LESSON 21
Press Information Bureau
(C.M. Information Campus)
Information & Public Relations Department, U.P.
C.M. orders suspension of ASP, ADM and S.O. of Pilibhit
in Varun Gandhi’s objectionable statement case
Lucknow: March 18, 2009
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ms. Mayawati, while taking the
Pilibhit incident seriously, has ordered suspension of ASP Mr. Saurabh
Kush, ADM Mr. S.S. Kamal and the concerning S.O. of Pilibhit. The
DGP and the Principal Secretary Home submitted their report in the
BJP’s Pilibhit candidate Mr. Varun Gandhi’s statement case, thereafter,
the C.M. ordered their suspension.
The Chief Minister took stock of the situation yesterday (17
March 2009) and ordered DGP and Principal Secretary Home to submit
their report in this regard. She directed the officers to ensure that
nobody was allowed to violate the law and order and directed them to
take immediate stringent action against those who tried to do so. She
ordered that the model code of conduct should be strictly adhered to.
She said that if anyone tries to violate it then appropriate legal action
should be initiated against him immediately.
*********
Repolling in booth if voting stalled for two hours: poll panel
Bhopal, March 17 (IANS) Repolling would be held in
any booth during the forthcoming general elections if voting there is
stalled for two hours or more, election officials said Monday.
At a meeting with the representatives of political
parties, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer J.S. Mathur said this
was the new directive of the Election Commission (EC).
Mathur also told the representatives of the other rules and regulations regarding the elections.
All candidates would have to attach all documents during filing of
nomination papers and the returning officer concerned would provide the
receipt to the candidate along with the list. The relevant forms would
also have to be submitted to the election commission office by 1500 hrs
on the last date of filing of nominations.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Communist Party of India
(CPI) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath general election 2009
Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath, the largest democracy of the world will hold general
elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in 5 phases, starting from April 16,
2009 to May 13, 2009. The results of the election will be announced in
single phase on May 16, 2009. The new government at the center is
expected to be formed on or before 2nd June 2009
According to the Constitution, elections in India for the Lok
Sabha must be held at least every five years under normal
circumstances. With the last elections held in 2004, the term of the
14th Lok Sabha expires on June 1, 2009. The
election is conducted by the Election Commission of India, which
estimates an electorate of 714 million voters, an increase of 43
million over the 2004 election.
The Election Commission will announce the upcoming
general election dates. The following polling schedule for the 2009
general elections was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner of
India, N. Gopalaswami, on March 2, 2009:
April 16 - Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep
April 23 - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu
& Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa,
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
April 30 - Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu
May 7 - Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi
May 13 - Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Puducherry
India has a multi-party system with predominance of small regional
parties. National parties are those that are recognized in four or more
states. Three alliances or fronts in Indian politics United Progressive
Alliance, National Democratic Alliance and Third Front.
United Progressive Alliance
• Indian National Congress (INC)
• Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
• Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
• Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)
• Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC)
• Samajwadi Party (SP)
• Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)
• All India Trinamool Congress
• Indian Union Muslim League
National Democratic Alliance
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• Shiv Sena
• Shiromani Akali Dal
• Janata Dal (United)
• Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)
• Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)
• Indian National Lok Dal (INL)
• Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF)
• Manipur People’s Party (MPP)
• United Democratic Party (UDP)
Third Front
• Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)
• Communist Party of India (CPI)
• All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
• Telugu Desam Party (TDP)
• Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)
• All India Forward Bloc
• Janata Dal (Secular)
• Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)
• Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)
• Kerala Congress (Joseph)
• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
• Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
BJP Lok Sabha candidate, 30 others arrested in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, March 18 (IANS) A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabhacandidate in Uttar Pradesh and 30 of her supporters have been arrested
for defying the model code of conduct, police said Wednesday.
“A case has been registered against Neeam Sonkar and her supporters for
taking out a procession Wednesday in Azamgarh district violating the
code of conduct,” Superintendent of Police (City) O.P. Srivastava told
IANS on phone. Sonkar is contesting elections from the Lalganj
constituency.
Srivastava said Sonkar and her supporters carried out the procession
in the Deogaon locality of Azamgarh without the permission of the
police inspector under whose jurisdiction the area falls. They carried
banners and buntings.
“Sonkar and her supporters raised anti-government slogans and also
manhandled some of our officials who tried to stop their procession,”
police inspector Ram Kripal Bharti told IANS.
According to police, a report pertaining to the violation of the
model code of conduct by the BJP candidate and her supporters will be
sent to the State Election Commission (SEC).
ELECTION EYE - Cracks appear in ruling alliance
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The following is a snapshot of recent
developments in India’s general election campaign. The sources of
reports are in brackets.
* Congress party is losing out to its allies amid
coalition-building negotiations in the Hindu-belt states of Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh. Regional allies like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar
Pradesh are refusing to allot many seats for Congress to contest,
saying the party has lost popularity to smaller parties.
In Bihar, Congress has rejected at being allotted three seats while
its allies will get 37 seats to contest, a sign of impending cracks in
the ruling alliance. (The Times of India, The Economic Times)
The dispersal of votes in these important states could make it more
difficult for Congress to form a stable majority alliance.
* Congress party could win more than 150 seats in the general
election — making it the biggest party in parliament and winning more
that it did in the 2004 vote. But its coalition could still need
outside help to secure office, according to a pre-poll survey by a
multinational agency for the Congress party.
After the 2004 vote, the Congress-led alliance needed the outside support of the communists to stay in power.
The survey said Congress could gain seats in the communist-run
states of West Bengal and Kerala, as well as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Punjab and Orissa. (Economic Times)
* A member of India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Varun Gandhi,
could face criminal charges for allegedly making inflammatory comments
about Muslims in a speech broadcast on television. (All newspapers)
Gandhi, great-grandson of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal
Nehru and nephew of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, said the video
footage of him at a rally had been tampered with.
Unlike most of his family, Varun Gandhi is a member of the opposition BJP.
The row could embarrass the BJP which is already suffering from
internal political squabbles of the party’s election strategy.