NCP to take on alliance partner Congress in Goa LS polls

The NCP's announcement came hours after Congress short-listed its candidates for both the seats, shaking the long standing seat-sharing understanding between both the parties.

   

The North Goa seat has traditionally been contested by NCP, while South Goa by Congress.

   

"We have decided to contest both the seats. The formal announcement on the candidates is expected by March 19-20," NCP's Goa chief spokesman Trojano D'Mello said.

   

D'Mello, along with state desk in charge Dipak Kesarkar and party state chief Nilkant Halarnkar, met party chief Sharad Pawar and senior leader Praful Patel in Mumbai on Thursday morning.

   

The spokesman said, "The high command has allowed us to sever ties with the Congress and go ahead with contesting from both the seats".

   

Congress on Wednesday had shortlisted candidature of Ravi Naik (North Goa) and Fransisco Sardinha (South Goa), while the formal announcement is expected anytime from now.

       

NCP sources stated that local leaders have recommended names of Nilkant Halarnkar and Yuri Alemao, son of former minister Joaquim Alemao, to contest from North and South seats respectively.

(Agencies)

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LS polls: Nitin Gadkari scouting for competent candidates in Delhi

The party’s brainstorming session over the announcement of probable candidates continued till late night on Tuesday. During the party’s meeting, Gadkari collected details related to all candidates including MLAs, defeated candidates, areas of their representation, information regarding district presidents and scrutinized their claim for candidature from close quarters.

Delhi Lok Sabha polls are a matter of prestige for Nitin Gadkari as he has been given the responsibility of taking care of party’s affairs in the national capital. Overall, he has not been able to deliver the party an absolute majority during the Assembly polls as well. In order to make up for this unfinished agenda, the former saffron party chief is trying out possible trick in his sleeve to ensure BJP’s victory in the national capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats.

It’s mainly due to this very reason, he wants to have a proper look into the names of candidates and gauge their winnability before sending the list to party’s parliamentary board.

Several leaders, willing to contest elections also claimed their stakes before Gadkari. Now it remains to be seen, what would be the party’s decision during its parliamentary board meeting, scheduled to be held on 13th March.

During the meet, Gadkari asked the party leaders and workers to discharge their duties in proper co-ordination with each other so that its effect can have an impact during the elections as well.

JPN/Bureau

Source: Breaking News

AAP magic waning? Shazia, Vishwas discontent over tickets distribution

Things are yet to be decided within AAP camp regarding Lok Sabha polls and several leaders have already started showing signs of discord. Poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas, who has been fielded against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, is now questioning the modus operandi of the party.

Expressing chagrin over functioning of the AAP and old party workers getting marginalized, another key AAP leader and well known former journalist Shazia Ilmi also joined the Vishwas bandwagon. Shazia is said to be upset with Kejriwal for not awarding her ticket for fighting Lok Sabha polls from Delhi.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal, maintaining a tough stand, has drawn a parallel between the rebels and his latest pot-shots taken at Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

More skeletons emerged out of closet on Tuesday after Kumar Vishwas expressed his annoyance over distribution tickets for Lok Sabha polls. Pouring out his ‘displeasure, Kumar wrote on micro-blogging website Twitter – “If dirty waters make its way into a river, even those holding reverence towards it will have apprehensions before taking holy dip.”

According to sources, Kumar Vishwas tried to speak to party leader Sanjay Singh and Kejriwal regarding distribution of party tickets several times but his views were not given any importance. 

The AAP could face fire over selection of candidates and Kejriwal may find it difficult to come up with any convincing explanation this time.

Shazia Ilmi, who wishes to contest Lok Sabha polls from the national capital, is disappointed for not getting ticket. Such has been the extent of her discontentment that she even refused to contest against Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareilly. However, Shazia in a tweet said that she never wished to contest from Delhi.

Amid all these developments, Kejriwal has been quite hard-nosed over his stand and he is determined not to give in before Shazia or Kumar Vishwas. In this very context, Kejriwal wrote on Twitter, “Ever since I trained my guns on Narendra Modi, things started unfolding in a very interesting manner. Several relationships are donning new meanings but truth will triumph.”

Sources close to Kejriwal believes that the ex-Delhi chief minister will not compromise a bit on his stand.

JPN/Bureau

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LS polls: AAP to field candidates against A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran

"Definitely, we will field candidates against leaders who are dipped in scams. We will field candidates against A Raja in Nilgiris and Dayanidhi Maran in Central Chennai," AAP's Tamil Nadu convenor David Barunkumar told reporters in Chennai.

