PM, Advani win, Badal's son, Bhajan Lal lose

NEW DELHI, Oct 6 — The veil of suspense over the month-long elections to the 13th Lok Sabha and Assemblies of five states lifted today with the counting of votes cast in the five-phase polling beginning at 8 a.m.

The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee (BJP), defeated Mr Karan Singh of the Congress to win the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

To see the prominent winners and losers (updated at 3pm IST) click here.

Earlier story: Counting trends are expected to be available within a couple of hours from the 45 Lok Sabha constituencies where electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used. These include the seats of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee (Lucknow), Home Minister L.K. Advani (Gandhinagar) and Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh (South Delhi). The results for these seats are likely to be declared shortly after noon.

Counting will be taken up tomorrow in 538 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies and for 894 assembly seats of Andhra Pradesh (294 seats), Maharashtra (288), Karnataka (224), Arunachal Pradesh (56), and Sikkim (32).

Polling has been postponed to October 28 in five Lok Sabha constituencies — Purnia, Bhagalpur, Rajmahal and Khagaria in Bihar due to floods and Dhubri in Assam following the killing of BJP candidate Pannalal Oswal.

Elections were not held in four assembly constituencies of Arunachal Pradesh as only one candidate each had filed their nominations. Congress Chief Minister Mukut Mithi and two of his ministerial colleagues were among the four who have been declared elected unopposed.

Tight security arrangements have been made at all the 1,500 counting centres set up in 900 cities and towns across the country, the Election Commission said today.

The traditional method of counting will be followed in constituencies which had polling through ballot paper. The ballots will be shuffled first and made into bundles of 50 before the actual counting starts. Trends from these constituencies are expected only in the afternoon and the counting, going by experience is likely to take three to four days in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In the case of EVMs all that needs to be done is to check the seal in each machine and press the counting button. However, the results are expected to take about five or six hours as figures of the around 1200 EVMs used in each constituency will have to be totalled. About 1200 EVMs were used for each seat.

West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Jawahar Sircar said counting of votes will be held in 600 halls of 96 counting centres set up throughout the state.

Tight security arrangements have been made for counting in Tripura, Chief Electoral Officer Kishore Ambuly said in Agartala. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC have been promulgated around the counting centres.

Allahabad returning officer Alok Tandon said the use of cellular phones inside the Mandi samiti campus has been banned during counting of votes.

Kerala Director-General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sastry said five companies of armed police personnel would be deployed in each of the 14 districts to complement the permanent contingent of 2000 police personnel in each district.

In the union territory of Pondicherry, where EVMs were used in all 778 polling booths, the results are expected to be declared within six hours.

Counting will be taken up amid tight security in the Bellary constituency where Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj (BJP) crossed swords.

Deputy Commissioner and Bellary returning officer Raj Kamal said prohibitory orders under Section 144 would be promulgated near the vicinity of the three counting centres in Bellary city.

Elaborate security arrangements are in place in the 46 centres in Maharashtra, where counting will be held for 48 Lok Sabha and 288 assembly seats in the state.

In constituencies where ballot papers were used, counting is likely to start by 4 p.m., after the papers are mixed and sorted, and the trends are likely to emerge by 5.30 p.m.

In Chennai, a 10,000-strong police force, including ten companies of Tamil Nadu special police and 100 commandos will be deployed to maintain law and order during counting. All bars and outlets selling Indian-Made Foreign Liquor in the city will remain closed from October 5 to seven.

About 20,000 security personnel have been deployed in Punjab for the counting of votes for 13 Lok Sabha seats, Punjab chief electoral officer Brajendra Singh said.

In Madhya Pradesh, 62 counting centres, spread over 61 districts of the state, have been set up where more than 40,000 staff will be deployed.

In the Naxalite-affected Bastar division, BSF personnel would be deployed at the counting centres and nearby places.

The state’s public relations office at Raipur has set up loudspeakers to apprise the public about the trends and results. Also, the local cable network will beam a live telecast from the counting centre.

In Gujarat, nearly 30,000 officials will be engaged in counting votes for the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies. Each centre has been linked to the EC and the CEO’s office at Gandhinagar through modem. While the results of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are expected to come in by 1 p.m., the remaining results are expected to trickle in by midnight tomorrow.

