RJD Lalu sticks to 11-seat offer to Congress

Sticking to his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats to Congress and one to NCP, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday appealed to Ms. Sonia Gandhi to agree to the seat-sharing formula asserting that he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.

“Through you (media), I appeal to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to agree to 12 seats being offered to the Congress and NCP in Bihar, and leave it to me to deliver the results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections,” he told reporters here.

Mr. Lalu was briefing media after nearly two-hour meeting of the RJD parliamentary board meeting at former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi’s official residence in Patna.

“I have no feeling of disrespect toward Sonia Gandhi,” he said, appealing to her to ink an alliance with his party.

“I promise to you I will stop the communal forces from coming to power at the Centre,” Mr. Lalu said.

Defending the 12-seat offer, the RJD supremo argued that he had to accommodate his party leaders and workers who too wanted to contest the elections.

Mr. Lalu, in a veiled threat to the Congress, in the eventuality of it not concurring to the proposals, said, “It is not my responsibility alone to stop the communal forces...others too should be accommodating.”

Mr. Lalu said that he went by winnability of the candidates before arriving at his formula for the seat sharing with the Congress and the NCP and this idea should be accepted by the allies too.

“Merely contesting the polls should not be the motto, but winnability should also be given due consideration,” the RJD supremo said, adding that the allies should also ensure transfer of votes to the winning candidates among them.

He lashed out at local Congress leaders for misguiding the party leadership, including Ms. Sonia Gandhi, against alliance with RJD in Bihar and appealed to Congress’ national leaders to read through the designs of local leaders and convince the party.

The RJD supremo recalled that the secular parties had lost badly in 2009 general elections due to split of votes.

On the status of alliance with Congress, Mr. Lalu admitted that as of the day he had not got any reply from Congress leadership, but the chapter was not closed as yet.

Mr. Lalu rued that the LJP had walked out of the alliance and joined communal forces.

The RJD supremo said that as far as he was concerned he was hopeful of an alliance with Congress and will continue to woo its leadership about firming up pre-poll tie in the days to come.

Upcoming Lok Sabha polls likely to begin from April 2nd week

Polling in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to commence in the second week of April and may be spread over seven phases, the longest so far, highly placed sources said on Sunday.

The probable dates for the commencement of polling are between April 7 and 10, the sources in the Election Commission told PTI while emphasising that the poll schedule was still being “fine tuned”.

As of now, the plan is to have voting, involving over 81 crore voters, in seven phases but efforts are on to reduce that to six phases. The 2009 polls were held in five phases from April 16 to May 13.

The much-expected announcement of the schedule is expected in the middle of this week. The Model Code of Conduct for governments and political parties will come into force from the date of announcement.

However, the Election Commission has ruled out advancing the schedule or compressing it to avoid the summer heat, a demand put forward at the all-party meeting convened by the Commission last month.

The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31.

Along with the Lok Sabha polls, Andhra Pradesh, including the regions comprising the newly-carved out Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies.

Highly placed sources in the Commission said finishing touches were being given to the schedule. Consultations with the Union Home Ministry, state governments, para-military forces and Chief Electoral Officers of states have already been completed.

There was speculation that the announcement may be slightly delayed for the Centre to promulgate some of the ordinances it plans to bring out against corruption and on some other issues but there is no confirmation of it.

If a six or a seven-phased schedule is finalised, it would be the first time the country would witness elections over such a long period.

The sources said that the attempt is to “maximise” use of forces and the polling days. In the first phase, polling is expected to be held in some of the naxal-hit states and in some North-East states.

For the first time in parliamentary polls, a system of paper trail for electronic voting will be introduced in some constituencies on a trial basis.

There have been demands that a paper trail should be in place so that a fool-proof record is created and controversies avoided in case of a dispute or an election petition filed in courts.

In a bid to create a level—playing field, the Model Code of Conduct bars governments in the Centre and in the states from making any kind of announcements regarding new schemes or promises so as to lure voters.