   

He said that the first list of candidates and constituencies would be released later this week. "We hope the first list of candidates will be announced by this Sunday or Monday", he said.

    

On whether anti-nuclear activist SP Udhayakumar, who has joined the AAP, would contest the polls in the wake of several cases filed against him, David said, "We will support Udhayakumar. Even if he is arrested, he will file his nominations from jail and contest the elections.”

    

On being asked whether AAP would try to forge a partnership with the Left parties in Tamil Nadu in the wake of their snapping ties with ruling AIADMK, he alleged that they were ‘not living upto the principles of communist parties’.

   

The meet also saw journalist Vaseegaran joining AAP in the presence of state office bearers of the party.

(Agencies)

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LS polls: Mamata defends decision to give tickets to celebrities

TMC's list of candidates, which contained names of several film and cultural personalities, was criticized by Left parties and Congress, who alleged that the party banked on stars at the expense of grass-roots leaders to see it through the general elections.

   

Mamata Banerjee countered this by saying that they had been nominated because she wanted them ‘to have a say in national politics. The new faces have been inducted to give a truly representative look to the list of candidates’.

   

The West Bengal Chief Minister was talking to reporters at the NSCB Airport before leaving for Delhi where she would address a joint rally tomorrow with anti-graft activist Anna Hazare at Ram Lila Ground to kick start the campaign for TMC candidates.

   

Putting her full faith on Dev, the matinee idol of Bengali cinema who has been fielded from Ghatal in West Midnapore district, she said, "Dev will win. The youth should be given opportunity in politics. No one becomes politician overnight."

   

The Ghatal seat was last won by CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta, she said.

   

"I want more and more young people to come into politics. If the younger generation is not encouraged, then who will manage the affairs (in the country) in the future?" she asked as Dev stood besides her.

   

Besides Dev, Moonmoon Sen, daughter of Suchitra Sen and herself an actress, would contest from Bankura and yesteryear actress Sandhya Roy from Midnapore. The TMC list also has Soumitra Roy, a lead singer of popular Bengali band 'Bhoomi', theatre personality Arpita Ghosh and singer Indranil Sen.

   

Pointing out that the TMC list was an exercise to give representation to people from all walks of life, Banerjee said that the film and cultural personalities could pursue their respective professions while at the same time serving people as ‘future representatives’ in Parliament.

(Agencies)

Source: Online Current News

Arunachal Assembly polls to be held on April 9 along with LS election: EC

The decision of the poll body came days after state governor Lt General (retd) Nirbhay Singh recommended dissolution of the state Assembly on March 6.

   

"Having considered all relevant factors, the Commission has decided that simultaneous election to the state legislative assembly for all 60 assembly constituencies of the state would be held along with the 16th Lok Sabha election," an EC order said on Monday.

   

The three Election Commissioners had met on Friday to discuss the issue.

     

The Arunachal Pradesh Governor had on Thursday announced dissolution of Assembly after accepting the recommendation of the state cabinet which demanded holding of state elections.

    

Lok Sabha elections for the two seats in Arunachal Pradesh will also be held on April 9.

    

The tenure of the 60-member Arunachal Assembly ends on November 4 this year.

   

The notification for the Assembly polls will be announced on March 15 while nominations can be filed till March 22. After scrutiny of papers on March 24, nominations can be withdrawn till March 26.

   

The Commission had on March 5 announced the schedule for elections to the 16th Lok Sabha and Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

(Agencies)

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Gadkari posing stiff challenge to Muttemwar on Nagpur seat

A seven-time sitting MP, Muttemwar, who has been retained by the Congress, will be facing a tough challenge this time from the former national BJP chief, who is going the whole hog to win the LS polls from his hometown in his maiden attempt.

   

A known Congress citadel, Nagpur has witnessed only one Congress defeat when it lost to BJP in 1994. Muttemwar first got elected from Chimur in 1980 and subsequently in 1985, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009.

While, sitting MLC Gadkari was a PWD minister in the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in 1995-99. Later he became the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council and went on to don the post of state BJP chief. He was elevated to national politics when he became the BJP national president.

   

Gadkari is credited with construction of flyovers in various parts of Maharashtra besides the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway.

   

Blowing the poll bugle, the BJP was the first to declare its candidate for the Nagpur seat, followed by newcomer AAP and Congress, which released their nominees last week.

However, BSP and RPI are yet to announce the candidates for the polls scheduled here on April 10.

   

Interestingly, activist-turned politician Anjali Damania too is making her foray into electoral politics with the ensuing general elections on AAP ticket.

