Will Election Commission countermand Jharkhand Rajya Sabha polls

Two crores have been found this morning in a car in Ranchi. The vehicle belongs to a businessman whose brother, R K Agarwal, is contesting the Rajya Sabha elections from Jharkhand today. Mr Agarwal is an independent candidate.

The Election Commission has met this morning to discuss whether to countermand the election amid allegations of votes being bought. 17 MLAs have already voted for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand.

The state has a notorious history of serving as an entry point to the Rajya Sabha for wealthy businessmen.

This time around, the Left's Gurudas Dasgupta had written to the Election Commission alleging that MLAs who vote for the Rajya Sabha MPs are being "horse-traded." He also complained that Jharkhand has begun hosting outsiders with little or no experience in politics as candidates for the Rajya Sabha.

The most controversial candidate this year was Anshuman Mishra, an NRI who resides in London. He was initially offered support by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but withdrew from the election after some of the party's most senior leaders said they would ask BJP MLAs to vote against him. R K Aggarwal, who is being backed by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), is a businessman from Chhattisgarh. Another candidate, Pawan Kumar Dhoot is a businessman from Kolkata.

Parliament censures Team Anna

 Lok Sabha on Tuesday condemned Team Anna for "lowering the dignity" of Parliament after a resolution was moved over which members cutting across party line slammed the activists for using derogatory language against MPs.

"Any remark lowering the dignity and esteem of this august House is unwarranted and totally unacceptable," Speaker Meira Kumar said summing up the sense of the House, after a brief discussion.

She said members of the House undergo rigorous scrutiny by the Election Commission under the provisions of Representation of People Act, Model Code of Conduct and other legal requirements while filing their nomination for election.

"After meticulously assessing their conduct and performance, the people of India, in their wisdom, elect them. The Parliament, therefore, reflects the collective will of the people of our country," the Speaker said.

Led by JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, members from all political hues came together in Lok Sabha to attack Team Anna for using derogatory language against parliamentarians. Some of them even said that those who levelled attack against the temple of democracy should be summoned in the House to punish them.

Moving a resolution against the civil society members, Yadav said the Speaker should take suo motu action against them for their utterances against democratic institutions.

Describing Parliament as a "supreme institution", SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said those civil society members who challenged its authority should be "summoned and taken to task". He requested consensus among members on the issue.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha today JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said that, “ People have seen what has been happening and what Team Anna has been speaking. I am worried that if the Parliament is not respected then where will the country go?

“A trend has started in the country to denigrate the politicians. Yes, the public has a right to be angry at us. But there should be a limit to it,” he added.

Directly attacking Team Anna, the JD(U) said that a kind of pessimism is being spread in the country in the wrong manner. Nonetheless, he accepted that fight against corruption should go on but in the right manner.

He also accepted that no everyone is of high morals in the Parliament. “There have been people in this House who have not been deserving of the place.” “But to disrespect the temple of democracy is not the right thing to do,” Sharad Yadav added.

“I do not object to the attack by Team Anna at us but no one should attack the institution of democracy,” he told the House.

The alleged inflammatory remarks made by Team Anna led to a huge uproar in both the Houses of Parliament on Monday and finally led to their adjournment.

Reacting to these allegations, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had said, “Team Anna has lost its focus, crossed all limits."

Swaraj, whose party had supported Anna Hazare's call for the Lokpal Bill, even advised Team Anna to maintain its integrity.

Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam had also endorsed the views expressed by Swaraj and Yadav and said, “Team Anna members call themselves the representatives of civil society but they have themselves used unparliamentary language. They have conducted themselves in a highly irresponsible and uncivilized manner."

Team Anna landed in a fresh controversy after key team members including Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others made derogatory remarks against the Parliamentarians during Anna Hazare’s day-long fast at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Sunday.

Anna Hazare, while addressing his supporters, also warned that the government should be prepared to be voted out of power in 2014 if it does not pass the Lokpal Bill, which provides for a national anti-corruption agency.

