headline from The Asian Age - "Delhi to get new Chief Minister today, " The Times of India adds that with counting of votes commencing at 8 am, The "Capital Verdict may be out by 1:30 pm".
- The Bihar tug of war between Nitish Kumar and Manjhi continues to occupy top slot in the Press. "All eyes on Government," headlines The Hindu. The Statesman writes " In the prevailing fight for chief ministership, both Nitish and Manjhi claim majority.
- The Hindu writes, that with the number of indians in the HSBC Swiss account list turning out to be double, Justice M.B. Shah, chairperson of the Supreme Court- appointed Special Investigation Team ( SIT) on black money, said instructions had been given to the Government to identify the illegal accounts.
- "India is the world's fastest-growing economy at 7.5% in Oct-Dec, overtaking China's 7.3%, according to a new formula that covers a raft of economic activities, writes Hindustan Times.. The Asian Age, however, writes that the new methodology leads to confusion".
- "India is a secular country, but I don't know how long it will remain so", said Justice Vikramajit Sen of the Supreme Court, on Monday, writes The Times of India. During a hearing on PIL seeking recognision for Christian Courts set up under its personal law, he said, the law shouldn't have to recognise dictates of personal law in Civil and family matters, as every religion may say the law should incorporate their personal law. "We have to stamp religion out of civil matters", he said.
- "Shashi Tharoor says Afzal guru hanging was badly handled", headlines TheIndian Express. He said 'the family should have been warned, given a last meeting and the body returned'. The Congress quickly distanced itself from his observation, which came after 5 J & K Congress MLAs had said it was a mistake not to let Afzal's family meet him.
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