(Agencies)

Source: Breaking News

Poll code no barrier to give aid to affected farmers, says Gopinath Munde

“There is no need to take permission from the Election Commission to provide financial aid to the affected farmers during the code of conduct,” the Beed Lok Sabha MP said.

   

Munde was speaking at a press conference at the BJP office in Beed.

   

The state government has a right to take suo motu decision on financial assistance to the farmers, the former deputy chief minister said.

   

Due to hailstorm and unseasonal rains in the last eight days, standing crops like wheat, jowar, sunflower, pulses and vegetables suffered heavy damage in several parts of the state particularly Vidarbha and Marathwada, he said.

   

This is not a normal natural calamity. Hence, the Centre and state government should declare a special package for the affected farmers, Munde said.

   

The government officials should quickly assess the damage so that relief is promptly provided to agriculturists, who do not have any other source of income, he added.

(Agencies)

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Flying squads, surveillance teams in Itanagar ahead of LS polls

Each team comprises one executive magistrate, videographer and three to four police personnel, City superintendent of police Seju P Kuruvilla said here on Monday. Meanwhile, one truck carrying 1200 cartons of beer have been seized by the flying squads deployed at Banderdewa area on Sunday.

     

The truck was carrying the beer bottles towards Naharlagun without valid documents, the SP said. Meanwhile, the flying squads deployed at Itanagar has removed red beacon fitted on the vehicles of six political functionaries.

    

Vehicle checking was also carried out at Itanagar, Naharlagun and Nirjuli areas and a total of 124 vehicles have been penalized for violation of various sections of the Motor

Vehicles Act, the SP said.

(Agencies)

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LS polls: 4.5 lakh first timers to exercise their franchise in Assam

"The elections in Assam will be held in three phases. We have 1.87 crore people registered in the electoral rolls who can exercise their voting rights to elect 14 representatives," Assam Chief Electoral Officer Vijayendra told reporters in Guwahati.

    

The number of voters this year constitute 57.25 percent of Assam's total population and it has gone up by 13 lakh from 1.74 crore voters in last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, he said.

    

"We published the latest electoral rolls in January this year and the number has increased by 6.6 lakh from the last rolls in January 2013," the CEO said.

       

When asked about the first time voters, Vijayendra said that 4.5 lakh youngsters in the age group of 18-19 years would vote for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections.

   

Talking about the 'D' (doubtful/disputed/dubious) voters, the CEO said that the number stands at around 1.42 lakh in the state.

    

On Election photo identity card (EPIC), he said that Assam will have its first election with such identification system although it already exists in other parts of the country.

    

On being asked about much could be the total expenditure of the three-phase elections in Assam, Vijayendra said, "It is estimated to be around Rs 82 crore. During the last Assembly elections in Assam in 2011, we had spent around Rs 79 crore."     

Speaking about the polling stations, he said that the elections would be held at 24,275 polling stations across the state, which is an increase of 28.93 percent from 18,828 booths in 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Out of these, 7,200 polling stations have been identified as ‘critical’, he said, adding, "The police are working on other categories like sensitive and hyper sensitive polling booths.”

The entire exercise this time would involve around 1.25 lakh people in the state as compared to one lakh people in 2009.

    

The Lok Sabha elections for 14 seats in Assam would be held on April 7, 12 and 24, while counting will take place along with the entire country on May 16.

    

As per the schedule by the Election Commission of India, five constituencies will go for polling in the first phase, while it will be three and six constituencies respectively during the second and third phases of polling in the state.     

Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies would go for polling in the first phase.

    

Karimganj, Silchar and Autonomous Hill District in second phase, while the elections for the prestigious Guwahati seat along with Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldai and Nagaon seats would be held in the last phase.

    

On being asked about his area of concern in conducting a free and fair election in Assam, Vijayendra said, "The issues are - there should not be any intimidation to any section of the society and there should not be any money power to influence the voters."

    

The Election Commission ‘will take all care’ by deploying ‘maximum number of forces and observers’ to have fair elections in Assam, he added.

    

He, however, declined to inform how many security personnel or observers would be deployed in Assam during the polling period.

(Agencies)

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AAP likely to contest six-seven seats in Bengal

The party is currently running membership drives in the districts as well as parts of Kolkata, which, it claims, has generated a "positive and exciting" response.

   

AAP's national spokesperson Deepak Vajpayee said, "Going by the excitement and positive response that we have received during the membership drive, it will be proper to contest some seats in the Lok Sabha polls."

   

It had not yet been decided how many seats the party would fight, though, Vajpayee said. But, Rakesh Jha, AAP leader in Bengal, said, "We will contest six to seven Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, out of which three are Kolkata North, Kolkata South and Jadavpur.