Sushma Swaraj BJP leader slams Congress over Muslim quota row

Slamming the Congress over a minority sub-quota row, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj has said the former had committed a crime by dividing the country on religious grounds.

"The Congress has committed the crime of sowing the seeds of a second partition. Our Constitution does not allow religious reservations. We have given reservations to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the socially backward classes, but never religion-based reservations as it is not allowed," Swaraj told.

"This is because the fathers of our Constitution knew that religion-based reservations would divide the country on communal lines," Swaraj added.

BJP leader Rajnath Singh lashed out at Congress leaders for violating the Election Commission's code of conduct.

"I find it very disappointing that union ministers have the guts to challenge an institution like the Election Commission. The BJP stands against such behavior. They should respect the Election Commission because if their dignity is lowered intentionally, other constitutional institutions could face the same kind of threat," said Singh.

BJP leader's comments come after Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma and Law Minister Salman Khurshid said that if the Congress were to form the next state government, they would raise the sub quota for Muslims to nine per cent within the 27 per cent reservation meant for Other Backward Classes.

Curb on EC: Govt denies, but Note out in the open

A day after the government rejected reports of a possible move by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption to take the model code of conduct out of the purview of the Election Commission , a leading daily on today published the ‘secret agenda note’ which disclosed the government’s intention.

The Indian Express had yesterday published a report saying the Central government has begun the process to provide statutory backing to the election code, following which the poll panel would lose the right to act on complaints of code violations which would then be dealt with by courts.

Within hours of the report being published, three senior ministers of the UPA government had denied any such agenda for the seventh meeting of the GoM on corruption, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, scheduled to be held at 1.00 pm today.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, "To my knowledge, there is no such thing on the agenda. As far as I understand, it was agreed that once the elections are over there will be an all-party consultation on the issue about electoral reforms which are being pushed by the EC." He added, “But if it is raised by any political party during the course of discussion, we will take it as and when it happens.”

“From where this idea has come? But on the GoM agenda there is nothing,” is what Pranab Mukherjee told.

Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in Lucknow, “I am on the GoM but I am not aware of the agenda. It so happens that bureaucracy makes certain proposals and sometimes we discuss them while at others we reject them.”

Even the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in a statement that the claims were “totally misconceived”.

“...There is no such move under contemplation of the Government or the Group of Ministers... The GoM has not made any recommendation to make the Model Code of Conduct statutory or to take it outside the purview of the Commission,” the DoPT said in a release.

However, the note published by the newspaper clearly shows that poll code is on the ‘secret’ agenda of the GoM.

“...The Chairman was also of the view that ‘Code of Conduct’ was one of the biggest excuses to stall development projects, and thus agreed with the request of the Law Minister to flag this issue and its inclusion in the agenda papers. It was also suggested that the Legislative Department may also look into the aspects where executive instructions of the Election Commission of India were required to be given statutory shape. Accordingly, Secretary, Legislative Department, has been requested to make a presentation before the GoM on the progress made in the matter,” mentions the note.

Reacting to the development, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told the daily that the government’s move was “highly misconceived” and aimed at curbing the powers of the Election Commission.

EC decided to send all-women's team of observers to Goa

With male officers treating election duty in Goa as an all-expenses paid fun trip, the Election Commission has for the first time decided to send an all-women team of general observers for poll duty in the sunshine state.

EC officials said that in the past, there were complaints against male officers sent on election duty to Goa. These included drinking during office hours and partying in clubs while supposedly being on duty. There were also allegations that in some cases, candidates were bearing the cost of entertainment of officials. In a few cases, the allegations were made by poll candidates.

EC officials said that even for the coming assembly elections in the state, several male officers were actively lobbying to be sent as poll observers. Putting paid to such hopes, the EC has selected 20 women officers, three each from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, two each from Haryana and Chhattisgarh and one each from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"We took the decision to finalise an all-women team so that lobbying can be put to rest. It is unfortunate but male officers see a month-long stint as observer as holiday in Goa. EC is in no mood to oblige them. We have pre-empted them now," a senior official said.