The Commission has also issued guidelines to political parties asking them to explain the rationale of financing the promises they make in their election manifestos. The guidelines that followed Supreme Court directions in this regard have now been made part of the Model Code.

An estimated 81.4 crore voters will be eligible to vote in the coming elections after 9.71 new voters have been added to the rolls since the last elections.

From the coming elections, candidates in a Parliamentary constituency in bigger states can spend up to Rs 70 lakh on their campaign, up from Rs 40 lakh in 2011. In the 2009 elections it was Rs 25 lakh.

Another first in the Lok Sabha elections will be the introduction of “None of the Above” (NOTA) option in voting, which was put in vogue in the assembly elections a few months ago.

The electoral rolls are ready after being updated with January one this year as the cut-off date.

A total of 1.1 crore poll personnel, half of them being security forces will be deployed for the smooth conduct of polls and to ensure that they are free and fair.

Poll officials said the database of the civilian staff to be deployed for conducting polls has been prepared and at least 5.5 million civilian staff would be deployed.

The list of central government employees to be deployed for poll duty as micro observers in sensitive polling stations has also been prepared.

About 8 lakh polling stations have been set up across the country keeping in view the convenience of both the voters and the poll staff.

Preparations have been made for deployment of around 12 lakh electronic voting machines with the addition of another 2.5 lakh new EVMs which it had ordered with various public-sector companies.

During the 2009 polls, there were 714 million voters against 671 million voters in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

The Commission favours a multi-phased election for a country of India’s size and electorate because it is better that there is “complete satisfaction” of voters.

Otherwise, it can lead to “discontentment” in case of any shortcomings, they said.

Some states will be accorded special treatment due to their being affected by extremism.

The EC sources said the Commission has not conducted any election in a single go in one phase after 1971 as the size of the electorate in the world’s largest democracy has grown considerably over the years.

The officials also said that the entire poll process takes around three months time. But there is a limit of six weeks time from the announcement of the schedule to the first date of poll in view of the Supreme Court direction that the Model Code of Conduct inhibiting government decisions cannot be an unduly long period.

They said the Commission has to give around two weeks’ time for government formation before the term of the Lok Sabha or a state assembly expires. In the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, which will have assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha polls, the Commission will place two EVMs alongside for voters to vote in both the elections.

Andhra Pradesh has 42 Lok Sabha constituencies and a 294-member Assembly. Out of this, 25 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 Assembly constituencies will remain with the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, while Telangana will have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 117 Assembly seats.

Odisha will also elect its 147-member assembly while Sikkim has a 32-member state assembly.

The terms of Andhra Pradesh assembly is till June 2, that of Odisha is till June 7, and of Sikkim till May 21.

MODI SAYS Congress playing fraud with armed forces

Slamming the “delay” by UPA in granting ‘one-rank, one-pension’ for ex-servicemen, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday accused Congress of playing “fraud” with the armed forces and mocked Rahul Gandhi’s pitch on fighting corruption.

Addressing a ‘fateh’ (victory) rally with leaders from the ally Shiromani Akali Dal on the dais, the Gujarat Chief Minister, who donned a saffron turban, also dismissed as “rumours and a pack of lies” the controversy about migration of Sikh farmers from Kutch region in his state, promising that no Sikh farmer will have to leave Gujarat.

He described the BJP-SAD alliance in Punjab as a symbol of Hindu-Sikh unity which has put to end the “Congress’ game of divide and rule”.

In his 30-minutes speech at a packed ground, Mr. Modi was unsparing in his attack on Congress and said the party was now throwing pepper instead of dust in the eyes of the people to befool them, a reference to the pepper spray incident in Lok Sabha involving an expelled Congress MP during the taking up of Telangana bill.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate took potshots at the Gandhi family and Congress for targeting other parties on corruption.