Other seats are yet to be decided."

   

Jha said that the main plank of their campaign would be drive against corruption, under which comes the chit fund scam in the state, but they would also highlight state-specific issues like growing crimes against women.

The Aam Aadmi Party would also try to capitalize on the "resentment" against the Trinamool Congress which is in power since May, 2011, he said.

   

The AAP's Bengal chapter rolled out a cadre-training programme last week at the Indian Association Building and also started a "Jhadu Chalo Yatra" from February 15 to February 23 to familiarize the people in Bengal with the party and its agenda.

   

AAP leaders in Bengal claimed that the membership of the party at present stood around 1.5 lakhs, some of whom, they said, would be drafted as active volunteers.

(Agencies)

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Maharashtra: 21 MLCs to retire in next two months

A total of 21 MLCs will retire in the next two months, Principal Secretary of the state legislature, Anant Kalse told reporters. A fresh list of 12 members will be sent to the Governor for nomination.

   

"In view of the general elections, elections for the other nine seats of the state legislature are likely to be held at the earliest before the Lok Sabha polls," Kalse said.

   

Three seats from the Graduate's constituency and two from Teachers' constituency will fall vacant on July 19.

The twelve nominated members due to retire next month are: Subhash Chavan, Mohan Joshi, Alka Desai, Suresh Navle, Charan Singh Sapra, M M Sheikh (all Congress), Faujia Khan, Vidya Chavan, Ram Pandagale, Vijay Sinh Mohite Patil, Ram Shendge and Sumant Gaikwad (all NCP).

The nine MLCs, whose term expires on April 24, are Jaiprakash Chhajed, Shivajirao Deshmukh (Chairman of Council) (both Congress), Hemant Khul, Rana Jagjit Singh, Sanjay Patil and Kiran Pawaskar (all NCP), Vinod Tawde, Pandurang Phundkar (both BJP) and Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena).

Kalse said that a four-day session of the legislature will commence from February 24. The Governor will address a joint sitting of House on the first day and the Interim Budget will be presented during the session.

(Agencies)

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LS polls: AAP to spice up triangular contest on Nagpur seat

Damania will contest against former BJP president Nitin Gadkari from this prestigious seat.

The political picture on this seat is likely to be clear once Congress announces its list of candidates in the coming week. Sources say that incumbent Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar in all probability will be given another term.

According to sources, AAP dropped the idea of fielding a local candidate against Gadkari and selected 44-year-old Damania, as it failed to find a suitable candidate to take on the BJP heavyweight in his stronghold.

   

AAP's chances in their maiden run of securing sizeable votes have considerably brightened with Damania's nomination from the Nagpur seat, despite she being described as an 'outsider' by the BJP and Congress, sources said.

"Even if she doesn't win, she will ensure Gadkari's defeat, which is the objective of the party," they said.

As per AAP sources, most of the politicians on their target belong to the UPA, particularly top ministers besides Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi but Gadkari is the only NDA politician from Maharashtra on their radar.

The activist had accused the former BJP president of being hand-in-glove with Sharad Pawar to suppress the alleged irregularities related to irrigation projects in the state.

(Agencies)

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Mamata desires early exit of UPA government

"Despite repeatedly telling this government, it has deprived and exploited the state. The Prime Minister had himself committed before the election that if we were voted to power, the Centre would help the state and restructure the debt. Nearly three years have elapsed since then," Banerjee told a press conference in Jalpaiguri.
   
"This government is on the way out. The sooner it goes the better," she said.
   
She reiterated that the Left Front government has left behind a huge debt because of the Centre allowing it to take loans.
   
"The previous government did not follow the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management," she said.
   
She said that the state wanted a transparent debt-restructuring plan so that it could invest revenue earned for infrastructure development.
   
"West Bengal was deprived the most. We have repeatedly sought restructuring of the debt but it was not accepted," she said.
   
At a recent party rally in Jalpaiguri, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh had voiced his support for Mamata, saying that her demand for a three-year moratorium on interest on central loans is justified.

(Agencies)

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LS polls: Akhilesh confident of winning maximum seats in UP

"Samajwadi Party does not indulge in politics of religion and caste but works towards ensuring that benefits of various government schemes reach the public," Akhilesh said while speaking at an event in Kanpur.

   

On a question by reporters on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Akhilesh chose not to give a direct reply but said, "SP was secular and hence, we believe the party will win maximum seats in the elections.”

   

He also criticized the media for giving out only negative reports about the government.

(Agencies)

Source: Online Current News