The third phase of the Jharkhand assembly polls on Tuesday posted an average 58 per cent turnout, despite the killing of two paramilitary personnel and arrest of a former legislator of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

The two BSF personnel were killed when Maoist guerrillas opened fire in Dumka.

The third phase of polling started at 7 a.m. on a dull note but it gained momentum after about three hours. The voting time has been advanced from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. due to security reasons.

The results of the balloting will decide the fate of five former ministers, including former deputy chief minister Stephen Marandi and Hemant Soren, son of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren.

In Dumka, a police complaint was lodged against Hemant Soren for instigating supporters to attack the Congress nominee’s office.

Security had been beefed up for the voting as half of the 11 assembly constituencies that went to the polls are considered Maoist strongholds.

A top French official has praised India for the successful conduct of the Lok Sabha elections saying it was a “fresh and dazzling demonstration of the vitality of the Indian democracy”.
President of the Constitutional Council of France Jean-Louis Debre congratulated India’s Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla for the smooth conduct of the month-long elections that were held in five phases beginning April.

Chawla visited France and met the head of that country’s highest constitutional court last week.

Mr. Chawla separately met Mr. Jean-Marc Sauvé, Vice President of the Council of State, considered the highest civil servant of France. The Council, presided over by the Prime Minister is the top most administrative court of France and also gives legal advice to the executive. It rules on regional election disputes and the election of French Members of the European Parliament and hears appeals pertaining to Municipal and Cantonal election disputes. The CEC also met other French dignitaries during his visit.

The Congress will devote the next week to finalising its strategy for the 2012 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The exercise will begin on July 25 with the felicitation of the 21 MPs who were elected from the State in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Digvijay Singh, All India Congress Committee general secretary and in-charge for U.P. affairs, will be the chief guest.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and another general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who have been elected from Rae Bareli and Amethi, will not be present as they are preoccupied with their work in New Delhi.

UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, told journalists here on Thursday that Mr. Gandhi would, however, attend the next meeting of the U.P. Congress Coordination Committee here on August 4.

BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who is caught in an ongoing battle with state BJP president Nitin Gadkari, received a major boost on Saturday when national president of the party Rajnath Singh appointed him as the election in-charge for the assembly polls. This means that Munde will effectively be the boss of the party unit in Maharashtra.

Party sources said Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had made a dent in BJP and Shiv Sena’s vote bank queering their pitch in several Lok Sabha seats.

BJP, however, maintained that its Lok Sabha performance in the state had nothing to do with Munde’s appointment.

“Modi was appointed for the Lok Sabha polls only and was divested of the charge when all poll-related committees were dissolved after elections,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar clarified.

Munde, who won the Lok Sabha elections from Bheed, had served as deputy chief minister when Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi held the reins of the state.

Adopting an aggressive stand in his opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav  threatened he would “consume poison” in parliament if it was passed in its present form.
“If the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed I will consume poison and die here but not allow the passage of bill,” he said in the Lok Sabha.
Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, he accused the Congress of indulging in “tokenism” over the issue of reservation for women.

“Congress party has been resorting to tokenism by appointing a woman as President and as Speaker,” Yadav said adding that the real need was to liberate women who belong to the backward and most backward classes.

Main opposition BJP today said it will support the government on issues of national importance like right to food for the poor, high economic growth, internal security and the Women’s Reservation Bill.
“On the issues that are in the national interest, BJP will strongly (stand) behind the government in the first 100 days,” Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha.

Jaitley said if the Opposition supported the government on Women’s Reservation Bill, the “credibility of Indian polity” would be enhanced.

However, the newly-elected Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said there would be several areas where his party would “fiercely” oppose the government. In certain areas, it would “caution the government”.

Following is the text of the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil’s address to the Joint Session of 15th Lok Sabha.

The President’s address, extensively worked on by Manmohan Singh, unveils the government’s agenda for the year in tune with the policies and programmes of the ruling Congress party and its allies.

In-line with the Prime Minister’s promised 100-day action plan for his government, President Patil out lined the “ten broad areas of priority” for the UPA Government in the next five years.

# Internal security and preservation of communal harmony.

# Stepping up of economic growth in agriculture, manufacturing and services.

# Consolidation of the existing flagship programmes for employment, education, health, rural infrastructure, urban renewal and introduction of new flagship programmes for food security and skill development.

# Concerted action for the welfare of women, youth, children, other backward classes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities, the differently-abled and the elderly along with strengthened social protection.

