There has been a steady rise in the number of women entering the Lok Sabha, figures compiled by the Election Commission show.
According to the Commission, the outgoing 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14) had the highest number of women – 59 or nearly 11 per cent of the 545-member house.
A total of 556 women contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2009.
The 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09) had 45 women members, while the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004) had 49.
The lowest number of women elected to the Lok Sabha was in 1977 when only 19 made it to the Lower House. This was just 3.50 per cent of the total Lok Sabha seats (544 at that time).
There was no other occasion when women did not even reach the 20-seat mark.
“Women’s participation in the elections has been much lower as compared to men. Untill the ninth general election (1989), women’s participation was 30 times lesser then men, though from the 10th (1991), onwards the participation improved,” an Election Commission official said.
As far as women contestants is concerned, the highest number of women aspirants, 599, were in fray in 1996 (11th general elections), followed by 556 women candidates in 2009 and 355 in 2004.
The figure was 198 for the 7th Lok Sabha (1980-84) when the women contestants crossed the 100 mark for the first time.
The BJP has accused Finance Minister P Chidambaram of “running away” from contesting the national election because he is “not ready to face the public.”
Mr. Chidambaram, 68, has represented Sivaganga from Tamil Nadu for seven terms. Last night, the Congress announced his son, Karti, a 42-year-old lawyer, is its new candidate.
“P Chidambaram who has remained Finance Minister for seven out of 10 years has transformed Shining India to Gloom India,” said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman this morning. She said the Congress “have no will to fight, they’ve conceded defeat.”
Sources in the Congress admit that the party, which is forecast to amass one of its worst defeats ever in the general election, has failed to convince senior leaders to contest from Tamil Nadu. Union Shipping Minister GK Vasan is among them.
For the first time in nearly 19 years, the Congress will contest the election for Tamil Nadu’s 39 parliamentary seats without an ally.
Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress, will contest again from Mayiladuthurai, a seat he held for 10 years before losing the last election in 2009 to the AIADMK.
In that election, however, the Congress in partnership with the regional powerhouse of the DMK won an impressive 29 seats. This time, the alliance was reportedly nixed by MK Stalin, the son and political heir of DMK chief N Karunanidhi.
“The DMK not taking us on board is a political reality. We’ve to face it,” said Karti Chidambaram candidly, emphasizing that he did not see “an isolation of the Congress” in Tamil Nadu.
His father’s election to the Lok Sabha in 2009 has been challenged in court by Raja Kannappan, the man he defeated by a tiny margin of about 3,000 votes.
In new trouble for the Congress, its minister Sushil Kumar Shinde met Shahid Balwa, an accused in the 2G scam, at his office in New Delhi on Friday.
Balwa, the promoter of DB Realty, said that he met Shinde in connection with an old RTI application pending before the Home Ministry.
Shinde too confirmed the reports. “Yes, he met me. He wanted my intervention in some matter. I told him if enquiry is on against you, I can’t intervene. In any case, I told him to come back after 29th since I am leaving for my constituency now,” he said.
Balwa is out on bail in a serious corruption case and the Home Minister’s meeting with him may land the latter in a soup.
While there is no legal bar on such meetings, it would be morally incorrect on Shinde’s part to meet him, say experts.
Former Home Secretary RK Singh had alleged that Shinde saved Balwa in an IPL betting scam. “Shinde prevented Delhi Police from interrogating a businessman in the IPL match fixing case. Agencies suspect this businessman has links with underworld don Dawood,” Singh had alleged.
In what may spell more trouble for the Congress in Telangana, Telugu actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Kalyan, who is actor and Congress MP Chiranjeevi’s brother, met BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar earlier on Friday and agreed to campaign for the party.
Kalyan launched his own political outfit – the Jana Sena party – in Andhra Pradesh earlier this week after falling out with Chiranjeevi.
In startling revelations in the sexual assault case involving over a dozen minor girls of Himalaya Public School, Pithoragarh police said they have discovered that accused director of the school Chandra Singh Karki had installed CCTV cameras in all the rooms of the girls hostel and would monitor them constantly.
However, in his defence, he has claimed that he had installed the CCTV cameras for security reasons.
“He was arrested by the anti-trafficking unit of Pithoragarh police for allegedly molesting girl students at his co-educational Himalayan Public School in Chaukori village in Pithoragarh district,” Bimmy Sachdeva, SSP Nainital had said on Wednesday.
70-year old Chandra Singh Karki, who is the director of Himlayan Public School, had installed CCTV cameras in the classrooms as well as all the rooms of the girls hostel. He would monitor the CCTV cameras sitting in Nainital.
The police have begun the process of recording the kids’ statements in front of a magistrate. On Thursday, officers of Uttarakhand police’s anti human trafficking wing met the children and were shocked to hear their statement.
