THE HEADLINES
- A record 67 per cent voter turn out for 70 seat Delhi Assembly elections; Exit polls forecast possible win for Aam Admi Party.
- Political crisis in Bihar deepens with State Cabinet authorising Chief Minister Jitan Manjhi to recommend assembly dissolution; Janata Dal (United) legislature party also decide to remove Chief Minister from the post of leader of legislature party.
- In Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Sabha elections, PDP wins two seats, BJP and Congress one each.
- Series of bombings in Baghdad kill more than three dozen people in Iraq.
- In the National Games: Ace pistol shooter Vijay Kumar wins a golden double for the second time with the haul of five gold and one bronze.
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A record voter turnout of over 67 percent was registered in assembly elections in Delhi today. The voting was by an large peaceful. Briefing reporters, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bushan Kumar said that this election has been unprecedented in terms of voter turn out as around 11 lakh new voters cast their votes.
"It has never been in the history of election in Delhi, the poll percentage will go little bit further addition or little bit adjustment . This has crossed 67.08 percent . This is only in 2013 we had polling of 65.6 percent, during poll day and in that sense in only in 14 months it has this kind of jump with greater participation of electroll".
He said North East district witnessed highest voting percentage of 69.87 while New Delhi recorded the lowest with 64.06 percent.
In the last assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 65.6 percent. A total of 673 candidates are in the fray for the 70-member member assembly. Counting of votes will take place on Tuesday. Voting started on a slow pace in the morning but as day progressed large number of people came out to exercise their franchise at different polling booths. The assembly polls, second within little over one year, has been largely a direct contest between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. The Congress which finished last in the previous elections tried hard to make a come back. The elections are significant as a defeat for BJP may bolster the opposition while a victory for it will increase its confidence ahead of assembly polls in Bihar later this year and in West Bengal next year. On the other hand, AAP's victory will give a major to the party but its defeat may affect the future prospects of the party. With the end of polling now all eye are fixed at Tuesday when results will be announced. With ANAND this is SANT BIHAR, AIR NEWS
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All the exit polls today have predicted a majority for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi Assembly elections with one of them giving it as high as 53 seats in the 70-member House.The polls shown on different TV channels predicted BJP as the number two party and Congress way behind with none of them giving it more than 5 seats. India Today-Cicero exit poll has projected that AAP will get between 35 and 43 and BJP between 23 and 29. Congress has been projected to get up to 5 seats. The ABP-Nielsen poll said that AAP will get 39 while BJP 28 and Congress 3 seats.The highest number of 53 seats for AAP has been predicted by India News-Axis poll which gave BJP 17 and Congress up to two seats. The India TV's exit poll put AAP in the top with 31 to 39 seats, BJP 27 to 35 and Congress 2 to 4 seats.
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BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi has rejected the prediction of exit polls which gave a clear mandate to Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi assembly elections. Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, Ms. Bedi said that the TV surveys are based on till 3 pm assessment. She said a large number of voters came out between 3 to 6 pm and they have not been accounted for. Ms. Bedi also expressed hope that the final out come on Tuesday will be in favour of the BJP.
On the other hand, confident with the out come of exit polls, Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal expressed gratitude to the voters for their support.
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Political crisis in Bihar has deepened with the State Cabinet authorising Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to recommend dissolution of the State Assembly and the Janata Dal (United) legislature party deciding to remove Manjhi from the post of leader of legislature party. In a major development, 97 of the 111 JD (U) legislators elected Nitish Kumar as their leader and removed Manjhi from the post of leader of the legislature party.
I thought we have served Bihar enormously but still did not get the people's support. People have not trusted us. We will reach the people and create confidence . I nominated Jitan Ram Majhi as Chief Minister and we totally supported him.
Amid the ongoing political drama, the State seems to be heading towards a constitutional crisis in the light of the cabinet proposal recommending dissolution of the state assembly.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of Delhi polls and discussed the political situation in Bihar in a meeting with top BJP leaders at his residence this evening. BJP President Amit Shah and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari attended the meeting.
Earlier, the party President Amit Shah also had a meeting in New Delhi with the state party leaders from Bihar in view of current political situation. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi said
Nitish himself created Mahadalit. He talked about morality and sacrifice for democracy. But in past seven months what new circumstances emerged which incline him to remove a Mahadalit and himself become the Chief Minister.