In Panaji, where EVM’s were used for both Lok Sabha constituencies, the results are expected by late noon.

In Andhra Pradesh, barring the Hyderabad and Secunderabad parliamentary constituencies, where EVM’s were used, result for the other 40 Lok Sabha seats are expected to trickle in late at night.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made around the counting centres. The state Information Department has made arrangements for the display of results at several prominent places in the city and district headquarters.

In Himachal Pradesh, counting will be held at 49 counting centres set up at the sub-divisional and district headquarters in the state. The process will involve about 2,500 counting staff, besides supporting staff.

Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Mr Ram Sarup Sharma said 90 counting centres have been set up at 42 places, and about 125 -150 officials would be on duty in each counting centre. Prohibitory orders would be clamped within a radius of 200 metres at all the counting centres from tomorrow morning, until counting is completed.

About 20,000 counting personnel have been deployed for the counting of votes in 50 of the 54 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. Counting in some constituencies which went to the polls in the third phase might not start tomorrow, as repolling has been ordered in some areas.

State CEO A.K. Basu said Central paramilitary forces would guard all the counting centres and generator sets would be kept ready to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

The Divisional Commissioners of Bikramganj, Siwan and Darbhanga have been directed to personally monitor the counting process in these constituencies as the candidates have expressed apprehension.

In Uttar Pradesh the state Information Department has put up a display board and a public announcement system in the busy Hazratganj area.

In the North-East, elaborate security arrangements have been made for the counting of votes.

In Meghalaya, 15 counting centres have been set up — 11 for Shillong and four for Tura.

In Sikkim, counting of votes for the lone Lok Sabha seat and 32 assembly constituencies will be held simultaneously in the four district headquarters.

KOHIMA: Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Lalthara today recommended suspension of counting at Yimjenkimong polling booth in Mokokchung district.

Mr Lalthara said complaints of proxy voting in the booth were received from certain candidates and party workers and were confirmed by the returning officer of Mokokchung.

The polling station has 632 voters. If the winning margin of a candidate was less than 632 votes, repoll might take place in the booth, he added.

13th Lok Sabha by Oct 10: CEC
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 5 — The Election Commission said today the 13th Lok Sabha would be constituted by October 10, the day it would hand over the list of newly elected MPs to the President of India.

The Chief Election Commissioner, Dr Manohar Singh Gill said this here addressing a video conference organised by the Press Information Bureau. He said counting would start at 1,500 counting centres by 8.00 am tomorrow and would go on till declaration of results. The EC hopes to complete counting by October 7.

"We expect to complete counting by October 7 night and over the next two days, October 8 and 9, we have asked individual observers present in each Parliamentary constituency to fly back to Delhi and bring the documents,’’ Dr Gill said adding "We hope to go to the President by October 10'’.

Once the new House is constituted, the President starts the process of formation of the next government.

During the conference where he took questions from various state capitals, Dr Gill announced that the Supreme Court today stayed the Kerala High Court judgement directing the Election Commission to count the votes boothwise in the Lok Sabha constituencies.

The stay order will allow the EC to employ the method of first mixing the ballots and then counting them. However, in the case of EVMs the results will come out boothwise.

Answering a host of questions, Dr Gill said it was worrying that some candidates had attempted to take the EC to court during the elections. Despite the constitutional provision under Article 329 B which allows the EC jurisdiction over conduct of elections till the results are declared.

The EC, he said, was heavily engaged in a number of cases in various High Courts even while conducting elections.

The CEC said in the opinion of the Commission it was better to allow the Model Code of Conduct to remain in its present form rather than have it enacted.

Often, he said, the EC has to take a decision at a short notice and if the MCC was enacted the aggrieved parties could go to court, which would negate its application.

On the charges of EC being partisan, Dr Gill said that most political parties hurl charges during elections but otherwise all of them had faith in the EC.

Reeling of statistics, he said, that poll violence had come down. There were 1541 incidents in 1996 resulting in 313 deaths, 1541 incidents in 1998 and 251 deaths, and 924 incidents with 138 deaths this year.

Of the 138 killed 83 died in extremist/insurgency related incidents.

Contrary to public opinion, the CEC said it was not the job of the EC to provide security forces for elections but that of the state governments and the Union Home Ministry.

