Battle for Hyderabad: Polling underway in civic polls, counting on Dec 4
Hyderabad, Dec 1: Polling got underway on Tuesday in the high-stakes Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election following a vociferous and often acrimonious campaign.
The voting for the 150-ward GHMC began at 7 am and it would be ending at 6 pm.
A total of 74,44,260 voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives.
Union MoS (Home) G Kishan Reddy, ruling TRS working president and Telangana Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi were among the early voters.
Talking to reporters, both Kishan Reddy and Rama Rao appealed to the electors to vote without fail.
The total number of contesting candidates is 1,122.
The Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements for the balloting process by deploying 48,000 (including reserve) polling personnel and 52,500 strong police force.
The commission had decided to conduct the election with ballot papers after obtaining the views of major political parties and the Health Department in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and taking into consideration various relevant issues, it had said.
The commission has also made special arrangements in view of the pandemic.
The main contest in the poll is among the ruling TRS, opposition BJP and the Congress. The run-up to the polling witnessed a high decibel and often acrimonious campaign.
Buoyed by its victory in the recent bypoll to Dubbak Assembly constituency, the BJP conducted a powerful campaign to win the GHMC polls, to boost its chances in the assembly elections in 2023.
Top leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani and MoS (Home) G Kishan Reddy, who is Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad, party MP and BJYM national president Tejaswi Surya participated in the campaign.
The BJP highlighted the TRS' "alliance" with the AIMIM and sought votes to provide clean and transparent governance in the city. The TRS, however, denied any alliance with the AIMIM.
The TRS' campaign was led by its working president and state Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, while party supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressed a public meeting.
A bad loss in the GHMC elections could dent the TRS' image and bolster the opposition to step up its campaign against the ruling party.
The Congress campaign was led by its state president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and working president A Revanth Reddy and other senior leaders.
Once a major force in the state, but marginalised now, the TDP sought to revive its fortunes highlighting the development witnessed in the city, including in the IT sector, during N Chandrababu Naidu''s regime as chief minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
The TRS and BJP leaders were engaged in a war of words attacking each other.
The allegations continued on Monday as well with the BJP saying the ruling TRS indulged in unfair means and misuse of power to win the election.
Counting of votes will be taken up on December 4.
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Cash row: Probe panel confirms allegations against Justice Varma, CJI seeks his reply
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court-appointed panel has confirmed the cash discovery allegations against Allahabad High Court's Justice Yashwant Varma in its inquiry report, sources have said. Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is also learnt to have nudged the judge to step down in view of the critical findings in the report.
The CJI has forwarded the panel's report to Justice Varma and sought his reply following the principle of natural justice, the sources said.
The report was submitted to the CJI by the three-member panel comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court. It was finalised on May 3.
The panel analysed evidence and recorded the statements of over 50 people, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and Delhi Fire Service chief who were among the first responders to the fire incident at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14. He was Delhi High Court judge at the time.
Sources said the panel found clear evidence to confirm the allegations that a huge stash of cash was found in the storeroom of Justice Varma's official residence at the time of fire incident. The allegation was repeatedly denied by the judge in his reply to the Delhi High Court chief justice.
The sources said CJI Khanna, who is set to superannuate on May 13, is likely to take the issue to its logical conclusion and has informally discussed the findings of the report with senior collegium members of the apex court.
The controversy was raised following a news report in the cash discovery row and led to several steps, including a preliminary inquiry by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, judicial work being taken away from Justice Varma in the Delhi High Court, and later his transfer to the Allahabad High Court sans judicial work.
On March 24, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court.
On March 28, the top court asked the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court not to assign any judicial work for now to Justice Varma.