The girls, aged between six and ten, revealed that Chandra Singh Karki would come to their dormitory at odd hours and take them to his office on the pretext of checking their homework. “Karki would then ask the little girls to massage his body and stimulate his private parts. He would often force them to undress and sleep with him and have oral sex,” said DL Verma, in charge of the Haldwani unit of the anti human trafficking wing.
Many of the girls confirmed having been sexually assaulted by Karki several times in the past. “In fact, one of them was being exploited by Karki for the past five years. The girl is psychologically disturbed because of it,” Verma said.
Verma was heading the team which questioned the girls first. Their deposition was also videographed to be produced as strong evidence before the court.
“Such statements are recorded under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code and have evidentiary value in the court of law,” said Uttarakhand DGP BS Siddhu. He added that the Pithoragarh district police have already moved a lower court for the same. “We hope to get all the girls’ statements recorded in front of a magistrate within a couple of days.”
Verma added that Karki’s daughter and son, who hold the position of principal and manager in the school meant for economically weaker children, were aware about their father’s act.
“Some girls have told us that Karki used to threaten them by saying that he would inform the school principal and manager if they did not cooperate,” he said.
The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi has a stronghold in Palghar constituency and the party will re-nominate the sitting Member of Parliament Baliram Jadhav. For offering a tough competition to Jadhav, Congress fielded State Minister Rajendra Gavit. Even though the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi has an alliance with UPA at the state and centre but still they are pitted against each other. The party had requested Congress against fielding a candidate against them. Congress nonetheless turned a blind eye towards it. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded sitting MLA Chintaman Banga from Vikramgad paving way for a triangular contest between these parties.
This constituency has lagged behind in development. Residents of this constituency are unhappy with Baliram Jadhav’s performance. Various developmental works like laying of pipeline gas, long distance vehicle halt, fisherman’s problems, Dahanu to Nashik rail link are yet to be completed. Baliram Jadhav had emerged victorious in the 2009 Lok Sabha election but he won’t be able to repeat this feat due to the anti-incumbency factor. BJP’s candidate Chintaman Vanga came second while Congress candidate Damodar Shingda came third followed by CPM candidate Lahanu Kom.
There is a sizeable number of people belonging to the tribal community in this constituency. Since the state government had worked for the welfare of tribal community hence the party expects to put up a better show in this constituency. Chintaman Vanga is confident that he will emerge victorious from this constituency on account of Modi wave. Bali Jadhav is confident of winning election once again due to his clean image among people.
Bahujan Vikas Aghadi is confident of putting up a better show in this Lok Sabha election. Jadhav won’t be able to win election this time due to his poor performance.
Rajaram Nathu Ozhare – Dahanu (Communist Party of India, Marxist), Chintaman Wamne – Vikramgad (Bharatiya Janata Party), Rajendra Gavit- Palghar (Congress), Vilash Sukur- Boisar (Bahujan Vikas Aghadi), Kshitij Thakur – Nallasopara (Bahujan Vikash Aghadi), Vivek Pandit- Vasai (Independent) are the assembly leaders belonging to this constituency. Amongst these two candidates belong to Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, BJP, Congress, CPI and independent have one each.
Sanjay Nirupam finds himself on the wrong side of the law for issuing controversial statement against NarendraModi.
Congress LokSabha MP Sanjay Nirupam has once again landed himself in a controversy ahead of theLokSabha election. This time, Nirupam made a controversial comment against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate NarendraModiand held him responsible for playing ‘KhoonKoHoli’ referring to his role in the 2002 Godhra riots at Kandivali (W). Nirupam had made these remarks against Modi while delivering a speech on the occasion of Holi festival.
A delegation of BJP workers led byCharkop MLA YogeshSagar approached the Kandivali Police station and submitted a written letter for registering a complaint against Sanjay Nirupam for issuing provocative statements against Modi and to provoke Gujarati voters. Opposition parties have often been raising the Gujarat riots issue to target Modi.
“The police should take strict action against Sanjay Nirupam for making unwarranted comments against NarendraModi. The allegations made by Nirupam that he has played ‘Khoon Ki Holi’ are baseless. This only goes to show that Nirupam has lost his sanity.Nirupam is only issuing such statements to divert the attention of the voters and garner cheap publicity. He is only interested in participating in reality show like Big Boss and isleast bothered about the welfare of the common man”YogeshSagar said.
A letter has been forwarded by BJP to the Election Commission against Sanjay Nirupam for violating the model code of conduct.
Sagar also alleged that Nirupam is threatened by BJP’s popularity and hence they are trying to mislead voters by issuing such statements against Modi. He said, “Sanjay Nirupamis well aware that Gujaratis form a sizeable number in the North Mumbai constituency and many of them are followers of NarendraModi.By issuing such statements he is only trying to divert the attention of Gujaratis and woo them. However, Nirupam will never succeed in his mission as Gujarati’s will continue to support Modi.”
