FIRST PHASE OF POLLING ON OCT 28 l Seats going to polls: 71 constituencies in 16 dists. l Candidates in fray 1,066. Male: 952, Female: 114.
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00
RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 332
l Total electors: 2,14,84,787. l No of polling stns: 31,380
BIHAR SET FOR FIRST PHASE OF POLLING IN ASSEMBLY ELECTION AS CAMPAIGN CONCLUDES
Top politicians in Bihar were busy with their last rallies as the campaign for 71 constituencies across 16 districts that will vote on October 28 in the first phase of the Assembly elections ended on Monday evening. The second and third phases of polling will take place on November 3 and November 7. Results will be declared on November 10. The opposition RJD is contesting 42 seats - the most number of seats in the first phase of polling by any party.
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD 21°C - 35°C
l Seats being contested: JDU-35, BJP-29, RJD-42, Congress-21, Left-8.
www.firstindia.co.in | www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia | instagram.com/thefirstindia
Controlling lawfully! Centre plans law to tackle air pollution —PHOTO BY ANI An anti-smog gun deployed outside a construction site to tackle pollution, in New Delhi on Monday.
3 PDP leaders quit after Mufti ‘hurt’ patriotic feelings Srinagar: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Hussain A Waffa resigned from the party on Monday stating that they feel quite uncomfortable over some of party chief Mehbooba Mufti’s actions and undesirable utterances especially which hurt patriotic sentiments. “We... are feeling quite uncomfortable over some of your actions and undesirable utterances especially which hurt patriotic sentiments,” read a letter to Mufti signed by three leaders. “Instead of overcoming the challenges from within and outside by a process of broader consultations and trust, some elements within the party pulling the party and leadership in a particular direction, thus deviating from the basic principles, agenda and philosophy, making it difficult to face the saner voices in the society,” it said. The three leaders said that some of the actions and utterances are unpardonable and unforgettable by the people, for the party, to emerge out and move in the direction of its fundamental Turn to P6
CENTRE ASSURES SC OF LAW ON AIR QUALITY New Delhi: The Central government submitted before the Supreme Court on Monday that it is contemplating the creation of a permanent body by enacting legislation to deal with the annual air pollution issue in the national capital region arising from stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appear-
ing for Centre, said that the government will bring new legislation in three to four days and asked the top court to keep in abeyance ‘Justice Lokur Committee’. On request by the Central government, a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde kept in abeyance the operation of it’s October 16 order, which had appointed its former judge Madan B Lokur as one-man commission to
submit a report on air pollution, including stubble burning. “It is good that the govermment is coming up with a law. This is an issue that anyway should have been looked into by the government. Everyone in this city is choking due to bad air,” the bench said. Mehta also apprised the court that the draft law will be ready in a matter of a few Turn to P6
AIR POLLUTION MAY HINDER INDIA’S FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19: EXPERTS New Delhi: Causal link between air pollution and Covid-19 cases is yet to be established conclusively but long-term exposure will certainly make people more vulnerable to lung infections, warn scientists as the skies over large parts of north India, including Delhi, turn smoky and the air quality deteriorates rapidly. A study by researchers at Harvard in September showed that an increase of only one microgram per cubic metre in PM 2.5 is associated with an 8 per cent increase in the Covid-19 death rate.The air quality in north India is expected to deteriorate further from November to February due to several factors such as stubble burning, festive fireworks and low wind speed etc.
LAHDC POLL: BJP WINS 15, CONG 9 Jammu: Bharatiya Janata Party on October 26 won the majority of seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh (LAHDC-Leh) polls, by capturing 15 out of 26 constituencies, followed by the Congress with nine seats. The BJP managed to win most of the far off seats outside the Leh town, including six out of seven seats of the
A voter shows her inked finger after casting her vote for LAHDC polls, in Leh. —FILE PHOTO
remote Nubra valley. Two Muslim faces, Ghulam Mehdi from
Turtuk, and Mirza Hussain from Chuchot, were among the
BJP winners. Constituencies won by BJP included Turtuk, Panamik, Tegar, Hunder, Diskit, Tangtse, Kungyam, Sku Markha, Thiksey, Korzok, Lingshed, Lamayuru, Martseylang, Khaltse and Chuchot while Congress won Lower Leh, Upper Leh, Igoo, Saspol, Basgo, Sakti, Phyang, Skurbuchan and Temisgam. Chushul and Nyoma were two
seats won by the independent candidates. “BJP’s victory in Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh election is historic. BJP has won 15 out of 26 seats. I congratulate Shri Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and all karyakartas of Ladakh unit of BJP. Gratitude to the people of Ladakh for their faith in BJP,” tweeted BJP prez JP Nadda.
