He is BACK to Fight: Varun Gandhi out on Parole

The Supreme Court Thursday ordered "forthwith release" of BJP leader Varun Gandhi for two weeks to enable him to file his nomination for Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency and campaign for the polls.A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishanan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J.M. Panchal ordered Gandhi's release, pending a final decision on his lawsuit challenging his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) by the Uttar Pradesh government.The bench ordered Gandhi's temporary release, dismissing the Uttar Pradesh government's stiff opposition.This will enable him to file his nomination by the deadline of April 24."The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomes the Supreme Court decision. Varun Gandhi is an active party worker. He will campaign for the party," BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj told reporters here."Where all he will go and for whom he will campaign will depend on Varun's comfort and demand from candidates to campaign for them - there are a lot of people who want him to campaign for them," he added.The court said Gandhi would be released Thursday after submitting an affidavit to Etah jail authorities, swearing that he will not make provocative speeches during the poll campaign. He would be filing a similar affidavit later to the Supreme Court by Monday.Authorities of the Etah Jail, where Gandhi has been lodged since April 1, said they were waiting to receive the court order to release him. MrV.R. Sharma, Etah jail superintendent says that he think that the court order will come through fax to Etah district magistrate and hence will be passed on to me. We are waiting for the court orders. "The apex court decision will be followed word by word the moment we receive the order and Varun Gandhi will be released within 10 minutes," he added.The Gandhi scion had been arrested after a series of campaign speeches vilifying Muslims, the tapes of which he said had been doctored. His lawsuit challenging invocation of the NSA against him will come up for hearing May 1."We believe when the Uttar Pradesh government's decided to slap the National Security Act, it was acting under vendetta. They grossly misused the act. We didn't trust them then and we don't now," Punj said."Justice has been done partially at least," he concluded, adding that "everything would become clear in the hearing".

India-Maoist: Boycott of All Elections

India general elections 2009 took off with a violent start as at least 17 people were killed as Maoist guerrillas mounted attacks on polling officials and security personnel across four insurgency-hit states.The states that were hit were Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Orissa, amongst the 17 states and union territories conducting elections in the first phase, where Maoists tried to implement their poll boycott in a hail of bullets and blasts.In Chhattisgarh, holding elections for its 11 parliamentary seats, five members of a zonal reserve polling team members were killed in a landmine blast detonated by Maoists in Rajnandgaon district.In the second incident, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was killed in Maroki village in the Maoist stronghold of Dantewada in an exchange of bullets with guerrillas.Maoist attacks sparked panic at six polling stations in southern Bastar region after the guerrillas opened gunfire soon after voting began, police said.About 20 tribals were in a queue outside the Mangnar polling centre in the interior of Dantewada when the attack took place, resulting in most voters fleeing in panic."Our forces exchanged fire with the Naxalites. The polling booths have been secured," Dantewada Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma told Times Now news channel.Neighbouring Jharkhand, conducting elections over two phases, saw similar violence with seven Border Security Force (BSF) personnel heading to an election centre killed in a landmine explosion in Latehar district. The bus driver and his assistant were also killed instantly.After the mine exploded, the Maoists opened fire at the bus, triggering a gun battle that ended on a bloody note.The incident took place near a jungle near Aara village, Sarvendu Tathagat, the Latehar district deputy police commissioner, told a news agency over telephone.There were two other gun battles between security forces and Maoists in Jharkhand's Khuti and Palamau districts, disrupting voting in both places, police spokesman K.N. Pradhan said.A policeman and a Home Guard were killed in adjoining Bihar when over a dozen Maoists opened fire at a polling station in Bankebazaar in Gaya district.The rebels looted an electronic voting machine and four rifles. Two women voters in a queue at the polling centre were injured and were hospitalised.In Orissa, the Maoists raided four polling stations and set fire to voting machines and a vehicle in Malkangiri and Sundargarh districts, the authorities said.Three of the polling stations were in Malkangiri district and one in Sundargarh. The attacks disrupted polling, Inspector General of Police Sudhanshu Sarangi told the news agency."In one village, they burnt voting machines and an Election Commission vehicle," police officer Satyabrata Bhoi said.The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist, which seeks to carry out an agrarian-based revolution, routinely calls for a boycott of all elections. It often enforces its boycott call with deadly attacks.

