9 dead in bus accident in Kerala
Palakkad (Ker) (PTI): Nine people, including five students, were killed after a private tourist bus hit a state-run KSRTC bus from behind at Vadakkenchery here, Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju said on Thursday.
The minister said the accident occurred around 11.30 PM on Wednesday when the private bus, which was travelling at a high speed, while attempting to overtake a car, hit the rear end of a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus.
"Both the buses went off the road as a result. Nine persons, including five students and a teacher, were killed in the accident," he told the media.
The minister also said that the preliminary view was that the accident occurred due to the high speed of the private bus and the negligence of its driver.
He said the KSRTC bus was going from Kottarakkara in Kerala to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and had 81 passengers, of whom three died in the accident.
The private bus was carrying 42 students and 5 teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan Senior Secondary School in Ernakulam, who were on a pleasure trip.
State Local Self Government Minister M B Rajesh, who visited the hospital in Palakkad where the injured were admitted, told reporters that four of them were in serious condition, but the rest were fine.
Meanwhile, state Revenue Minister K Rajan told the media that everyone was in shock regarding what happened.
He said there will be an investigation to ascertain how and why the accident happened and strict measures would be needed to be put in place for preventing such incidents in the future.
Rajan said a cabinet meeting will be held to consider providing compensation to the families who lost loved ones in the accident and that counselling may have to be provided to the students who lost close friends and a teacher in the tragic incident.
One of the students told a TV channel that the private bus was going at a very high speed and then rammed into the rear right side of the KSRTC bus and then toppled over.
"There was blood everywhere. We do not know what has happened to some of our friends and teachers who were in bad shape," he said, breaking into tears.
Another student said that she was watching a film when the accident occurred and someone landed on top of her as the bus toppled over.
"Someone pulled me and another girl out from the bus. But the girl sitting close to me could not be pulled out until much later," she said.
Around 40 persons were injured in the accident, police said.
Tragic Road accident in Kerala as tourist bus carrying students collided with Government bus near Walayar - Vadakancheri region. 9 dead. pic.twitter.com/GQMB1AyVjb
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