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Polling for four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir was held today. PDP-BJP combine bagged three seats and Congress won one seat. PDP’s Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Nazir Ahmad Laway and BJP’s Shamsher Singh bagged three seats. Former Union Minister and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Gulam Nabi Azad won the fourth seat. Azad was supported by National Conference and some independent candidates.
The BJP has created history by sending its first ever leader to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir. Shamsher Singh has become the first BJP candidate from J&K State having been elected to Rajya Sabha. This was the first test of PDP-BJP ahead of the Government formation. Azad’s prestige was at stake in the election as in case of defeat he would have lost the status of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabh . .R K RAINA, AIR NEWS, SRINAGAR
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog tomorrow. He will interact with the Chief Ministers of the states and Lieutenant governor of Union territories. An official release said, the meeting is expected to provide further suggestions on setting efficient processes and mechanism of interactions between centre and states and also between NITI Aayog.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for using the current global environment to position India in a leading role. Addressing Heads of Indian Missions in New Delhi this afternoon, the Prime Minister said the world is keen to embrace India. Speaking of conflicts in the twenty-first century, Mr Modi said the country has a great responsibility to help the world counter new threats to global peace. He said India has always stood for world peace and brotherhood.
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A series of bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad today killed more than three dozen people hours before the city's longtime curfew was set to come to an end. In the deadliest attack in New Baghdad, a suicide bomber targeted a street filled with hardware stores, killing 22 people and wounding at least 45. Police officials said the second attack took place shortly afterward in central Baghdad's popular Shorja market, killing at least 11 people and wounding 26. Also, at the Abu Cheer market on a Shiite block of southwestern Baghdad, at least four people were killed and 15 wounded when a bomb detonated outside an outdoor food market.
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In Bangladesh, at least 9 persons, including 3 children were burnt alive when opposition activists hurled petrol bombs at a bus and a truck. The attacks were the latest spasm of violence in a nationwide transportation blockade called by the opposition to pressurize Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and announce new elections.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister has said that her government will not surrender to violence unleased by the opposition even as 3 more people were burnt to death today in Barisal in southern Bangladesh. With this the death toll in the anti-government agitation launched by the BNP-led 20 party alliance has reached 58.
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Back Home, The Alipur SDJM Court in Kolkata, today remanded former Union Minister Mantang Singh to CBI custody till 11th of this month. It stayed earlier lower court judgement to remand him to jail custody till 13 th of February. Mr. Singh was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Saradha Chit Fund Scam on 31st of last month. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate issued summon to the wife of former Assam Minister Hemant Biswa Sharma in connection with the scam. On the other hand the West Bengal Police has arrested the Managing Director of a Chit Fund Company from Vidhan Nagar Area today.
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Government will infuse 6,990 crore rupees in nine public sector banks including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank for enhancing their capital and meeting global risk norms. This is the first tranche of capital infusion for which the government had allocated 11,200 crore rupees in the budget for 2014-15. The finance ministry in a press release said, the capital infusion has been decided based on the performance of the bank.
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The Odisha Assembly today witnessed uproar scenes over the alleged killing of a RTI activist in Cuttack district of the state. The Congress members alleged that the state government is attempting to shield the culprits as the murder allegation has been made against a ruling BJD MLA. They also demanded a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue.
Later, Speaker of Odisha Assembly Niranjan Pujari directed the state government to make a statement on the matter relating to Sahu's killing in the forenoon session on Monday.
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Defence Secretary R K Mathur today said, India is working on upgrading its defence infrastructure along its border with China in the northeastern region. Speaking to journalists in Agartala, Mr Mathur said, our infrastructure has to improve and our war preparedness has to improve. He said India is not doing any defence deal with China, but a deal has to be on border management.
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Former world Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand lost to Magnus Carlson of Norway in the fourth round of Grenke Chess Classic being held in Germany. In the game which is continuing Anand will now be under pressure to score in the remaining three games to comeback to a par score.
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In the 35th National Games, ace pistol shooter Vijay Kumar notched up a golden double for the second time today, to end his campaign with a rich haul of five gold medals.
The Armyman bagged both the team and the individual gold medals in the 25 metre rapid pistol fire. Asian Games bronze-winning swimmer Sandeep Sejwal signed off with four yellow metals.
In the overall standings, the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) remained on course for a hat-trick of titles on day seven of the Games in Thiruvananthapuram.
Dominating the Games in almost all disciplines, SSCB have accumulated 42 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals to total 67. Second on the table were Maharashtra with 26 gold, 34 silver and 26 bronze medals. Haryana held the third spot with 26 gold, 18 silver and seven bronze.
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