Indians Start Voting

In tiny villages and sprawling concrete cities, tens of millions of Indians voted Thursday at the start of a monthlong process expected to yield no clear winner as this Asian giant grapples with global economic malaise.
The vote is the first of five phases in which some 714 million people — more than twice the population of the United States — will be eligible to cast ballots. More than 140 million were eligible to vote Thursday.
There were scattered reports of violence by Maoist guerrillas, including six soldiers killed Thursday morning in the eastern state of Jharkhand and three election officials kidnapped, but authorities were hoping for a strong turnout even in India's most troubled region.
"People want democracy to triumph," said Tarun Gogoi, the top official in the insurgency-wracked northeastern state of Assam.
In an isolated Assamese town, set amid one of the state's most violent regions, 30-year-old homemaker Monalisa Bordoloi Chakravarty was among hundreds of people lining up Thursday morning at a neighborhood polling station. The guerrillas, who are fighting for an ethnic Assamese homeland, insist voters should boycott the election.
"I am aware of the threat by militants, but one can't stay at home out of fear," she said.
Media reports indicated polling was brisk in the morning but that it slowed as noon approached — bringing scorching summertime temperatures that hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius) in many parts of the country.
"The heat is keeping people indoors and preventing them from voting," said Lala Pandey, a voter in the town of Gaya in eastern Bihar state.
With more than 1.2 billion citizens, India normally holds staggered elections for logistical and security reasons.
Results of the massive election, which will use more than 1.3 million electronic voting machines in 828,804 polling stations, are expected May 16.
But few expect a clear mandate from Indian voters after a lackluster campaign that has been devoid of a central issue, mirroring a country fragmented by differences of region, religion and caste.
Polls indicate neither the Congress party, which leads the governing coalition, nor the main opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, will win enough seats in the 543-seat lower house of Parliament to rule on their own. That means the elections will likely leave India with a shaky coalition government.
On Thursday, 124 seats in the lower house were up for grabs.
Congress, which is ending a five-year stint in power, has seen its main achievement — India's spectacular economic growth, which has averaged more than 8 percent in recent years — hit by the global economic crisis.
It also has faced severe criticism for the bungled handling of the Mumbai terror attack in November, when 10 gunmen rampaged through the city for three days, killing 166 people.
The BJP also is in disarray. Its leadership is aging and fragmented, its anti-terror line was criticized as too harsh in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, and it has been blamed for stoking tensions between India's Hindu majority and large Muslim minority.
The two main parties also have seen their support eroded by regional parties focused on local issues or on particular castes in the country's complex Hindu social system.
The first phase included central and eastern states battered by attacks by Maoist militants, leading to the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers and police.
Early Thursday, suspected rebels triggered a land mine, killing six paramilitary soldiers patrolling in the eastern state of Jharkhand, police said.
Reinforcements were sent to secure the area in Latehar, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Ranchi, the state capital, superintendent of police Hemant Topo said.
Elsewhere in the state, three election officials were kidnapped by the rebels, state police spokesman S.N. Pradhan said, adding that there were no other details from the remote area.
In the neighboring state of Bihar, suspected rebels attacked a polling station in Gaya district, killing two security officials, the area's Deputy Inspector General Anupama Nilokar said.
The guerrillas, known as Naxalites, have fought the government for decades in a handful of rural regions, charging authorities with plundering natural resources while providing little to local residents. Since Saturday, nearly 20 police officers have died in their attacks.

Maoists : polling booths on fire in Malkangiri

Malkangiri (Orissa) : Maoists set afire at least three polling booths, electronic voting machines and other poll material in Orissa's Malkangiri district on Thursday, disrupting voting in the area.
The ultras, who have given a call for poll boycott, struck at Andrahal in Chitrakonda area setting ablaze a vehicle on election duty and two EVMs after tying the hands of poll officials, Malkangiri district collector Nitin Bhanudas Jawle said.
As a result, polling could not be held in the booth, he said.
Two polling booths were set ablaze by the Maoists in Salimarikonda and MV-73 in Kalimela police station area, Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said, adding the EVMs in the booths were also set afire by the ultras.
The Maoists also blocked roads in Mathili area of the district by felling trees and placing boulders preventing movement of polling officials as well as voters.
Due to Maoist threat, not a single vote was cast in Badigata polling station in Kalimela area during the first two hours of voting with people failing to turn up.
Polling remained very low elsewhere in the district, particularly in areas covering Chitrakonda and Malkangiri assembly constituencies.

Disrupt Polling :Maoists attack Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa

Raipur/Ranchi/, Bhubaneshwar : As the voting for the 15th Lok Sabha is underway, Maoists attacked polling booths and secuitry personnel in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.
In Jharkhand, six Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed in a landmine blast in Latehar district.
According to police, Maoists detonated the landmine when the BSF personnel were travelling in a bus to a polling station near Aara village, about 140 km from the state capital. Later, Maoists ambushed the BSF bus.
Meanwhile, heavy exchange of fire has been reported from Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
Maoists began fire at six polling stations in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region after the voting began this morning, police said.
According to reports, Maoists fired at six booths in Dantewada and Narayanpur districts. However, there were no reports of any causalities.
The voting will end in Bastar and Kanker seats by 3:00 p.m., while polling stations in the other nine seats will close at 4:00 p.m.
In Orissa, Maoists attacked a polling booth in Andrahill village and set fire to voting machines and a vehicle in Malkangiri district.
The Maoists have called for a complete boycott of the polls in the state.