Pranab Mukherjee elected as 13th President, P A Sangma cries foul

July 23, 2012

pranab13thNew Delhi, July 23: Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday scripted history by becoming the first person from West Bengal to be elected as the President of India. He defeated his opponent, former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, with a huge margin to be elected as the 13th President of the country.

Following the declaration of the results, Mukherjee thanked the people of the "great country" for his win with a record margin of sorts bagging 69 per cent of the votes.

"I express deep gratitude for electing me to high office," said Mukherjee.

Addressing mediapersons, he further said, "I thank all those who supported me…I thank Sangma for congratulating me." He said he would try to justify the trust of people, adding, "I have received much more than I have given".

Meanwhile, though Sangma congratulated Mukherjee on the win, he lashed out at his opponent saying the poll was not fair. Sangma did not even rule out moving court on the election, saying its process was "exceptionally partisan".

Not ruling out moving the Supreme Court on the election, he said, "We are meeting a day after tomorrow to review the whole situation where this matter will come up for discussion."

Addressing mediapersons, the former Lok Sabha speaker said the presidential and the vice presidential elections must have a code of conduct to make the elections fair.

When asked to clarify on his statement that the elections needed to be made fair, Sangma said that several states were given financial packages.

Sangma accused the UPA of indulging in unfair practices saying the election was not fair and the country had lost a great opportunity to elect a tribal President. "Election process was exceptionally partisan and political through economic and other packages, inducements and threats," he said.

"I might have lost the elections but nation also lost an opportunity to project a tribal as President. I thank Pranab Mukherjee for winning the Presidential poll," he told reporters.

"There is compelling need for establishing an election code of conduct in Presidential elections. Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections should have a code of conduct," he said, when asked to clarify on his statement that the elections needed to be made fair. He said that several states were given financial packages.

On asked if he will go to the court, he said, "We are meeting in a few days to discuss all these issues. We knew that there was a problem in Karnataka. Results also show in many places there was cross voting."

However, even before the election commission declared the final results, there was a steady stream of visitors at the residence of the former finance minister to congratulate him on the massive victory.

Among the early callers at his Talkatora Road residence, located not far from Parliament House, were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and ministers from the UPA Cabinet.

Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi came together ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to greet the 76-year-old veteran. They were soon joined by Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Union ministers A K Anthony, P Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Subodh Kant Sahai, Farooq Abdullah and E Ahamed visited Mukherjee's residence to greet him for becoming the 13th President of India.

"We thank our all our allies for the victory of Pranab Mukherjee as the President of India. This is an emphatic victory," Chidambaram said after meeting Mukherjee.

DMK leaders T R Baalu and Murasoli Maran also met Mukherjee to greet him.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier opposed the candidature of Mukherjee for the presidential elections but decided to back him two days before the voting, also congratulated Mukherjee. She also accepted the invitation by the President-elect to attend his swearing-in ceremony. The Trinamool Congress chief also invited Mukherjee to visit West Bengal first after the win.

Later, leaders from Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Left parties also congratulated the man of the moment.

However, the BJP in Karnataka suffered a humiliation when Mukherjee secured a backing of 117 MLAs as against Sangma's 103, with some party members cross-voting in favour of the UPA nominee.

Mukherjee had a pledged support from only 98 MLAs – 71 from Congress and 27 from JD(S) – but he managed to secure the support of 19 more legislators.

Sangma could only garner 103 votes, even though the BJP has 119 members in the Assembly.

The counting of votes for the Presidential election was done in Room number 63 of Parliament. Six groups were formed for the counting of votes.

The six groups were:

Group 1: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Nagaland, Tripura and Parliament

Group 2: Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand

Group 3: Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh

Group 4: Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Rajasthan, West Bengal

Group 5: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Delhi

Group 6: Goa, Karnataka, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

Following the counting, Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri officially declared Pranab Mukherjee elected as the 13th President of the country with 3095 votes valued at 7, 13, 763. His opponent P A Sangma secured 1483 votes valued at 3, 15, 987.

The total number of votes cast in the presidential elections was 4659, valued at 10, 47, 971, of which 4578 votes, at a value of 10, 29, 750, were valid. There were 81 invalid votes valued at 18, 221.

Agnihotri presented the certificate to Pranab Mukherjee on winning the presidential elections.


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News Network
April 9,2020

Patna, Apr 9: In a horrifying incident, a migrant woman was sexually abused in a Gaya hospital where she was kept in an isolation ward. Three days later, she died due to excessive bleeding.

The matter came to light on Tuesday when her mother-in-law informed the authorities concerned about the shocking incident.

The 25-year-old victim had returned to Bihar’s Gaya district from Ludhiana (in Punjab) along with her husband on March 25. Before returning to her in-laws’ place, she had undergone abortion at Ludhiana just when she was two months pregnant.

On reaching Gaya, she complained of excessive bleeding. Her husband admitted her to Anugrah Narain Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH) on March 27 where she was kept in the emergency ward.

Later, on April 1, on being suspected to be coronavirus patient, she was kept in an isolation ward. Her family members alleged that it was in this isolation ward where a doctor attending to her overnight outraged her modesty for two successive nights on April 2 and 3.

