Voting for Bengal rural bodies begins
Kolkata, May 14: Polling for electing 38,616 representatives across three tiers to West Bengal Panchayat (rural) bodies began at 7am on Monday.
Long queues were seen outside several booths as people from all social and economic backgrounds patiently waited for their turn to exercise their democratic right.
Pre-poll surveys have predicted that the coming rural elections could provide an emphatic answer to the questions, with the BJP predicted to leave the Left Front and the Congress far behind and emerge as the main rival to the Trinamool -- which, the surveys claims, would walk away with the bulk of the seats at all three levels -- panchayat, panchayat samiti and the zila parishad.
As the nomination process started last month, all the opposition parties accused the Trinamool of indulging in strongarm tactics to prevent them from filing nominations.
Television pictures broadcast across the channels showed groups of armed mobs gathering before the offices of the Block Development Officers and the Sub-Divisional Officers in a number of districts and stopping prospective candidates from entering the poll fray.
The matter reached the Calcutta High Court, and the State Election Commission (SEC) extended the deadline for submitting nominations by a day, only to reverse the order in less than 12 hours, allegedly under pressure from the Trinamool.
The judiciary then put a stay on the elections, then scheduled to be held on May 1, 3 and 5. More bitter legal battles followed, at the end of which the SEC declared May 14 as the new polling date.
Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of rural local bodies, 20,076 seats or 34.2 per cent have already been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.
These seats include 16,814 of the total 48,650 panchayats, 3,059 of the total 9,217 panchayat samitis and 203 of the total 825 zila parishads.
The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in case of the uncontested seats.
The SEC has, on the other hand, said all arrangements had been made for providing security for the polls. Around 71,500 armed personnel would be on duty, manning every booth.
Armed forces have also arrived from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh to strengthen security arrangements.
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Delhi wakes up to cloudy Thursday with light rain, minimum temp at 17.6 deg C
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi woke up to a cloudy Thursday morning, with parts of the city receiving up to 12.5 mm of rainfall, while the minimum temperature stood at 17.6 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD stated that Safdarjung and Lodhi Road recorded 8.2 mm of rainfall each, while the Ridge station received 8.6 mm and Palam recorded 6.2 mm.
Ayanagar recorded 7.2 mm of rainfall, and Pitampura recorded 5.5 mm.
Additionally, Mayur Vihar recorded 3 mm of rainfall, while Janakpuri received 12.5 mm from 8.30 am on Wednesday till 8.30 am on Thursday.
The weather office noted that the minimum temperature was recorded at 17.6 degrees Celsius, which is 1.1 notches above the seasonal average, while the maximum temperature is expected to settle around 29 degrees Celsius.
According to the IMD, Delhi is under a yellow alert for very light to light rainfall, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, and gusty winds with speeds of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour.
The AQI stood in the 'moderate' category at 9 am, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 153, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