India, US to ink ARE BJP & BSP AGAIN defence pact today COMING TOGETHER? BJP surprises everyone by leaving 1 RS seat for BSP
PRAKASH JAVADEKAR @PRAKASHJAVDEKAR I condemn the remark of Mehbooba Mufti. Disrespect for the tricolour is unacceptable. The tricolour is our honour and the identity of India.
THERE WON’T BE ‘DO NISHAN, DO PRADHAN’: RAVI PRASAD Aurangabad (Bihar): Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday raised the issue of abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and building Ram Temple in Ayodhya at the election rally held in Aurangabad. “A grand Ram Temple is being built. Some people have a problem with it. They also have issues with Article 370 (abrogation). I’d like to say clearly, there won’t be ‘do nishan do pradhan’. There’ll be Tiranga everywhere,” Prasad said. He further lashed out at the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) over the photos of former chief ministers Lalu Yadav, and Rabri Devi missing from its posters during the campaigning phase.
Ahtesham Siddiqui
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secy Dr Mark T Esper meeting in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
New Delhi: India and the US will ink a landmark defence pact on Tuesday that will provide for sharing of highend military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between their militaries, officials said after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held wideranging talks with his US counterpart Mark T Esper in New Delhi. During the talks, Singh and Esper explored
ways to further deepen cooperation in the IndoPacific region, enhance military-to-military ties, and reviewed key regional security challenges including in India’s neighbourhood, officials said. The sources said, while deliberating on regional security challenges, the two sides briefly touched upon India’s border row with China in eastern Ladakh. Turn to P6
Lucknow: In what could be termed as perhaps the biggest development in one of the most politically charged state of India—Uttar Pradesh—the ruling BJP has given a berth to Mayawati’s BSP in the run up to the Rajya Sabha elections. On Monday, the Saffron party announced its 8 candidates for the RS poll, whereas it is firmly placed in the state to make 9 candidates win for the upper house. Political pundits believe that this is a strategic move to give
Yogi Adityanath
Mayawati
one seat to the BSP which can also ferry its candidate without any problem. The late night development has raised curiosity as to if there is an understanding between the BJP and BSP since at present BSP has merely 14 MLAs and in the run up to Assembly polls, which is approximately two years from now and with Congress harping on the votes, it appears that this would be once again be a time-
ly coalition. With the BJP having 304 members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the November 9 election for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state may turn out to be a nearly onesided affair for the party, feel poll analysts. The BJP’s all eight nominees for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh are likely to win as the party has the threefourth majority in the state assembly. Turn to P6
CAMPAIGN SHOCKER
Sitting minister makes explosive admission during bypoll campaign for BJP candidate Jitu Chaudhary First India Bureau Valsad: In an explosive development, a minister of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has admitted that the state government has withheld funds meant for the development of Kaprada constituency
simply because it has a Congress MLA. The revelation came from Minister of State for Forests and Tribal Development Raman Patkar, on Monday, while he was campaigning for BJP candidate Jitu Chaudhary. The Congress party has demanded action
—FILE PHOTO
‘State released fewer funds for Kaprada since it had a Congress MLA’
Minister of State for Forests and Tribal Development Raman Patkar.
against Patkar. Addressing a public meeting in Nana Pondha, Patkar said, “Earlier, as a Congress MLA, Jitu Chaudhary faced difficulties in his work. He could not keep his promises made to voters as we used to release a lower amount of funds to his constituency and divert the rest to Sangathan. Now that he has joined the BJP, more development will take place.” Monday’s shocking
revelation has alarming implications for democracy itself, since it implies that the ruling party is essentially punishing people for voting for the opposition by holding up development in those areas. Congress party’s chief spokesperson Manish Doshi in a letter addressed to the Governor and Election Commission of India has demanded action against minister Patkar
under Section 123 of the People’s Representative Act 1951 for corrupt practices. Doshi said, “The minister was obliged to do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will. His admission that fewer funds were released to constituencies where the elected representative belongs to the op-
position party is contrary to the Constitutional scheme and in violation of the model code of conduct. Patkar’s statement has confirmed what some Congress turncoats have said after they switched over to the BJP: that joining the ruling party would allow them to get more development work done in their constituencies. For instance, Minister of Water Supplies Kunvarji Bavalia Turn to P6