“I am surprised that the leader of Congress is now engaged in raising fingers on other political parties on the issue of corruption, when the entire ABCD has become the identity of the corruption of Congress. When Rajiv Gandhi was ruling the country as Prime Minister, there was no other party but only Congress, which was in power from Parliament to Panchayat.

“At that time he had said that when he sends a rupee from Delhi, only 15 paisas reach the village. What was this ‘Panja’ which used to rub the rupee (one rupee coin) and it would turn into 15 paisa,” Mr. Modi said, vowing that if he is elected Prime Minister he will occupy the top seat as a “chowkidar”(warchman) and won’t allow the ‘Panja’ (hand) to cast its shadow on the state treasury.

He hit out Congress on one-rank, one-pension issue.

After Rahul Gandhi’s push, the government accepted the long-standing demand of ex-servicemen for ‘one-rank, one-pension’ and allocated Rs. 500 crore for the fund a few days back. This decision is expected to benefit around 30 lakh retired personnel of the Armed forces.

Mr. Modi wondered why the government did not bring this proposal in previous budgets even as it was in power for last ten years.

“The government, which is sitting in Delhi has always been playing a farce with the Armed Forces. Before this also, a number of times, the Finance Minister of Congress had made announcements about One Rank One Pension (OROP) but never fulfilled it.

“Even this time since I am repeatedly talking about it, they have announced it but this is a “fraud” (dhokha) with you. Had Congress party been honest, they had the chance to it in 10 budgets from 2004 to 2014. But they did not do it,” Mr. Modi said.

Maintaining that had the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee come to power in 2004, this would have been done, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, “only our government will be able to implement it.”

Mr. Modi also appeared to be reaching out to UPA ally National Conference as he mentioned Union Minister Farooq Abdullah among the leaders from whom he learnt how the administration is run.

“I worked with Bansi Lal, Parkash Singh Badal, Om Prakash Chautala, Farooq Abdullah and I saw how administration is run. What could I learn from Badal Sahab, helped me a lot in running the government in Gujarat. Being with these seniors helped me a lot in administration,” he said.

National Conference was earlier with NDA while BJP is likely to have an alliance with Chautala’s INLD this time as well.

Accusing Congress of cheating people, Modi said, “Now since they felt that you have become aware, they have engaged in throwing pepper in Parliament. Those, who used to throw dust are now throwing pepper so that people fail to see the sins and the bad governance of Congress.”

On the issue of alleged displacement of Sikh farmers from Kutch region of Gujarat, he said that it was a false propaganda from certain elements.

“I assure that no Sikh farmer will be displaced from Kutch and Gujarat,” he said amidst applause from the gathering.

“If any officer does anything wrong he will go but no Sikh farmer will be displaced from Gujarat,” he said.

“The people who are misguiding on the issue are posing a threat to the country,” he said adding that “the entire country is one“.

He applauded that both Punjabis and Gujaratis are moving on the path of development and live together in many countries.

On the issue of SAD and BJP alliance, he said it is “troubling Congress as its policy of divide and rule had failed“.

Professing his love for Punjab and its people, Mr. Modi said that music and food of the state is a favourite in Gujarat too and recalled how he had strived to build an earthquake ravaged Gurudwara in Lakhpat in Gujarat.

He also lashed out at Congress for allegedly forgetting freedom fighters liken Lala Lajpat Rai. “For Congress only Gandhi family is making sacrifices for the country,” he said

He also lauded the contribution of Punjab in his endeavour to build statue of unity in Gujarat.

Holding that his only aim is development, he said before polls NDA is National Democratic Alliance but when in government it will be National Development Alliance.

The only aim of NDA is “development” of the country, he said.

The BJP leader, who was offered a ‘turban’ at the rally, said he will keep the sanctity of turban at all cost.

“My responsibility is to keep the respect of turban intact...I will fulfil the responsibility of tradition of sacrifice...the country will flourish and farmers will be satisfied,” he said.