2100 HRS.

4^th December, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Record polling of over 65 per cent in Delhi Assembly elections.

• Winter session of Parliament begins tomorrow; 38 Bills including Lokpal, Women Reservation and Telangana slated for passage.

• GoM meeting is on to finalize the Cabinet note on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

• India says, it will extend all support to ensure free and fair elections in Bangladesh; Jatiya party pulls out all its seven Ministers from the Sheikh Hasina led interim government.

• OPEC to maintain the same oil output next year.

• Sensex sheds 146 points to close at 20,709.

• India to meet South Africa in the first ODI at Johannesburg tomorrow.

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The highest ever voter turnout of over 65 percent was recorded in the election to the 70-member Delhi Assembly today. Polling was extended in some constituencies beyond the scheduled polling hour to enable those who were standing in the queue at 5 pm to vote. Disclosing this, Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, Vijay Dev said this evening that the polling was peaceful and incident-free. He said, it was heavy voting and the final figures are being compiled.

These figures are against that of 2008 elections which was 57.58 per cent. The people, particularly the youth of Delhi have broken the stereotypes and participated in the voting in a big way.

Polling started on a dull note today but picked up later to finish with heavy polling. Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari was among the first to cast his vote at the Nirman Bhawan polling booth in New Delhi constituency.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also cast their votes there. Sheila Dikshit is contesting from the New Delhi constituency. Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal who is contesting against her, also cast his vote. BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Dr. Harshvardhan contesting from Krishnanagar seat in East Delhi, cast his vote from there. About 1.2 crore voters including over 4 lakh first timers, were eligible to exercise their franchise at 11,763 polling booths.

Record voter turnout is attributable to constant efforts made by Delhi Chief Electoral Officer. None of the Above Option or NOTA on voting machines may have also contributed to increased percentage of votes. For conduct of free and fair elections, the Election Commission arranged webcasting in 630 hyper sensitive polling booths. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, which enables voters to verify if their vote has been recorded correctly, was introduced for the first time on a pilot basis in New Delhi constituency. Aam Aadmi Party seems to have emerged as a major force in the election in the National Capital which used to be a political battleground for two major political parties - Congress and BJP.With Anand Kumar, Zakir Malik, AIR News, Delhi.

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Winter session of Parliament will begin tomorrow. 38 Bills are slated for passage during the brief session. These include Lokpal, Women Reservation, Telangana and Street Vendors Bills. The session will conclude on the 20th of this month. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said, the Bills which are already passed in one House of Parliament but pending in another House, are likely to be passed in the forthcoming session.

The ensuing session is likely to be stormy as the main Opposition BJP could raise issues like coal scam and alleged misuse of investigation and intelligence agencies. Left parties intend to bring an adjournment motion on price rise while the ruling Congress may raise snooping incident revolving around Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Formation of Telangana and Communal Violence Bill are expected to raise political temperature during the winter session as they are hanging fire. For smooth conduct of business, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has sought cooperation of all political parties. This will be the last working session of the present Lok Sabha which will go to polls in early 2014. With Sant Bahadur, Shiela, AIR News, Delhi.

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On the eve of the Winter Session of Parliament, the News Services Division of All India Radio will bring you a special programme "Issues Before Parliament." This can be heard tonight on Rajdhani channel, and additional frequencies from 9.30 p.m.

The Hindi version "Sansad ke Samaksh Mudde" can be heard at the same time on Indraprastha and FM Gold Channels.

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The crucial meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM), set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, is underway in New Delhi. The GoM headed by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, has to finalize the Cabinet note. It remained inconclusive yesterday. Union Ministers P Chidambaram, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and V Narayansami are attending the meeting.

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In Andhra Pradesh, rallies and demonstrations were held across the Telangana region today, opposing the reported move to create Royal Telangana. The proposal provides for including Ananthapur and Kurnool districts in the proposed Telangana state. Demanding that Telangana state be formed with 10 districts and Hyderabad as its capital, Telangana Raashtra Samithi (TRS) cadre held agitation in all Telangana districts. Students also took out rallies at several places. Opposing the move, TRS has given a call for bandh in Telangana region tomorrow on this issue.

The proposal to create Royal Telangana is receiving cold response from all political parties in Telangana region. While the TRS has already come on agitation mode, Congress, TDP, BJP and CPI leaders are vehemently opposing the move and supported the bandh call given by TRS in Telangana region tomorrow. Several congress ministers discussed royal telangana proposal at a meeting in Hyderabad today and decided to write a letter to GOM against the proposal. Meanwhile State Police Director General Prasada Rao reviewed law and order situation and sounded alert in Telangana districts in view of the bandh. All scheduled examinations in the region were postponed. Opposing Royal Telangana, Telanagana government doctors Association announced that they would stall emergency services for 24 hours from this midnight. Suprasanthi,AIR News, Hyderabad

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The Karnataka legislative Assembly has passed the Essential Services Maintenance Bill - ESMA. The Bill has a provision to issue non-bailable warrant against agitating government servants responsible for providing essential services to the public. The Bill was passed today despite the entire opposition demanding withdrawal of it by the government. They alleged that the Bill gives sweeping power to the police and can be misused by them. But, State Law Minister T B Jayachandra argued that ESMA will be used only during rarest of rare occasions and the decision will be taken at the highest level.

