Historic battle in MP's Chhindwara: Kamal Nath debuts in Assembly poll, son Nakul in Lok Sabha election

Agencies
April 29, 2019

Chhindwara, Apr 29: Madhya Pradesh's new power centre is witnessing a unique father-son electoral show with Chief Minister Kamal Nath and his son Nakul in the fray, hoping to boost not just the Congress but also strike roots as deep as the tree from where this region takes its name.

While the chief minister, a nine-time MP from the area, is contesting an assembly bypoll, Nakul Nath is hoping to get elected to the Lok Sabha from Chhindwara, named after the wild date palm tree known as Chhind.

A Doon school product and an MBA from the US, Nakul Nath, 44, is making his debut in electoral politics. His chief minister father is also a debutant, contesting assembly polls for the first time in his 40-year career. Nath senior needs to get elected to the state assembly as he recently took over as chief minister.

While 14 candidates are contesting the Lok Sabha seat, nine contestants are in the fray for the assembly polls, said District Electoral Officer and Collector Srinivas Sharma.

Sharma told PTI that all arrangements have been made to ensure that voters get to press their choices on two different EVMs in Chhindwara on Monday.

Locals and political pundits are of the view that the contest in Chhindwara, which borders Maharashtra and is about 300 km from state capital Bhopal, is lopsided and both father and son will have an easy win as the seat has been Kamal Nath's stronghold for decades.

The duo's main contest is with the BJP, which has pitted former MLA Nathan Shah Kavreti against Nakul Nath, and local party leader and businessman Vivek Sahu against the chief minister.

"This is a historic election as it is the first time in the country that a son and father are contesting polls on the same day and in the same district. I seek your blessings as not your 'neta' (politician) but 'beta' (son)," Nakul Nath said at a rally in Ambada village near here recently as his father looked on.

Nath, 72, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a handsome win for his son. He has been camping in Chhindwara city and holding six to seven rallies and meetings everyday, often beginning his day early on a blue Bell helicopter stationed right next to his home here in Shikarpur area.

It has been a family run campaign right through, said local Congress leaders.

Kamal Nath's wife Alka and daughter-in-law Priya have also been travelling from village to village to ensure the transition of the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat from father to son is accomplished with a mega win.

The chief minister kept track of his work, clearing files early in the morning or late evening at his camp office across the road from his residence, an aide said.

The MP CM, also the state Congress chief, invoked his 40-year association with locals and his "development model that gave Chhindwara an unique identity" to seek the blessings of voters for his elder son.

"Tear Nakul's clothes if he does not deliver," he said at a rally, underscoring his familiarity with the electorate.

"He is your son and in any case I am behind him," Kamal Nath assured the gathering. The campaign seems to have hit home.

"Chhindwara has traditionally voted for the Nath family. Even if Kamal Nath had placed any of his trusted lieutenants to take his place, he or she would have won. Now that it is his son, people will feel they are voting for the father only," Sanjay Kumar, a hotel manager and resident of the city, told news agency.

The BJP's leaders fighting the father and son have, however, not lost hope and are determined to snatch the citadel.

Former legislator Kavareti invoked the recent income tax raids against the aides of Nath senior to say his campaign "is a fight between the poor and the mafia who have money".

"How did Rs 281 crore worth of unaccounted funds get detected? Whose money is it? It is the money of the poor and the deprived. I am sure of a victory," the tribal leader said, referring to the recent tax department's charges in the case.

Kamal Nath has denied the allegations.

His BJP colleague Sahu, who is vying for an assembly seat, invoked the "capable" leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He added that he would ensure that the benefits of the Ujjwala scheme and housing for poor reaches the people here.

Arvind Uikey, an investment agent, said it would be interesting to see the margin of victory for the father-son combine.

"I think it will be a record of sorts either way. If Kamal Nath and Nakul Nath win by a huge margin, which looks to be the case, or even if they get defeated. But that is highly unlikely considering Chhindwara has seen development under the senior Congress leader," Uikey said.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Kamal Nath won the seat defeating BJP's Chandrabhan Kuber Singh by a margin of 1,16,537 votes. The LS seat has over 15,12,000 voters.

The seat has been a Congress bastion since 1957. The only time the party lost it to BJP was in the 1997 by-election when BJP candidate Sunder Lal Patwa won.

Kamal Nath's wife Alka has also represented the seat once.

The Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency has seven assembly segments Junnardeo, Amarwara, Chorai, Saunsar, Chhindwara, Parasia and Pandhurna. All seven were won by Congress in the 2018 assembly polls.

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News Network
July 5,2020

New Delhi, Jul 5: With highest-ever single-day spike of 24,850 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stood at 6,73,165, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Out of the total cases, 2,44,814 are active cases. On the other hand, India's cured/discharged patients count crossed the 4 lakh mark with 4,09,082 patients cured/discharged and one patient migrated.

As many as 613 deaths due to coronavirus were reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the death toll in the country to 19,268.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that collective and focused efforts for containment and management of COVID-19 by the government of India along with the States/UTs have led to the number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients rise to 4,09,082 as of today.