Kandivali Senior Police Inspector, Haeshwar Pimple, said, “BJP workers have submitted a written letter and CD containing the speech delivered by Sanjay Nirupam. We will examine the contents of the CD and take appropriate action.”
This is not the first instance when Sanjay Nirupamhas been involved in a controversy. On the day of the announcement of poll datesBJP corporatorAshishShelar had forwarded a complaint to the Election Commission against Sanjay Nirupam for violating the model code of conduct by laying the foundation for road construction. Few days back,the opposition had sent a letter to the Election Commission against Nirupam for violating the model code of conduct by using a four wheeler truckand LED TV for election campaigning.
Nowadays, BJP is acting like a one man party. Many senior leaders who are also founding members are sidelined and ignored. LK Advani’s anger against the party leadership is quite obvious because BJP is behaving like a ‘one man show’ run by Modi. Advani is a senior leader of the Saffron Party. When the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was in power from 1998–2004 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani served as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister (the latter in 2002–04). He was the Leader of the Opposition in the 10th Lok Sabha and 14th Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament).
Advani began his political career as a volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, his life as a social servant started in 1947 when he was elected as the Secretary, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Karachi. Advani was later sent to Matsya-Alwar in Rajasthan, which had witnessed communal violence following Partition, to oversee the affairs of the RSS there. He is not only a senior leader but has also mentored many leaders. Advani became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, also known as the Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. He became member of the Rajya Sabha from Delhi for the entire six year tenure from 1970.After serving in various positions in the Jana Sangh, he became its President in 1973 at the Kanpur session of the party working committee. His first act as president of the BJS was to expel founder member and veteran leader Balraj Madhok from primary membership of the party for supposedly repeatedly violating the party directives and acting against the interests of the party. He was a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat from 1976 to 1982.
When Jai Prakash Narayan, who led the public movement against the Emergency refused to campaign for the opposition parties unless all of them joined together, the Jana Sangh and many other opposition parties merged into the Janata Party. With the dissolution of the Jana Sangh, Advani and his colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee joined the Janata Party to fight the Lok Sabha Elections of 1977. The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political parties who had been united in opposing the state of Emergency imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party was formed from the union of the Congress (O), the Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India, the Jana Sangh and the Lok Dal. Jagjivan Ram split from the Indian National Congress, bringing a small faction known as the Congress for Democracy with him, and joined the Janata alliance. The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave the Janata Party and its allies a landslide victory in the election. Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India, Advani became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Vajpayee became the Foreign Minister.The erstwhile members of the Jana Sangh quit the Janata Party and they formed the new Bharatiya Janata Party. Advani became a prominent leader of the newly founded BJP and represented the party in the Rajya Sabha.
Recently, he was upset with the party. A series of top BJP leaders failed to persuade LK Advani to run for Parliament from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the party president Rajnath Singh andNarendra Modi went and met the 87-year-old to attempt a breakthrough. The BJP said it would “prefer” Mr. Advani to contest the general election from Gandhinagar for the sixth term; he wants to relocate to Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, governed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, with whom he has been developing a deepening alliance. When the hard sell didn’t work, Advani was pinged by the BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS whose chief Mohan Bhagwat said the BJP’s top leaders must present themselves as united.
Modi governed Gujarat for more than 12 years. Advani’s exit from Gujarat will reflect badly onthe prime ministerial candidate, the BJP feels. Advani’s supporters, on the other hand, worry that BJP workers in Gujarat will work against him as payback for an unsuccessful attempt last year to stop Modi from being nominated for the post of prime minister. Advani’s interest in swapping Gandhinagar for Bhopal reflects two political complexities for his party; it exposes the irritable relationship he shares with Modi.
Anyhow, Advani was solaced, but now Jaswant Singh wants to contest the general election from Barmer. He has never represented it in the Lok Sabha, but has reportedly told the party that he wants to contest what is likely to be his last election, from the constituency where he was born. His family hails from Jasol, a village in Barmer. Singh has won Lok Sabha elections before from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan in 1991 and 1996 and from Darjeeling in West Bengal in 2009. However, Vasundhara Raje is allegedly keen to award Barmer to Col (Retd.) Sona Ram Choudhary, who entered in BJP from the Congress Party earlier this week. The former army officer has represented Barmer in Parliament earlier, but was defeated in the 2004 election by Mr. Singh’s son Manavendra, who is now a member of the state legislature.
