0815 HRS
05th May, 2013 

THE HEADLINES

• Polling begins in Karnataka for 223 assembly seats; Over 4 crore 36 lakh voters eligible to exercise their franchise.

• Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar suspended following his arrest by CBI in a bribery case; Number of arrests in the case goes up to seven.

• Jammu and Kashmir Government orders inquiry into the Kot Bhalwaal Central jail incident in which a Pakistani prisoner was critically injured.

• Leading companies in Saudi Arabia to help Indian workers affected by the Nitaqat programme.

• 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships kick off in New Delhi today.

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Voting for 223 segments has begun in the 224-member lower house of Karnataka Assembly. Polling, which started at 7.00 a.m will go on till 6.00 pm. Polling in Periyapatna of Mysore district, was postponed to May 28 following the death of a BJP candidate. There are 2,939 candidates in the fray, including 170 women. Over 4 crore 36 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 52,000 polling booths across the state. Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, Anil Kumar Jha said that elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair elections.

"About 52000 polling booths have been established. More than one lakh police personnels of Karnataka and the centre have been deployed for safety and security of the people."

Our Bangalore correspondent Sudhindra gives us the latest update.

"Voting has begun in Karnataka at 7.00 a.m. At Yelen Halli polling booth which comes under Bangalore South Assembly constituency, I can see several voters standing in queue in free booths situated here. Despite it being a Sunday, voters turn out is good sincer morning. In 28 constituencies of Bangalore, there are 6200 polling booths out of which around 2,000 are hyper sensitive. Security is tight in the area surrounding polling booths. Around 18,000 security personnel are deputed on security duty in the city. As of now, the polling is going on peacefully. Our correspondent Anurag Vajpayee gives us the latest on the polling from Gulbarga.

Today fate of 131 candidates for 9 assembly seats of Gulbarga district will be closed in EVMs. Young voters who are casting casting their votes for the first time are more enthusiastic about polling .it looks that due to severe heat polling percentage will be higher in initial hours. In Gulbarga division 7074 polling stations have been established for 5 districts Gulbarga,Raichur,Yadgir,Bidar and Koppal .More than 8000 police men and para military forces are present for free and fair polling in the area.

Our correspondent G D Hallikery brings us the latest update from Dharwad.

"Casting of Vote has started in Dharwad Constituency. People are coming out from their house slowly, some old-aged persons are casting their vote while returning from their morning walk. At morning 7’ O clock it was small queue. Now it is improving. There is no any confusion regarding identification, already Election Commission has given 23 identification list. Voters can bring any one of them. About 10% of polling is recorded in Dharwad Constituency. Temperature is raising slowly in North Karnataka.

Our correspondent Regis Henry gives us updates from Mangalore.

In Dakshina Kannada district which is having 8 constituencies people are lining up at the polling booths to exercise their franchise from early in the morning. A total of 71 candidates are contesting in Dakshina Kannada. Mangalore constituency rules the roost with 15 candidates in fray. Elaborate security arrangements are also in place with additional forces from Central Para Military being deployed across the district.

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Member Railway Board Mahesh Kumar, who had allegedly paid a bribe of 90 lakh rupees to the nephew of Railway Minister P K Bansal has been suspended. Kumar has been placed under suspension after receipt of a report from the CBI. Kumar was arrested by CBI while paying the bribe to Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla reportedly for a plum post. With the arrest of Kumar and another middle man Rahul Yadav, the total number of arrests has gone to seven in the case. Yesterday, two courier boys, who allegedly delivered the 90 lakh rupees bribe to Bansal's nephew, were arrested by the agency. The Railway Minister met the Prime Minister and party chief Sonia Gandhi and apprised them that he had not been in touch for a while with his nephew. Mr Bansal, told his party's core group that he did not discuss postings in his ministry with his nephew. The Congress Core Group met in New Delhi yesterday but did not reach any conclusion on Bansal's future in the ministry. The Group will meet again today. The opposition has demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal but, Congress has ridiculed the demand. AICC general secretary Janardan Divedi, said, Bansal had himself called for full probe into the matter.

Bansal has himself sought a probe into this matter. I do not think any thing more can be expected of him. The ones demanding his resignation have caught the disease of seeking resignation.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded the Railway Minister's resignation.

In the nation's interest we as opposition, demand that Pawan Bansal be immediately dismissed and prosecutedby CBI.

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Jammu and Kashmir Government has appointed Principal Secretary to Government, Home Department Suresh Kumar to hold the enquiry into Kote Bhalwal Central jail incident.

An official spokesman said at Srinagar that Kumar will investigate the incident which took place at the Central Jail Kote Bhalwal in Jammu on Friday in which a Pakistani prisoner, Sanaullah was injured. The condition of Sanaullah, who is under treatment in the PGI Chandigarh is still critical. According to a medical bulletin released by the hospital last evening, he is on ventilator and in deep coma. Pakistani officials visited Sanaullah last evening for the third time.

