Winter session of Parliament begins tomorrow

Dec 4,  6:56 PM 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 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 Sabhawhich will go to polls in early 2014. Polling to 70 member Delhi Assembly ends with brisk voting Dec 4,  6:13 PM Polling to the 70 member Delhi Assembly has ended with brisk voting reported from various constituencies. According to Delhi election office sources, voting percentage is expected to be over 60 percent as many voters were in queue at 5 PM. Polling started on a dull note today but picked up after noon and had reached 55 percent by 4 PM. The polling has been peaceful in the national capital and no untoward incident has been reporters from any parts of the city. 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 also contesting her also cast his vote. BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Dr. Harshvardhan contesting from Krishnanagar seat in East Delhi cast his vote there. Voting ended at 5 PM. About 1.2 crore voters including over 4 lakh first timers, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 11,763 polling booths. 630 polling booths have been declared critical and hyper critical. For the first time, the None of the Above, NOTA option is available to voters in the EVMs who do not find any of candidates suitable. The NOTA option will be printed in pink on EVMs. AIR correspondent reports, 112 Electronic Voting Machines were replaced in the early hours of polling at different booths following technical snags.