Main Page                                                 Archives

18-month-old Arpit brought to New Delhi

     Rajgangpur/New Delhi: Eighteen-month-old Arpit was on Sunday reunited with his parents after he was rescued in Orissa. Police also arrested the maid Savitri who had kidnapped Arpit Dewan from his home in New Delhi last month. Arpit was rescued on Saturday from Orissa's Sundergarh region. YK Jethwa, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sundergarh, said the maid was suffering from some mental disorder. "Our special team raided the bus stand of Rajgangpur and rescued 18- month-old Arpit Dewan. Savitri has admitted kidnapping the boy during the preliminary interrogation," said Jethwa. Bharti, Arpit's mother, termed it as the greatest birthday gift when her son was handed over to her on Sunday. "I am very happy. Thank you all. I am thankful to the police and everybody," said Bharti.

Large turnout in third phase of JK civic polls (Go To Top)

     Pulwama: People came out in large numbers to vote in the third phase of polls in Kashmir's Pulwama district on Sunday for its first civic elections in 27 years. Though militants have called for a boycott of the polls, large number of men and women cast their votes, which they say would help solve many of their problems at the grassroots level. "This election will do a lot of good for us. We will not have to go to the ministers every time with our problems. The general council will solve all our problems," said Bashir Ahmed, a voter. Sajjad Ahmed, another voter, said: "We want that our village candidate should win so that our problems can be solved." Polling is also being held in the state's Anantnag district, which is the home district of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed. The elections are a litmus test for the state's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress which have the Chief Minister and seven other ministers, including the state Congress chief, elected from the area. Civic polls to two other municipal committees of Ganderbal in Srinagar district and Budgam district town in central Kashmir are scheduled for February 10.

Repoll in Bihar and Jharkhand (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Repoll is underway in 347 polling stations in Bihar and 21 polling booths in Jharkhand. Bihar's 347 polling stations are spread over eight districts of Buxor, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Bhagalpur, Banka, Jamui and Arwal. Twenty-one booths falling under Barhi, Barkagaon, Mandu, Simaria, Chatra, Jamua, Gandey, Manika, Latehar and Giridih in Jharkhand are witnessing repoll. Similarly, on February 7 the exercise would be carried out in 55 booths spread over Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chattarpur and Hussianabad constituencies of Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand. This is the first time that Jharkhand is going to the assembly polls since its creation as a new state. According to the Jharkhand State authorities, repolling was necessitated following a delay in polling by two hours, defective EVMs and obstruction during the first phase polling on Thursday. "Polling was adjourned there on Thursday following various reasons," said Chief Secretary P P Sharma. Both the states Bihar and Jharkhand witnessed large-scale naxal violence, bomb explosions and clashes during the first phase of assembly polls on February 3. Repoll would also take place in 55 polling stations of Palamu district of Jharkhand and some other polling stations in Bihar on February seven. Repoll in six polling stations in Haryana would be held on February 23. Second and third round of elections in Bihar and Jharkhand will take place on February 15 and February 23, respectively.