The chief minister has told the party’s top leaders that the retired colonel, who is a Jat, could be a big draw in Barmer. Jats are the dominant community in Barmer. Singh, on the other hand, is a Thakur. He is popular among the Muslim voters, who comprise some 14 per cent of the electorate in Barmer.In 2009, Singh had won from Darjeeling in a pact with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, or the GJM, which agreed to back his candidacy in return for the BJP’s promise to champion the “separate Gorkhaland” cause. Let’s see who breaks the ice here.
In the interest of the party, the senior leaders should act as a team and pull together in one direction. Success is at hand, and with thoughtful actions, it can be achieved. Forget the personal differences and pending ambitions for the sake of the party and for the country’s progress. However, on the other hand, RSS and Modi are behaving like a dictator. Advani is the classic case of ‘build something and if you cannot enjoy destroy it’ syndrome. He needs to understand that people are not voting for BJP, people are voting for Modi. People are not talking of BJP, they are talking about Modi. He should be large hearted to see someone from the organisation growing up and building that kind of dreams in people by his work as one has seenin Gujarat. At this ripe old age, Advani should not lose the respect which he has built in so many years of struggle. Let’s see whether BJP defeats Modi or Modi take over BJP.
Home Ministry has recommended to the President that the mercy petition of Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, be rejected.
The recommendation, recently sent to President Pranab Mukherjee, was based on the Maharashtra government’s decision that the mercy petition be rejected, a senior official said.
Yakub, a chartered accountant and brother of fugitive terror mastermind Tiger Memon, was sentenced to death by a TADA court in 2007 after being found guilty of charges of criminal conspiracy and for arranging finances and managing its disbursement through the co-accused in the Mumbai serial blasts.
Upholding the Mumbai TADA court’s verdict, Supreme Court, in March, 2013, had said, “It is not a hyperbole to state that he was one of the driving spirits behind the plan.”
In October, 2013, Yakub applied for a presidential pardon following which, a report from the state government was sought by Home Ministry.
Yakub was arrested from Kathmandu airport in 1994. He was later described by the TADA court as being the mastermind who played a key role in the conspiracy, thus “warranting death penalty”.
The multiple blasts had claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured. CBI, which probed the blasts cases, alleged that the conspiracy was hatched by Dawood Ibrahim and other absconding persons, including Yakub’s brother Tiger Memon, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Home Ministry has decided to convey to Supreme Court that Tamil Nadu government’s announcement about freeing all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was based on “extraneous considerations”.
The central government, which had moved the apex court on February 21 challenging the Tamil Nadu government decision, will file its reply to the court before March 27.
Immediately after Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of the three convicts in the case on February 18, Tamil Nadu government had informed the state Assembly that a decision had been taken to remit their life sentence, along with that of four other convicts.
Home Ministry had also sent two letters to the Tamil Nadu government detailing all legal and constitutional provisions which say that state governments have no power of remitting life sentences of prisoners as they are convicted under central laws.
Observing that the Maharashtra government cannot neglect the damage caused to persons during the August 2012 Azad Maidan riots, the Bombay High Court on Thursday sought to know if an amount has been fixed towards damage caused to public property as well as persons.
A division bench of Justices NH Patil and Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing a public interest litigation filed by one Sanket Satope seeking direction to the government to arrive at an amount and recover it from organisers of the rally at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai during which the riot took place.
Additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai informed the court that the collector’s office has arrived at an amount of Rs. 2.75 crores as damages to public property. “The collector’s office is conducting an inquiry against over 70 accused and 964 witnesses,” she said.
The court, however, observed that while the collector has estimated the cost of damage caused to public property, the loss caused due to personal injuries have not been considered. “According to the police report, 76 police officials, two fire brigade officials and four media persons suffered injuries during the riots. Have you (collector’s office) assessed the cost of this damage? Injuries to persons have been neglected,” Justice Patil said.
The bench observed that under section 51(3) of the Maharashtra Police Act, a district magistrate is duty bound to independently inquire into the damage caused to both property and persons. “Has this been done? Has a magistrate inquired into this and arrived at an amount? What steps has the state government taken to recover this amount?” the court asked.
The bench has directed the prosecutor to take instructions on this and posted the petition for hearing after two weeks.
A total of 62 persons were arrested by the city crime branch for their alleged role in the riots at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on August 11, 2012.
Two youths were killed and 52, including 44 policemen, injured on August 11 when a rally called to protest alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar turned violent. The protesters went on a rampage, attacking police, media persons and vehicles.
Sanjay Nirupam finds himself on the wrong side of the law for issuing controversial statement against NarendraModi.
Home Ministry has recommended to the President that the mercy petition of Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, be rejected. 
Observing that the Maharashtra government cannot neglect the damage caused to persons during the August 2012 Azad Maidan riots, the Bombay High Court on Thursday sought to know if an amount has been fixed towards damage caused to public property as well as persons.