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Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal took a series of decisions to step up the security of Pakistani prisoners lodged in different jails across the state.

Presiding over a high-level meeting of the jail department at Chandigarh yesterday in the backdrop of the attack on a Sanaullah, the Chief Minister directed the officers that foolproof arrangements should be made for the security of the 50 Pakistani prisoners lodged in Punjab jails.

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In Saudi Arabia, leading companies are coming forward to help Indian workers affected by the Nitaqat programme. In a statement, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said that the leading dairy company, Al Marai has informed that they would like to recruit over 1500 Indian workers in different fields. These include managerial, technical, supervisory, operator and labour category workers. Those interested may send their CVs to crd@almarai.com.

In another development, the Saudi Foreign Ministry has conveyed that establishment of any association of the communities residing in the Kingdom whether inside the premises of Embassies or outside is not allowed. In case there are such associations the Embassy should immediately initiate steps to abolish such associations.

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India and Iran have agreed to explore the prospects of joint investments in both countries. Foreign ministers of the two countries met at the 17th session of the Joint Commission in Teheran yesterday and discussed the upgradation of the Chahbahar port in Iran to facilitate direct access of Indian goods to Afghanistan and central Asia bypassing Pakistan. The two countries reaffirmed their support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. Both countries have also called upon all sides in Syria to abjure violence and to seek a peaceful solution through negotiations.

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The Economic Offence Wing of the Crime Branch of the Odisha Police have sealed the office of the Saradha Group at Balasore town. A team of the investigating agency seized documents and recovered hardware of the company's computers for verification. Meanwhile, the agency continued to record statements of the people who claimed to have invested in the Saradha Group. The office of a Kolkata-based chit fund company Rose Valley, was also raided by a team of policemen yesterday at Tadong town in Gangtok.

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In Punjab, Members of the Danga Peedit Welfare Association of 1984 riots victims have blocked the main rail line linking Ambala-Ludhiana and further to Jakhal in Haryana by sitting on the tracks at Ludhiana railway station. The rail line has been blocked since early this morning.The association is demanding action against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler for alleged involvement in the 1984 riots which took place after the death of the then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

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The Delhi High Court has quashed a state government circular which banned property sales in the city through general power of attorney. This will benefit flat owners in DDA and co-operative housing societies.The High Court order will increase the number of saleable properties in Delhi and could bring down the value of free-hold properties.

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The 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships kicks off in New Delhi today. Five men and four women paddlers will represent India in the 6-day event, which will take place at the Thyagraj Stadium. Veteran and top world-ranked paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty will feature in the Men’s section, while K. Shamini, Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal will figure in the Women’s category.

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Delhi Daredevils have become the first team to bow out from the play-offs race of the ongoing IPL Twenty-20 cricket tournament. Delhi's hopes were dashed to the ground, after it lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets in a league match at Hyderabad last night. Opting to bat first, Delhi were dismissed for a paltry 80. Dale Steyn, Thisara Perera and Darren Sammy, each bagged the maximum of 2 wickets. Chasing just 81 for victory, Hyderbad surpassed the target with more than 6 overs to spare. Darren Sammy contributed with the bat as well. He made an unbeaten 18 and was adjudged man of the match.

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NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

Appointment for a top Railway Ministry position in lieu of a bribe - has Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's job on the line, reports the Statesman. The Asian Age writes that Minister's nephew struck a deal with Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar - for taking charge of the most lucrative "electrical" unit.

"End to Indo-China face-off in sight" - headlines the Sunday Pioneer - with the two sides expected to arrive at an agreement. New Delhi is likely to agree to go slow on building bunkers in the disputed areas and Beijing could reciprocate by pulling back its troops to their original position.

Sunday Times writes that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday vowed to press ahead with reforms to make India more attractive to investors. He told members at the Asian Development Banks meeting that the government also plans to provide people a legal entitlement to food, at affordable cost.

The Statesman, reporting on the Karnataka Assembly Polls , writes that Congress heavyweights Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr G. Parameshwar are battling it out with each other to stake their claim for the Chief Minister's Chair in Karnataka.

The Hindu writes that India's decision to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar has deep political resonance and is spurred by the Chinese stake in Pakistan's Gwadar Port. The full development of Chabahar would lower land locked Afghanistan' dependence of Pakistani ports for assured access to the sea, and balance joint forays by China and Pakistan into the Indian Ocean.

And finally, Times of India informs us 'How you stand is how you feel'. Recent social science research indicates that a commanding pose or posture can change how you perceive yourself and, ultimately, how you are perceived by others. Poses are powerful. An expansive 'power pose' - as against a slouched posture - could start a positive cycle that lasts all day