EC sources also said that officers had been given so much work that they would be left with not much leisure time. "Moreover, women officers are more conscientious," an EC official said.

This is the first time that EC is sending an all-women team as observer to any state. However, the poll body has retained male officers in the list of expenditure observers. Out of seven expenditure observers, there is only one female officer.

Bar girls lure voters for Samajwadi Party

As the date for the Assembly Elections inches closer in Uttar Pradesh, political parties are leaving no stone unturned to lure the voters.

In an attempt to garner support, a candidate of the Samajwadi Party organised a dance programme in Kanpur on the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti' on Saturday. But what caught the attention were the bar girls, who, wearing skimpy clothes, danced among the crowd and presented vulgar performances.

Hitting hard at the party, BJP Kanpur wing vice-president, Surendra Maithani, said the SP was using cheap tricks to woo voters and they would take up this issue with the Election Commission.

EC issues order to cover statues of Mayawati and of elephants

With little over a day left for the deadline to expire, government officials were on Tuesday busy covering up statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and of elephants, the ruling BSP's symbol, in Noida and Lucknow to comply with the Election Commission’s order.

Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi in his directive had instructed that all the statues must be covered by 5 pm Wednesday (January 11).

The Lucknow park has nine Mayawatis and 25 elephants while the one in Noida boasts of two Mayawatis and 52 elephants. Considering the enormity of the task, officials are scrambling to get the work done before the deadline ends.

It’s not just the big elephants that are a cause of worry; there are hundreds of small elephants across the two parks which also have to be covered.

Considering the ‘colour ban’ – material of any party colour can’t be used - pink has emerged as the colour of choice for the jumbo operation. While it is pink plastic sheets for the elephants, it is pink cloth for Behenji.

Although the work had begun yesterday itself but owing to confusion over who would take charge of the operation, crucial hours were lost leading to the race against time today.

In Lucknow the responsibility has been given to Lucknow Development Authority while in Noida the Noida Authority is carrying out the work with help from UP Rajkiya Nagar Nigam.

The unusual order has sparked a debate across Uttar Pradesh, which will go to polls over seven phases in February.

While opposition parties are thrilled over the Election Commission conceding their demand, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has taken strong exception to the EC move.

"This is the right step. After all, Mayawati's statues are all over the place together with those of elephants in the several parks and memorials created by her with government funds worth thousands of crores. How can those be kept open when we are not even allowed to put up posters or banners," said Samajwadi Party leader Shiv Pal Yadav.

BSP spokesperson Swami Prasad Maurya countered him by labelling the poll panel's move as unfair.

"If elephants have to be wrapped up because elephant is also the BSP symbol and the Election Commission thinks the statues can influence voters, then why don't they cover every lotus growing in ponds and not allow any individual on the street to raise his hand," he said, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party's symbol of the lotus and the Congress' hand symbol.

Some political analysts were of the view that the move could prove counter-productive and ultimately help Mayawati consolidate her Dalit vote bank.

Election Commission to announce poll schedule for 5 states today

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for Assembly polls in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur on Saturday.

The poll schedule will be announced after a meeting between Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi and Election Commissioners V S Sampath and H S Brahma to be held at 4.30 pm today.

The schedule for the elections will be given a final shape after the EC assesses the availability of paramilitary forces from the government.

The Election Commission had yesterday held discussions with Home Secretary R K Singh on the availability of paramilitary forces for Assembly polls in five states.

Around 80,000 paramilitary personnel, apart from state policemen, are expected to be deployed during the Assembly polls.

The Home Ministry conveyed to the Election Commission that it was ready to provide 700 to 800 companies (70,000-80,000 personnel) of paramilitary forces for deployment in the five states.

Sources said polling in politically-sensitive Uttar Pradesh is expected to be multi-phased while it will be in one phase in the other four states. It is expected that the polls will be held during February-March.