12 July 2013

Congress brass moves to take final call on Telangana

The Andhra Pradesh leadership — chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy CM Damodar Rajanarasimha and PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana - will make presentations to the Congress core group on whether Andhra Pradesh should stay united or Telangana be carved out of it, the question couched in the subject of "Congress roadmap for 2014" on which they have been asked to argue. The core group meeting will include PM Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other key leaders.

While Kiran Reddy is likely to push for united Andhra, deputy CM Rajanarasimha is a strong Telangana votary and PCC chief Satyanarayana is inclined towards division of the state despite hailing from coastal Andhra.

Historic abortion bill passed in Ireland; MPs vote 127 to 31 in favour

Ireland's Parliament has passed the historic and ground breaking pro-abortion bill.

Members of the Dail voted by 127 to 31 for the motion that will for the first time ever allow abortion in catholic Ireland.

Abortion services, however, will not be open for one and all.

The bill was introduced after Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died in hospital in Galway in 2012 after being denied a termination.

Double whammy: Netas in jail can’t fight polls, Supreme Court says

The days of politicians fighting elections from jail are over. The Supreme Court has ruled that a person, who is in jail or in police custody, cannot contest elections to legislative bodies.An apex court bench of Justices A K Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhayay ruled that only an "elector" can contest the polls and he/she forfeits the right to vote during imprisonment or in police custody. However, the court said that disqualification would not be applicable to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law.

The court based its order on provisions of the Representation of the People Act. Sections 4 and 5 of the Act lay down that in order to be elected to Parliament or state legislatures, one must be an elector. The bench also referred to Section 62(5) of the Act which says that no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.

Reading Sections 4, 5 and 62(5) together, the apex court came to the conclusion that a person in jail or police custody cannot contest elections.