# Governance reform

# Creation and modernization of infrastructure and capacity addition in key sectors.

# Prudent fiscal management.

# Energy security and environment protection.

# Constructive and creative engagement with the world.

# Promotion of a culture of enterprise and innovation.

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Karia Munda will be the new Deputy Speaker in the 15th Lok Sabha. Since the Dy. Speaker’s post always goes to the Opposition as per the convention, BJP nominated Karia Munda as its candidate for the post. Munda, is a popular tribal leader in Jharkhand and has long Parliamentary and Assembly experience.

The 72-year-old Karia Munda has recently won the elections from Khunti Parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand. He was a Cabinet Minister in former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Cabinet. Karia Munda never lost any elections since 1977.

While the Congress made a Dalit Woman Meira Kumar Speaker of the Lok Sabha, BJP went a step further by making a tribal leader Deputy Speaker.

The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha began this morning. Senior most MP Manikrao Gavit was appointed Pro Tem Speaker. He will administer the oath to all 543 MPs today and tomorrow. The Election for the Lok Sabha Speaker will be held on June 3. Leader of the House, Pranab Mukherjee, Leader of Opposition, LK Advani and Congress President Sonia Gandhi took the oath. President Dr. Partibha Patil will address the joint session of the Parliament on June 4.

Mukherjee and Advani were followed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi who took oath in Hindi and BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan who took oath in Sanskrit.

Watching the proceedings from the Speaker’s enclosure were Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, Congress leaders Keshav Rao, Rajiv Shukla and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav. Former MP Ramdas Athawale was also present in the special gallery.

After the Secretary General tabled the list of members elected to the House, Gavit said President Pratibha Patil had nominated senior MPs Basudeb Acharia (CPM), Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD), Biren Singh Engti (Congress) and Sumitra Mahajan (BJP) to preside over the administration of oath to the members.

Gavit also informed the House that SP member Akhilesh Yadav had resigned from his Firozabad seat on May 21. His resignation had been accepted on May 26.

The new Lok Sabha, with a more dominant Congress heading a coalition having a comfortable majority with its allies, opens its first session on Monday whose highlight would be the election of the Speaker and unfolding of UPA government’s plan of action.

The first two days of the 15th Lok Sabha has been kept for newly elected members to take oath followed by election of the Speaker on June 3.

President Pratibha Patil would address the joint sitting of both Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June four which would chart out the road map of the second term of the Manmohan Singh government which came to power with renewed mandate as Congress alone secured 206 seats. The party had 145 seats in the previous House.

Getting down to business after taking charge, Science and Technology minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday pitched for a “people-centric” approach for the ministry’s programmes.

“Big ideas must flow,” he said adding that people should feel that the government is working for them.

An analysis has to be done of various programmes of the ministry to decide which should be carried forward, said Mr. Chavan who has been entrusted with five portfolios — S&T, Earth Sciences, Personnel and Public Grievances, Parliamentary Affairs and Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr. Chavan, who assumed charge as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for S&T and Earth Sciences, completed his Bachelor’s in Engineering from BITS Pilani and went on to pursue higher studies at the University of California.

He said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was very supportive of scientists who puts forward new ideas.

As it reels under the impact of the staggering defeat, BJP has come under attack from the NDA ally JD(U).

The JD(U) on Saturday launched an attack on BJP for facilitating Congress’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls by raising Hindutva issues rather than focusing on issues that had to do with the common man.

The party identified Varun Gandhi’s alleged hate speech and the sudden insertion of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the campaign frame as BJP’s two missteps which allowed Congress to corner victory when it ought to have been on the backfoot for issues like price rise and unemployment.

As the top leadership of the BJP assembles in Lucknow for reviewing the party’s poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the blame game for the debacle has already begun.

While a section of leaders has blamed the central leadership for committing a blunder by allying with RLD, the youth in the party has held nepotism of state leaders responsible for the drubbing. Many feel that party cadre was overlooked in distribution of tickets. They describe high command’s ambivalence over Varun Gandhi as the main reason for debacle.

After its first woman President, India may get its first woman Lok Sabha Speaker.

For the first time in the history of parliament, the Lok Sabha will have a woman as Speaker. The Core Committee of the Congress party that met on Saturday picked Meira Kumar for the post. The new Speaker will be elected on June 3 after all the MPs have been administered the oath.

Meira, daughter of Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram, appears the front-runner over Vyas, the articulate former women’s commission chief; picking a Dalit may help the Congress counter Mayavati’s aura among the community.

The party leadership decided in favour of sending out a strong message to women. The move appears to be the brainchild of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has long supported the idea of giving 33 per cent reservation for women.

