Sharad Yadav defeats Laloo

PATNA, Oct 7 (PTI) — JD (U) President Sharad Yadav beat RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav by 30,319 votes in the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, election office sources said here today.

Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) officially cleared the result.

The commission’s decision followed a hearing given by it to Sharad Yadav, who had moved the Patna High Court seeking the countermanding of the election in the constituency, alleging large-scale rigging by the ruling RJD, whose president Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav was pitted against him.

In its order, the commission, which had been asked by the high court to hear Mr Sharad Yadav, observed that "in his oral submissions and also in the written representation given by him, Mr Sharad Yadav has not made any prayer for a repoll at any polling station in the constituency".

"Having regard to the above and in view of the fact that the counting of votes has been completed in the constituency to your (Returning Officer) satisfaction and to the satisfaction of the observers, the Election Commission hereby permits you to declare the result forthwith’’, the order despatched to the Returning Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar said.

Sensex gains 265 points

MUMBAI, Oct 7 (PTI) — A comfortable majority for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre set the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) into a flurry of activity with the benchmark index skyrocketing to a new historic-peak of 4985.15, an unprecedented rise of over 265 points in a single session today.

Share values spurted on an avalanche of buying enquiries, notably by speculators.

The day’s big jump in the sensex was the seventh largest in the history of the (BSE) and first after seven years when the sensex gained 344.76 points on 13th May, 1992. The sensex also breached its previous high of 4965.79 recorded on 30th August, this year.

Initially, equities resumed on a very strong footing right from onset of business on indication of early trends favouring the NDA. After a clearer picture emerged at midsession, bull operators went on the rampage and resorted to heavy all-round purchases.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened sharply higher at 4816.11 points with a wide gap over 118 points from yesterday’s close of 4697.70 and moved up further to close at an all-time high at 4963.10, displaying a sharp spurt of 265.40 points or 5.65 per cent. The BSE-100 index also shot up by 122.21 points to 2313.36 from previous close of 2191.15.

FIIs were reported to have made sizeable purchases in some software and pharma counters. Domestic institutions and mutual funds, on the other hand were buying the shares of some Indian companies such an Tisco, Telco, RIL, SBI and BHEL.

The BSE-200 index and the Dollex were quoted remarkably higher at 533.76 and 204.10 from their last close of 506.43 and 193.50 respectively, The BSE-500 index also shot up by 80.44 points to 1587.08 as against previous close of 1506.64.