Unfortunately more and more state governments were requisitioning central police forces reflecting poorly on the state police.

Dr Gill said the election schedule was stretched this time since enough security forces were not available and the Home Ministry wanted at least a week between two poll days to move forces from one part of the country to another.

The EC, he said, has written to all state governments to consider compensating those who were killed while "protecting democracy’’ just as those who lost their lives protecting the country in Kargil.

To another question if the EC would suggest to the new Parliament to enact legislation banning exit/opinion polls, Dr Gill said the EC would keep away from it.

"We have no suggestions. It is for the political parties to take it up. Already a debate is on,’’ he said.

On poll expenditure, the CEC said that the matter was a grave one as a proviso allowed political parties and friends of candidates to spend without coming under the overall limit of Rs 15 lakh per Lok Sabha constituency.

He said it was not just up to the Commission but everyone in society to check the problem of overspending including distribution of cash and liquor.

Sharad Yadav begins fast

MADHEPURA (Bihar), Oct 5 (UNI) — The local administration has decided to take up the counting of votes for the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency tomorrow even as the Janata Dal (United) President and party candidate, Mr Sharad Yadav, began his indefinite fast demanding countermanding of the election to the seat.

Returning officer for the constituency Lyon Kunga said the counting would begin tomorrow as per schedule. He said no untoward incident was reported during today’s repolling in the constituency. Repoll was held at 16 booths in the constituency in which nearly 55 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise.

Meanwhile, the Patna High Court will hear a petition, filed by the Janata Dal (United) seeking repolling in the entire constituency tomorrow. The court, however, rejected the plea of the party’s counsel for staying the counting for the constituency, scheduled for tomorrow.

Earlier, Mr Sharad Yadav alleged that electoral norms had been violated by the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesman Shivanand Tiwari dismissed the demand of Janata Dal (U) as "undemocratic". He told reporters in the state capital that the claim of the BJP and the JD (U) that large-scale electoral malpractices had been committed during the polling on October 3 was "baseless." He said on the contrary, the JD (U) candidate tried to rig the poll and indulged in violence resulting in the death of an RJD leader.

Mr Radhakant Jadav, a former MLA of the state’s ruling party, began a dharna in Madhepura, demanding the arrest of the JD(U) President. He said Mr Yadav should accept the verdict of the people instead of vitiating the electoral atmosphere.

Meanwhile, BJP and JD (U) leaders staged a dharna in the state capital to press for countermanding the election in Madhepura constituency.

PATNA: The Patna High Court on Tuesday said it would decide on Wednesday whether or not to stay counting of ballots for the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, scheduled to start on Wednesday morning, after directing to enlist a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking countermanding of election there.

A Division Bench comprising Justice B.P. Singh and Justice Indu Prabha Singh made the observation when the PIL came up for reference.

Janata Dal (United) General Secretary Lallan Prasad Singh had filed the PIL seeking repoll in the entire Lok Sabha constituency following alleged large-scale rigging by the RJD in favour of party supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav.

62 pc votes cast in repoll

NEW DELHI, Oct 5 (PTI) — An estimated 62 per cent of the electorate today exercised their franchise in the repolling held in 244 booths spread across seven states which was by and large peaceful.

Repoll was held in 179 booths in Bihar, 20 in Uttar Pradesh, 15 in West Bengal, 17 in Andhra Pradesh, nine in Orissa, three in Tripura and one in Arunachal Pradesh.

A turnout of about 70 per cent was reported in Andhra Pradesh where police fired in the air to disperse clashing groups belonging to the ruling TDP and Opposition Congress in Macherla Assembly segment under Narsaraopet Lok Sabha constituency. However, the incident did not affect the polling process.

In Uttar Pradesh, an average 61 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the repolling in 20 booths of six parliamentary constituencies.

In the six polling booths in Amethi, where Congress President Sonia Gandhi, is in the fray, over 65 per cent votes were cast.

About 67 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote in the nine booths in Orissa.

In Bihar, about 50 to 55 per cent of the votes were cast in 179 booths in the repolling held under tight security.

Heavy turn-out was reported in the polling in 363 booths and repolling in 15 booths under eight Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.

In Tripura, where repolling was held in three booths, 65 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise, while in one booth in Arunachal Pradesh, polling per cent was about 50 to 55.