"During the last 24 hours, a total of 14,856 COVID-19 patients have been cured. So far, there are 1,64,268 more recovered patients than COVID-19 active cases. This takes the national recovery rate amongst COVID-19 patients to 60.77 per cent," the ministry said.

"With 786 labs in government sector and 314 private labs, there are as many as 1,100 labs in India," it added.

As per the Health Ministry, coronavirus cases in Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has breached the 2 lakh mark with 2,00,064 cases including 8,671 deaths.

Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 fresh COVID-19 cases and 60 deaths today, taking total cases to 1,11,151 and death toll to 1,510. Number of active cases stands at 46,860, according to the State Health Department.

Delhi's coronavirus tally nears the 1 lakh mark with 99,444 cases and the number of people succumbing to the virus stands at 3,067 in the national capital. As many as 9,873 RT-PCR tests and 13,263 rapid antigen tests were conducted today in Delhi. Total tests done so far stands at 6,43,504.

Meanwhile, Indian Council of Medical Research informed that the total number of samples tested up to July 4 is 97,89,066 of which 2,48,934 samples were tested yesterday.

There were seven new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours in Chandigarh, taking total cases to 466 including 395 recoveries and six deaths.
Himachal Pradesh Health Department informed that COVID-19 cases reach 1,048 in the state, of which, 309 cases are active and 715 have recovered.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 998 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a media bulletin released by AP state COVID nodal officer.

A total of 1,155 COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, taking the total number of active cases to 8,161 in the state, an official said. According to the official data, a total of 18,761 people have been cured while 785 people have died due to the virus in the state.

Eighteen more personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. There are total 151 active cases and 270 have recovered till date.

While, in the last 24 hours, 36 more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel tested positive for COVID-19 and 33 have recovered. There are 526 active cases and 817 personnel have recovered till date.

In Rajasthan, 224 fresh COVID-19 positive cases and 6 deaths were reported today. The total number of cases rose to 19,756 including 3,640 active cases and 453 deaths.

Odisha reported 469 new COVID19 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 9,070 including 5,934 recovered cases and 3,090 active cases, according to the health department.

Uttarakhand reported 31 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 3,124. Recovery rate among COVID-19 patients stands at 80.79 per cent.

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News Network
May 2,2020

New Delhi, May 2: With 2,293 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of cases in a single day, India's COVID-19 tally reached 37,336 on Saturday, including 1,218 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As many as 71 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total number, 9,951 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

In the state of Maharashtra, the number of coronavirus positive cases has crossed the 10,000-mark with at least 485 deaths.

The positive cases in Maharashtra has reached 11,506, including 1,879 discharged cases.

After Maharashtra, Gujarat has the most number of COVID-19 cases (4,721). The state has reported 236 deaths, while 735 people have been discharged.

The Centre on Friday extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown for two more weeks with effect from May 4 till May 17 while allowing different sets of relaxations in red, orange and green zones.

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News Network
January 14,2020

New Delhi, Jan 14: The curative petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, who were sentenced to death in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, was on Tuesday rejected by a five-judge Supreme Court Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana.

In a three-page order, the Bench concluded, after an in chamber consideration that began about 1.45 p.m., that there was no merit in their pleas to spare them from the gallows.

“We have gone through the curative petitions and relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra versus Ashok Hurra. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed,” the court held.

Curative is a rare remedy devised by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case in 2002. A party can take only two limited grounds in a curative petition - one, he was not heard by the court before the adverse judgment was passed, and two, the judge was biased. A curative plea, which follows the dismissal of review petition, is the last legal avenue open for convicts in the Supreme Court. Sharma was the first among the four convicts to file a curative.

The Bench also rejected their pleas to stay the execution of their death sentence and for oral hearing in open court.

Besides Justice Ramana, the Bench comprised Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman, R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

Curative petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by both convicts on January 9. The petitions had come just days after a Delhi sessions court schedulled the execution of all the four convicts in Tihar jail on January 22.

Sharma and Mukesh, in separate curative petitions, argued that there was a “sea change” in the death penalty jurisprudence since their convictions. Carrying out the death sentence on such changed circumstances would be a “gross miscarriage of justice”.

In his plea, Sharma said the Court had commuted the death penalty in several rape and murder cases since 2017, when it first confirmed the death penalty to the Nirbhaya convicts.

“fter the pronouncement of judgment in 2017, there have been as many as 17 cases involving rape and murder in which various three-judge Benches of the Supreme Court have commuted the sentence of death,” the petition contended.

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a review petition filed by Akshay Singh, another of the four four condemned men, to review its May 5, 2017 judgment confirming the death penalty. It also refused his plea to grant him three weeks' time to file a mercy petition before the President of India.

A Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi had said it was open for the Nirbhaya case convicts to avail whatever time the law prescribes for the purpose of filing a mercy plea.

Akshay (33), Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Sharma (24) had brutally gang-raped a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012. She died of her injuries a few days later.

The case shocked the nation and led to the tightening of anti-rape laws. Rape, especially gang rape, is now a capital crime.

One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

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