SC overrules EC, sets counting in Haryana on Feb 27

     New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the Election Commission to hold the counting of votes in Haryana on February 27, and not on February 23. (The EC has rescheduled the coun The ruling was given by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice RC Lahoti and Justices D Dharmadhikari and PK Balasubramanyam. The writ petition challenging the decision of the Commission to prepone the counting to February 23 was filed by an INLD candidate. In its order, the apex court said that counting of votes for the Haryana Assembly elections could not be taken up before receiving the postal ballots. The court also said that the counting date was being changed by the Election Commission from February 27 to February 23 only because of convenience and not because of any extraordinary situation.

     The bench said, "the Election Commission has no serious objection to take up the counting of votes as well as the postal ballots together on February 27, the earlier scheduled date". It also made it clear that the court orders in no way reflects on the powers of the Election Commission to pre-pone a scheduled date of counting of votes in view of exigencies in other cases. The Chief Minister of Haryana and the INLD chief, Om Prakash Chautala has been criticising CEC T Krishnamurthy and had come down heavily against the move saying it was a ploy to keep postal ballots of army officers and jawans from coming into play. In an early government order, it was decided that the postal ballots would be waited for till February 27.

     A case was filed by one of the candidate of the ruling party, seeking postponement of counting of votes from February 23 to 27 to include nearly one lakh postal ballots. Jile Singh, the man who filed the petition, said in his petition that either the entire process takes place on 23 or if the counting takes off on 23 then results should not be declared till 28 to take care of the postal ballots. On February 17, the EC decided to prepone even the counting of the postal ballots to Feb. 23, evoking a sharp criticism from the Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. Reacting to the decision, Chautala earlier said, "The CEC is mentally disturbed... an incompetent person who has no administrative experience... is only good at counting money."

Army steps up rescue efforts in avalanche-hit J and K (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Army rescued more than 50 people buried under the heavy snowfall as the Kashmir Valley remained cut off from the rest of the country for the fifth day. With the valley experiencing unprecedented snowfall, the Army has stepped in and launched avalanche rescue operations in Qazikund, Loran, Mandi, Kishtwar and Navapachhi. "Thirty civilians trapped in an avalanche in Navapachhi area have been rescued," said an army spokesman in New Delhi. The Army is also providing medical and food articles in Uri and Baramulla, while Army Dozers have cleared the Gulmarg-Tangmarg for traffic. Still there are about 300 GREF, ITBP and media personnel trapped in the Jawahar tunnel. Efforts are on to open the north end of the Tunnel, even as food packets have been droped for the stranded people. Meanwhile, weatherman says several places experienced snowfall upto 2 meters during the last four days. According to a statement issued by the Union Home Ministry, 41 persons have lost their lives due to snowfall and avalanches, while unofficial reports say the figure could be much more. The Srinagar Airport has been made partially operational. The Health ministry is rushing essential medicaines for hypothermia, which is common in such situations.

Normalcy returns in Kashmir after heavy snowfall (Go To Top)

     Srinagar: After days of record breaking snowfall in Srinagar, life is slowly returning to normalcy. While snowfall has stopped, snow-clearing operations are in full swing clearing the snow accumulated on roads and railway tracks. The Srinagar Airport today remained open to normal air traffic after several days, and the authorities are hopeful that the main roads will soon become okay for traffic. Power and water supply to hospitals have been restored in Kupwara and Baramulla districts, and drinking water is now available in Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla and Sopore towns.

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