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A Delhi court today granted Gujarat Police a one-day transit remand of Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai, accused in a rape case in Surat. Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mor granted the transit remand for Narayan Sai and two other accused, Kaushal Thakur alias Hanuman and driver Ramesh Malhotra. Gujarat Police sought the transit remand, saying that Narayan was required to be presented before a local court, which has issued a non-bailable warrant against him. Narayan was on the run for the last 58 days after a complaint was filed by a 30-year-old woman that he raped her between 2001 and 2005. He was arrested along with four accomplices from Pipli village near Kurukshetra in Haryana last night. Delhi Police sources said Narayan had disguised himself as a Sikh man to evade being caught. A reward of 5 lakh rupees had been announced for information leading to his arrest.

Narayan and Asaram have both been accused in rape cases.

Asaram, 72, is in judicial custody in Jodhpur jail after being arrested in September for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.

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Former Bangladesh President and Chairman of Jatiya Party, General HM Ershad has ordered all seven Ministers of his party to quit the Sheikh Hasina-led interim Cabinet. At a press conference this evening, he said his party will not participate in the forthcoming polls, and asked all aspiring candidates to withdraw their nominations. Jatiya Party had filed nominations for 298 out of 300 seats. Jatiya party's backing off from the polls, puts the ruling Awami League in a tight position.

Meanwhile, India has extended its support to ensure free and fair elections in Bangladesh. India's Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who is on a two day visit to Bangladesh, today met the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Party President General HM Ershad besides the Foreign Minister and the Foreign Secretary.

Talking to the press in an interaction with Editors and senior journalists this evening, the foreign Secretary said India hopes that the forthcoming elections will strengthen democratic institutions, practices and processes, and that they will be fair, free, impartial and acceptable to the people of Bangladesh. She also said that India is concerned about the violence and hoped that wisdom and maturity will prevail, and elections with participation of the maximum possible parties will take place. Meanwhile 6 more people died today on the 5th day of the 131-hour nationwide transport blockade. 4 died as a train derailed in Ghaibandha this morning. Another was killed inn Feni during clashes with the police when Opposition supporters attacked a local police outpost. Blockaders clashed with the police in Ghazipur leaving around 30 injured. With today's deaths, the death toll has risen to 48 since violence started on 25th November after announcement of the elections.Melinda Dias for AIR News, Dhaka.

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The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC has decided to maintain the same oil output at 30 million barrel per day for the next year. The decision was taken at the meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, a short while ago. They have also agreed to meet again on June 11, next year, to assess the status of oil production target. According to reports, if the sanctions on Iran's oil exports is completely relieved by that time, they can discuss measures to curb over production. The oil ministers said that they are happy with the current crude price around 100 dollars per barrel and supply and demand are in balance. But Iran's oil minister said, his country will push for pre-sanctions oil production levels as soon as possible, even if it brings down the crude prices. Iraq also said it wants to raise the output while Libya said it can increase the production if once the unrest comes to an end in the country.

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Finance Minister P Chidambaram has termed Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, VCES, a rare opportunity to make a fresh start. He said in Bangalore today that those in trade and industry should seize the offer. He made it clear that tax evaders will eventually be reached. Mr. Chidambaram said, the countdown has begun and the last date is December 31. Describing Government's offer as fair and generous, he said, it is a one-time offer not likely to come their way for at least a couple of decades. Therefore, he said, it is in the best interest of everyone to take advantage of the offer.

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THE BUSINESS WORLD

Falling for the second straight session, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped 146 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 20,709, amid rising crude oil prices, and weak Asian markets, today. The Nifty fell 41 points, to 6,161. Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore lost between 0.9 percent and 2.2 percent. The rupee appreciated 31 paise, to 62.05 against the dollar. And Brent crude oil futures slipped towards 112 dollars a barrel, but US crude gained 1.18 dollars, to 97.22 dollars a barrel. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News

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In Churu district of Rajasthan, five persons died and three injured due to electrocution of a bus. The freak accident occurred near Chandgothi village when a passenger travelling on the roof of a private bus, touched an electric line of 11000 KV.

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In Syria, at least 17 people were killed and 30 others injured when mortar shells hit densely populated residential areas of Aleppo, the second largest city today. Local police sources said, the mortar shells were fired by rebels and the attack targeted al-Furqan and al-Meridian districts. According to UN estimates, the civil war in Syria has claimed more than 100,000 lives since March 2011.

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The European Commission has imposed a hefty fine on a group of global banks for colluding for profit. The eight banking giants, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, were fined 2.3 billion dollars.

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Team India embark on their three-ODI and two-Test tour of South Africa, from tomorrow. India will inaugurate the series by playing first ODI at New Wandrers stadium, Johannesburg. All India Radio will broadcast the live commentary of the match. The Commentary can be heard at all the FM Gold network from 4.30 pm.