AAP government wins trust vote; Kejriwal promises not to spare the corrupt

AAP government wins trust vote; Kejriwal promises not to spare the corrupt
2 Jan, 2014, 1845 hrs IST, Agencies
Kejriwal said that the formation of govt indicates that people of Delhi have taken the first step towards cleansing corrupt politics of country
NEW DELHI: Passing the litmus test, Aam Aadmi Party's government on Thursday won the trust vote in Delhi assembly. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the formation of government indicates that people of Delhi have taken the first step towards cleansing the corrupt politics of country.

Promising that he will not 'spare' the corrupt, Kejriwal said, "Politics of this nation has become corrupt. " Stating that his party's fight is to up the politics of the country, Kejriwal said, "Politicians forced the Aam Aadmi to contest elections."

Kejriwal emphasised the need to put an end to 'VIP culture'. "VIP culture has to end in Delhi and in the country. The second issue is Janlokpal bill. We need a strong bill against corruption in Delhi."

"Everyone needs a decent lifestyle, all the people who stay in jhugis. We have to find a solution to assure them a decent life," he said.

Scotching all speculation, Congress had assured AAP that it will support the new government in Delhi in public interest. Speaking on the confidence motion moved by the government in the Delhi assembly, Congress' state chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said the party could give the support even for full five years if AAP government worked in the interest of the people.

"Kejriwal ji, you keep making statements frequently that the government could go in 48 hours. I assure you today that as long as you keep taking decisions in the interest of people of Delhi, there is no threat to your government.

"And should the need arise, we will support you for full five years so that you can give a good government...as long as we feel that decisions that you take will not halt development and there is no sense of injustice to the state, we will keep supporting you.... Our party's support will be there for you in whatever decision you take for development and in the interest of people," he said.

The Congress leader said that his party supported the government to avoid forcing another election on the people of Delhi.

Lovely, however, at the same time attacked the government over its recent decisions on enlarging the subsidy on power and free supply of water saying it was the House that can decide on shifting subsidy from one head to another and not the government.

"You are new to the government. The officials should have briefed you properly. The earlier budget had approved certain subsidies and that cannot be changed now. The House should have been involved. You have to fix accountability on the officials who misled you," Lovely told the Chief Minister.

He also wondered what promises the government will put on hold if it decides to give subsidy worth Rs 1300 crore.

Though caveating his response by saying that Congress does not want to begin its support to AAP on a negative note, Lovely said that even the free water decision of Government will not reach the intended beneficiaries and alleged that "water has become costlier" for Delhiites on the contrary.

He also told Kejriwal that his government should take "tough measures" against corruption irrespective of persons and departments involved. Kejriwal could definitely stumble upon it if Municipal Corporations of Delhi ruled by the BJP are probed.

"When Kejriwal had talked about corruption of Delhi government, he had talked about MCDs as well. Whether something will be found out in Delhi government or not, it will definitely be found out in the MCDs," Lovely said.

Personal Detail

Bachelor of Engineering from Syed Ammal Engineering College at Ramanathapuram, with an experience of 6+ years in Software development and programming in ASP and SQL SERVER. I am currently employed with codeMantra Private Ltd.

Jailed Bollywood star 'in tears'

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has spent a troubled first night in a Mumbai jail, according to a fellow prison inmate.

The prisoner, who said that he sleeps near Dutt's cell, told a prison visitor interviewed by the BBC's Zubair Ahmed that the actor is often in tears.

He said that Dutt is too hot in his cell, has not been eating and finds his bed and prison clothes uncomfortable.

Dutt was jailed for six years on Tuesday for buying weapons from bombers who attacked Mumbai (Bombay) in 1993.

The fellow convict said that Dutt appeared not to enjoy food served to him by the prison authorities, which consisted of daal, chapattis, rice and vegetables.

The actor was reported only to have eaten when the inmate who shares a cell with him offered him two apples. The star told fellow inmates to pray for him.

Dutt's first night in prison has received saturation coverage in the Indian media which have gone into great detail about the conditions he faces in Cell Number One in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail.

Clothes 'too rough'

Our correspondent says that the cell has three rooms - with an attached toilet and shower - as well as a hall.

Scene of Mumbai blast, 1993
Crowded Mumbai places were targeted in the attacks

Dutt's neighbour in the adjoining cell is his friend, Yousuf Nullwalla, who was also convicted along with him in the 1993 bombings case.

Another inmate told the BBC that Dutt had been summoned by the jail superintendent who asked him if he was comfortable.

The star was wearing a white striped jail uniform but was in some discomfort, complaining that the cloth was too rough.

The authorities agreed to allow him access to medicine and cigarettes.

That concession follows an unusual conversation between the trial judge PD Kode and the Bollywood star after he was sentenced on Tuesday.

Dutt told the judge that he was "more than family for all of us".

The judge replied by saying that Dutt had "shot for movies, doing remarkably well in the film line".

He urged Dutt not to be sentimental, and to "be calm and quiet".

Gangster roles

The star's lawyers plan to appeal against his sentence. They argued on Tuesday that he should remain free on bail because of good behaviour, but the judge ruled against leniency.

Dutt, 48, is the most high-profile of 100 people convicted in connection with the blasts which killed 257 people.

The actor was cleared of conspiracy, but found guilty of illegally possessing a rifle and a pistol.

Dutt found fame playing gangsters and anti-heroes. His trial generated huge interest among Bollywood fans across India.

The son of a Hindu father and Muslim mother, he said the weapons were necessary in order to defend his family during Hindu-Muslim rioting of 1993, which followed the destruction by Hindu zealots of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.