The move is meant to checkmate the BJP,as it was going to nominate Sumitra Mahajan as deputy speaker. The Congress strategy is also meant to build Meira Kumar as a counter to SP'>BSP chief Mayawati.

In an unusual step, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today assumed charge of her office at the Eastern Railway headquarters here instead of Rail Bhavan in the national capital.

Concerned over the plight of people in cyclone-hit West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee broke tradition Tuesday to formally take charge of her railways portfolio at the Eastern Railway headquarters instead of New Delhi.

Samajwadi Party Sunday expelled senior leader Mohammad Azam Khan for six years for anti-party activities, capping weeks of bitter feud with SP leadership over its closeness with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh and its choice of Jaya Prada as candidate from Rampur.

Azam Khan(60) locked horns with the SP leadership weeks before the Lok Sabha elections over the party getting close to former BJP leader Kalyan Singh and its choice of actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada as candidate from his home turf in Rampur.

60-year-old Khan, SP MLA from Rampur and a founder-member of the party, had actively campaigned against cine actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada in the constituency and made adverse comments against Amar Singh.

Khan had raised banner of revolt against the party leadership after declaration of Jaya Prada’s candidature from Rampur and also Mulayam Singh Yadav’s friendship with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the 1992 Babri mosque demolition.

He had termed Yadav’s closeness with Kalyan Singh as against the sentiments of Muslims.

A record 59 women MPs have been elected to the new Lok Sabha – the highest since independence, and 17 of them are less than 40 years.

A record 59 women were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha, with a majority – 23 – belonging to the Congress party alone.

In this election, 556 women candidates were fielded by various parties.

While the Congress topped the list, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came second with 13 women being elected.

The All India Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) follow with four women each getting elected to the Lok Sabha.

The Janata Dal-United, Shiromani Akali Dal and Nationalist Congress Party have two women MPs each.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Shiv Sena, DMK and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have one woman MP each, according to the statement.

Ram Sundar Das (88), the giant-killing JD(U) MP from Hajipur who defeated Ram Vilas Paswan, is the oldest member of the House while 26-year-old Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed.

There are other MPs in their 80s too, including veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, 81.

Sheesh Ram Ola of the Congress is also 81.

Ambica Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress is 82, while Kailash Joshi is 79 years.

According to the Election Commission or EC, 31 MPs in the current Lok Sabha are in the age group of 25-35 years, while twelve are between 66-75 years. There are four MPs over 80 years, including BJP veteran L K Advani and Congress leader Sis Ram Ola. While the oldest parliamentarian at 88 is Ram Sundar Das from JD (U), the youngest MP is Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed (26) from the Congress. In a neck to neck fight Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed AB of the Congress party has won Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat by defeating Nationalist Congress Party candidate with over 2000 votes.

26-year-old Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed is the son of late PM Sayeed. Sayeed senior, a veteran Congress leader, represented Lakshawdeep in the Lok Sabha for 10 times in a row.

Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed, Law graduate from Indian Society College in Pune defeated Dr P Pookunhikoya of NCP by 2198 votes. The Congress had lost the seat in 2004, first time since the seat was created.

It was his father’s death that made this law graduate from Indian Law School (Pune), take up politics.

Still single, Hamdulla is the seventh among eight siblings — all sisters. All his sisters too are well educated — four of them being doctors.

Higher education and staying away from home have not affected the core values. A practising Muslim — even his cell number has last three digits as 786 — he prays five times a day.

The Victory in the Lok Sabha elections has inspired the Congress to think of dumping some of its allies. But the party’s dependence on these very parties in the Rajya Sabha may hold it back.

The Congress has 70 MPs in the Rajya Sabha that has a total strength of 250. The party’s pre-poll allies number 27, making a total of 97. This is still 29 short of the halfway mark of 126.

In case, the strength of other parties and nominated members (a total of nine), whose help UPA can seek to get legislations passed, is added, the strength goes up to 114, still below the half way mark of 123 in the 245-member House. These parties are Samajwadi Party (13), RJD (4), Lok Janasakti Party (1) and JD-S (2). The half-way mark can be reached only if the UPA ropes in the SP'>BSP which has 10 members.

Rajya Sabha will also see new faces as 13 of its members have won the election and will move to the Lower House. BJP has the maximum of six members who will go to the Lok Sabha. These are: leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha, Dileep Singh Judeo and Narendra Singh Tomar.

Two sitting Congress MPs Sushil Kumar Shinde and JP Agarwal will also go to Lok Sabha. In NCP, Supriya Sule and Praful Patel will move to LS.