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Political Notes

	April 16, 2007

Lok Sabha by-elections in Maharashtra : Congress gets drubbing



In a major setback for the Congress and for Revenue Minister Narain Rane, especially, the Shiv Sena retained the Ramtek Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra last week, handing a humiliating defeat to its erstwhile party man-turned rebel, former Union Heavy Industry Minister Subodh Mohte. In two other byelections, the BJP retained the Jalgaon seat while the Nationalist Congress Party wrested the Erandol seat from the BJP. The Shiv Sena-BJP will find the outcome rejuvenating as it bagged two out of three seats.



Subodh Mohite has come as a major embarrassment to neo-Congresman Narayanan Rane at whose behest Mohite deserted the Sena. Rane had succeeded in getting the Congress candidature for Mohite soon after the decision. Rane, the Revenue Minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh Government, had also taken on himelf the responsibility to get Mohite elected.



The presence of Congress rebel Ranjit Deshmukh who was once the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president, in the poll fray as an Independent, also made matters easy for the Sena nominee in Ramtek. Sena’s Udhav polled 2,31,241 votes as against 1,38,898 votes polled by Mohite. Ranjit Deshmukh played a spoilt-sport for Mohite, by getting 78,838 votes.



The Congress has accused the NCP of actively working against its candidate in the Ramtek constituency, a charge which is bound to put further strain on the relations between the two alliance partners.



“The NCP let us down in Ramtek .. there was clear internal sabotage”, remarked Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra. Alva met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explain the reasons for the party’s poor performance.





Swaminathan, Kapila Vatsyayan nominated to Rajya Sabha



President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has nominated M.S. Swaminathan, India’s best-known agricultural scientist, and Kapila Vatsyayan, writer and scholar of Indian arts and a creative thinker, to the Rajya Sabha.



Prof. Swaminathan, widely hailed as the ‘Father of Green Revolution,’ has been honoured with a number of prizes and awards, including the World Food prize in 1987, the Tyler-Honda prize in 1991 and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sasakawa award in 1994. He was Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (1972-78) and headed the International Rice Research Institute (1982-88). Recently, he also chaired the National Commission on Farmers.



Kapila Vatsyayan is founder and former academic director of the Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Centre of the Arts. Soon after her nomination to the Rajya Sabha last year, she had resigned in the wake of controversy over the office of profit issue.





Expulsion of MPs: Apex court declines to review order



The Supreme Court has declined to review its January 10 order upholding the termination of the membership of 10 Lok Sabha Members and one Rajya Sabha Member for their involvement in the “cash for query” scam in December 2005.



Of the 11 expelled, six - Raja Ram Pal, Ram Sewak Singh, Suresh Chandel, Pradip Gandhi and Anna Saheb M.K. Patil (all Lok Sabha) and Chhatrapal Singh Lodh of the Rajya Sabha - filed petitions seeking a review of the judgment.



Observing no merits, a Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, dismissed the petitions.



The court held in January that the powers and privileges of Parliament under Article 105 would include the power of expulsion of their members.



Dismissing the petitions by a majority of 4:1, the court said: “proper opportunity to explain and defend having been given to each of the petitioners, the procedure adopted by the two Houses of Parliament cannot be held to be suffering from any illegality, irrationality, unconstitutionality, violation of rules of natural justice or perversity.”

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Jaipur police station adjudged best in the world



The Shipra Path Police Station in the capital city of Jaipur, has been adjudged the best in the world on several criteria by a global team.



The 54-strong police team, lead by Station House Officer Sunil Kumar Punia, is very special. The members do not drink tea, chew or smoke tobacco or consume alcohol. Bribes are a big no. Each person in the team, even subordinates, are addressed respectfully with the suffix “ji”; else a fine of Rs. 10 has to be paid.



It was for these reasons that the station, situated in a 4,000 sq m area sporting manicured lawns and exotic roses, was adjudged the “top station” by a global team, coordinated by the Altus Global Alliance, early this month.



Over 2000 people from 23 countries visited local police stations during the Visitors’ Week to assess the services available. At a ceremony in the City Hall Hague. in the presence of the Mayor and representatives from various embassies, a five-member jury announced the Shipra Path station as the “global station.” The judgment was preceded by a 20-minute presentation by Punia.



Asia’s juror for the Altus Alliance, Richard Aborn visited the station in March. He went on record to express his appreciation, saying, “I have not seen a police station like this anywhere in the world.”