The Mumbai blasts were allegedly carried out by Mumbai's Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for the riots in which most of those killed were Muslim.

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Balsams, a resort hotel in Dixville Notch and the site of the famous "midnight vote"

Dixville Notch (Coordinates: 44°52′15″N, 71°18′21″W) is an unincorporated small village in the Dixville township of Coos County, New Hampshire, USA. The town is known for being one of the first places to declare its results for the New Hampshire Presidential primary and U.S. Presidential elections.^[1] It is located in the far north of the state, approximately 20 miles (30 km) from Canada, population approximately 75.
The village is named for the mountain pass (or "notch," in White Mountains terminology) about a hundred feet (30 m) uphill from it, that lies between Dixville Peak and Sanguinary Mountain, and separates the Connecticut River's watershed from that of the Androscoggin. Dixville Notch is also the location, in dramatic mountains about 1800 feet above sea level, of The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel; one of a handful of surviving New Hampshire grand hotels, it is situated on a 15,000 acre (61 km²) plot, accommodating golfing in the summer and skiing in the winter.

Midnight voting tradition

Elections in New Hampshire

Gubernatorial Elections: 2002 · 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010
Presidential Elections: Primaries 2000 · 2004 · 2008 Dixville Notch · Hart's Location
United States Senate Elections: 2002 · 2004 · 2008 · 2010
United States House Elections: 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010
This box: view • talk • edit

Dixville Notch is best known in connection with its longstanding middle-of-the-night vote in the U.S. presidential election, including during the New Hampshire primary (the first primary election in the U.S. presidential nomination process). Starting in the 1960 election, all the eligible voters in Dixville Notch gathered at midnight in the ballroom of The Balsams. The voters cast their ballots and the polls officially are closed one minute later. The result of the Dixville Notch vote in both the New Hampshire primary and the general election are traditionally broadcast around the country immediately afterwards.
A similar tradition in the community of Hart's Location, New Hampshire began in 1948; theirs was discontinued in the 1960s in light of the abundance of media attention, and revived only in 1996. Informal competition for the distinction of the first town to report election results has been ongoing for several election cycles, among a number of small communities, including,

in Coos County:
- Dixville Notch
- Millsfield (the township to the south of Dixville township),
in Carroll County (the next to the southeast):
- Hart's Location,
in Grafton County (the next to the southwest of Coos):
- Ellsworth
- Waterville Valley.

Press accounts occasionally state, without qualification, that Dixville Notch "votes first." The village's authentic electoral distinctions include the following:

longest continuous record of midnight voting,
highest count of midnight presidential primaries (12 as of 2004, vs. 5 to 9 for Hart's Location),
at least one of the first handful of lawful votes (nationwide) in each presidential campaign's binding primaries,
often first to report its returns, and
barely challenged icon of voting first.

Dixville Notch was granted the authority to conduct its own elections in 1960 and chose to open its polls at midnight. In 1964, the primary election returns were the first in New Hampshire to be reported by UPI and the Associated Press. Since then, Dixville Notch has gained international media attention as the first community to vote in the presidential primary season (since New Hampshire's primary is required by state law to be scheduled earlier than any competitor). Dixville Notch also votes at midnight in the general presidential election in November, although this usually attracts less press attention than primary voting.
Although most New Hampshire polling stations open around sunrise and close in the early evening, Dixville Notch takes advantage of a state law that allows a precinct to close if all registered voters in that precinct have cast ballots. Consequently, all registered voters in Dixville Notch gather and are counted before the balloting takes place. The "Ballot Room" of the Balsams Hotel resort serves as the polling place; this room features separate voting booths for each citizen. The town residents also vote each cycle at a town meeting whether or not they will continue the tradition.
The tradition was first organized by prominent Dixville Notch resident Neil Tillotson (1898 - 17 October 2001), who was traditionally the first voter; he would reportedly hold his ballot over the ballot box while watching his wristwatch. At the moment of midnight, Tillotson would drop the ballot into the ballot box and the rest of the town's residents would follow suit. Since Tillotson's death from pneumonia in 2001 at the age of 102, the first voter has been chosen by random ballot beforehand.
In the most recent presidential election of November 2nd, 2004 the village had 26 registered voters, roughly half of whom are registered Republican; the other half are registered "undeclared", i.e., unaffiliated with a party. New Hampshire law, though, allows a voter to declare or change a party affiliation upon arriving at the polling place, so a number of independent voters vote in the Democratic party primary.
The votes are counted immediately after all are received; the Dixville Notch results of the primary (and now the Hart's Location ones as well) often lead morning news programs on election day. During every election year since 1968, the candidate with the plurality of Dixville Notch's voters has been the eventual Republican nominee for president. On the Democratic side, however, the village's election results have less often predicted the nominee. In 2000, for example, Bill Bradley won the most votes among Dixville Notch's Democratic primary voters although Al Gore was the party's eventual nominee.
In 1992, the Libertarian Party unsuccessfully attempted to capitalize upon Andre Marrou's unexpectedly strong showing in Dixville Notch in the general election. In 2004, Democratic candidate Wesley Clark was the only contender to personally visit Dixville Notch; he was on hand when the votes were cast and counted, and he received the majority of Democratic votes cast. (Clark placed third and received only 13 percent of votes statewide.)
The community's voting tradition received a nod in the 2002 third season episode of US television program The West Wing, in an episode entitled "Hartsfield's Landing", named after a town clearly modeled on either Dixville Notch, or its companion, Hart's Location.