Advani urges Pranab for simultaneous polls, fixed legislture terms

August 12, 2012

advani

New Delhi, August 12: BJP leader L.K. Advani Sunday called upon President Pranab Mukherjee to take the initiative for bringing the country out of "perpetual election mode" and ensure simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies every five years with fixed term for the legislatures.

In the latest post on his blog, Advani said successive elections to state assemblies was not good for governance and polity as it influences decision making.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said he had discussed the issue of electoral reforms in 2010 with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee, the then Leader of House in the Lok Sabha, and both were receptive to his suggestion that there should not be midway dissolution of either the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and they should have a fixed tenure.

"For the non-partisan responsibility Pranab Da has just assumed, taking an initiative regarding electoral reform would be very appropriate," he said.

"Let the new Rashtrapati take an initiative with regard to poll reforms in their totality, but more specifically in respect of this particular matter which we had once discussed," Advani said.

"Let the present government in which he himself has been a principal player accomplish this one thing at least: a fixed tenure for Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and simultaneous elections at the centre and states every five years," he added.

Advani noted that the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) term will end May 2014 but 12 states have seen elections since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and two more are expected to go to polls before the end of 2012.

"In a way, for those running the Union Government this vast country of ours with its huge population is in a perpetual election mode. When for six years we were in the NDA Government we actually experienced how impending elections even in a remote corner of the country used to influence decision making in New Delhi. I feel this is not good either for governance or for the polity," Advani said.

The BJP leader said first general elections in India and assembly elections were held in 1952, and this was repeated in 1957, 1962 and 1967.

The fifth general elections were due in 1972 but were held in 1971 due to the Lok Sabha's early dissolution at the insistence of the Indira Gandhi government, but assembly elections took place as scheduled in 1972, thus leading to "the initial delinking" of the two.

Advani also said that the use of Article 356 - which empowers the union government to dissolve a state assembly if it concluded that the government in the state was not being carried on in accordance with the Constitution - had resulted in the delinking of the election programme of different states.

Referring to the election system in the US where the election date is fixed, Advani said that the exact date of elections should not be arbitrarily decided by the executive.

Advani added that during his discussions on the issue of simultaneous elections with the prime minister and Mukherjee, he had indicated that the British government was also thinking in the same direction and their parliament had also passed a law in this direction in 2011.


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Agencies
July 1,2020

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived as his grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of duty as terrorists opened fire on a patrol team.

In heart-wrenching images, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen, according to the police.

The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of the child being carried to safety by a policeman.

"Jammu and Kashmir police rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police.

The child was travelling in a Maruti car with his grandfather from Srinagar to Handwara when it was hit by a spray of bullets in Sopore town, which is in Baramulla district about 50 km from Srinagar.

The police said terrorists hiding in a mosque fired indiscriminately at the patrol team as it was getting off a bus. The CRPF troops retaliated but the terrorists managed to escape.

According to the CRPF, the grandfather stopped the car and got out to run to a safe spot but was shot dead in the firing by terrorists. The boy was later rescued by a policeman standing nearby.

Last week, a six-year-old boy was killed during a terror attack on the CRPF in Anantnag.

Little Nihaan Bhat was sleeping in a parked car when he was hit by a bullet. Police say the terrorist was on a bike and opened fire from a pistol on a CRPF patrol. One jawan was killed. The child's killing drew widespread anger and condemnation.

The terrorist believed to be involved in the Anantnag attack escaped yesterday after an encounter with security forces. Police said two other terrorists who were hiding with him at a village were killed.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 9,2020

Bijnor: A 17-year-old Dalit youth was shot dead by four miscreants belonging to the upper caste of Hinduism after the former tried to enter a temple in Uttar Pradesh.

The deceased was identified as Vikas Jatav. The accused had tried to stop the deceased from entering into a temple. 

On being stopped from entering the temple located in Domkhera village, Jatav raised and objection and started arguing with the accused. 

The accused were identified as - Lala Chauhan, Horam Chauhan, Bhushan and Jasveer. The incident took place on May 31, according to the father of the deceased. 

How it happened 
On May 31, Jatav went to a temple in Domkhera to offer his prayers. The four accused, however, did not let him go inside. Following this, an argument broke out between the accused and the 17-year-old boy. 

On the same day, the victim approached the police and lodged a complaint in relation to the incident. The police, however, did not take any action against the accused men. 

Late night on Saturday, Jatav was sleeping inside his house when the four men barged in and opened fire at him. 

Hearing the gunshots, Jatav's family rushed to rescue him, following which, the accused escaped. Vikas was profusely bleeding after being shot and succumbed to the injuries before he could reach the hospital. 

Lala Chauhan and Horam were nabbed by the police while the other two are still at large. The four accused have been booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST Act.

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: When a reign of terror was unleashed by "masked goons" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, Delhi Police registered two cases against varsity students union president Aishe Ghosh, who was badly injured in the attack, within a span of five minutes.

The registration of cases on two separate complaints against Ghosh and other students filed by JNU security department on January 3 and January 4 were registered on Sunday night when the violence was on, triggering questions about the motive behind the timing.

While the FIRs against Ghosh and others were registered between 8.44 pm and 8.49 pm after the JNUSU president was admitted to AIIMS, an FIR on the Sunday violence was registered on Monday at 5.36 am against unknown persons. The Sunday violence case has been transferred to Crime Branch for further investigations.

Questions are being raised over the registration of FIRs on Sunday while the complaints were filed on the previous days. Students allege that it was an afterthought from the police and authorities, as a nationwide outrage erupted as soon as the violence was reported.

Delhi Police is under attack for not coming to the aid of students targeted by the mob of ABVP activists armed with iron rods and sticks who went on a rampage on the campus. While no single person in the Sunday violence was arrested, the police are also accused of being a "mute spectator" by allowing the rioters to leave the campus without being arrested.

In its complaints, the JNU Security Department has alleged that Ghosh and others entered into a verbal and physical scuffle with security guards, including women, when officials tried to open the Centre for Information System (CIS) that was blocked by students protesting against the fee hike and registration process.

While the January 3 complaint claims that the students switched off the power supply to the CIS and evicted staff forcefully, the January 4 complaint alleged that they damaged the information system.

They also claimed the students damaged the servers, made it dysfunctional, severely damaged optic fibre cables and broke the biometric system in the CIS. The complaint also cited a Supreme Court order that prevented any protest within 100 metres of Administration Block and claimed the students violated the direction.

The FIR filed on Sunday violence on the basis of the statement of Inspector Anand Yadav said that the first phase of violence was reported at 3.45 pm when "40-50 unidentified" people who had "covered their faces" attacked students in Periyar Hostel and the situation was brought under control.

However at around 7 pm, "50-60 people with rods in their hands" targeted students in Sabarmati Hostel in which students were attacked and public property destroyed.

The FIR said that students were injured but skipped the mention of the attack on teachers, who were injured. At least two faculty members Sucharita Sen and Ameet Parameswaran were taken to AIIMS while several other teachers suffered minor injuries.

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