“The following day, she was discharged from the hospital after her coronavirus test report was found to be negative. However, after returning home, she remained aloof and struck by fear. On questioning, she revealed how a doctor had sexually abused her in the isolation ward. On April 6, she passed away due to excessive bleeding,” said her mother-in-law.

On receiving the information, the local police asked the mother-in-law to come to the hospital on Tuesday and identify the doctor (about whom the victim had given a description). However, the accused was not identified.

“Prima facie, the matter is serious. We are verifying the allegations. We will dig out the CCTV footage in the hospital and take strict action after identifying the culprit,” said Dr VK Prasad, the hospital superintendent.

Meanwhile, the Gaya police have arrested two people who posed as doctors and entered the isolation ward using doctors’ kits. One of the apprehended people works in a private.

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News Network
January 30,2020

New Delhi, Jan 30: Tension spiralled in Jamia Nagar on Thursday after a man fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring a Jamia Millia Islamia student before walking away while waving the firearm above his head and shouting "Yeh lo aazadi" amid heavy police presence in the area.

Massive protests erupted in the area after the incident with hundreds of agitated people gathering near the university, breaking barricades and clashing with police personnel.

The man, who identified himself as "Rambhakt Gopal", was subsequently overpowered by police and detained. He was taken into custody and was being interrogated, police said.

The entire drama, which triggered panic in the area, was captured by television cameras that showed the man in light coloured pants and a dark jacket, walking away on an empty road barricaded by police, turning around and shouting at the protesters in Hindi, "Here, take this freedom."

The gunman went live on Facebook before the brandishing the gun. Police said they were verifying whether it is his real name.

Before the attack, the man also put out messages on Facebook stating "Shaheen Bhag Khel Khatam" (Run Shaheen, the game is over). Another message stated, "Please wrap me in saffron in my last journey with slogans of Jai Shri Ram". His Facebook profile was deleted after screenshots of his posts were circulated widely on social media platforms.

Several students recapped how their peaceful march on Gandhi's death anniversary became violent.

"We were moving towards the Holy Family Hospital where the police had raised barricades. Suddenly, a gun-wielding man came out and opened fire. One bullet hit my friend's hand," Aamna Asif, a student of economics at the university, told PTI.

She said her friend, Shadab Farooq, a mass communication student, was trying to calm the attacker but he shot at him injuring his left hand.

Farooq, who belongs to Kashmir, was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Ragibh Naushad, an LLB student at the university, said, "The Jamia Coordination Committee organised a march to pay homage to Gandhi ji on his death anniversary. It started at 12 noon from Gate number 7, but police denied the permission and stopped the march near the Holy Family hospital.

"A man named Gopal, came there and started brandishing a weapon and later shot a round. He was also chanting pro-CAA slogans."

The incident led to panic in the area.

Khalid Hassan, a JMI alumnus, said initially many were not sure whether it was a gunshot or a tyre burst.

There was heavy police and media presence when the incident took place.

The students were heading from Jamia to Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat. The march was stopped at the Holy Family Hospital near the university.

Chinmoy Biswal, DCP (southeast), said the students wanted to take out a march from Jamia to Rajghat but were denied permission.

"They were being repeatedly told that the protest should be carried out peacefully. We had barricaded the road just before the Holy Family hospital. Meanwhile, a person was seen in the crowd who waved something which appeared to be a weapon."

"We have detained him and are interrogating him. One person has also been injured," Biswal said.

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News Network
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: The number of coronavirus cases crossed the one lakh mark in the country on Tuesday, while the death toll due to the infection touched 3,163, according to the Union Health Ministry.

A total of 134 deaths and 4,970 COVID-19 cases were reported in the country in the past 24 hours since 8 pm on Monday, it said.

The total number of coronavirus cases has risen to 1,01,139, the ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 58,802 while 39,173 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 38.73 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 134 deaths reported since Monday morning, 51 were in Maharashtra, 35 in Gujarat, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, eight in Delhi, seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Tamil Nadu, two each in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each in Bihar and Telangana.

Of the 3,163 fatalities, Maharashtra tops tally with 1,249 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 694 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 252, West Bengal at 244, Delhi at 168, Rajasthan at 138, Uttar Pradesh at 118, Tamil Nadu at 81 and Andhra Pradesh at 50.

The death toll reached 37 each in Karnataka and Punjab and 35 in Telangana.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 15 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 14 deaths while Bihar has registered nine and Kerala and Odisha each have reported four deaths.

Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities, while Assam has reported two deaths.

 Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the data provided by the ministry.

According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the existence of multiple disorders in the same person.

According to the health ministry's data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 35,058, followed by Tamil Nadu at 11,760, Gujarat at 11,745, Delhi at 10,054, Rajasthan at 5,507, Madhya Pradesh at 5,236 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,605.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,825 in West Bengal, 2,474 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,980 in Punjab.

It has risen to 1,597 in Telangana, 1,391 in Bihar, 1,289 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1,246 in Karnataka and 928 in Haryana.

Odisha has reported 876 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 630 cases. A total of 223 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 196 in Chandigarh.

Tripura has reported 167 cases, Assam has 107, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh have 93 cases each, Himachal Pradesh has 90 and Ladakh has registered 43 cases so far.

Goa has reported 38 COVID-19 cases, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.

Puducherry has registered 18 cases, Meghalaya has 13 and Manipur has seven cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each till how.

"814 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding "our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR".

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

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