Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

09 December, 2013

Congress scorched by BJP’s massive wins

• The BJP has swept Rajasthan, and retained Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Delhi it emerged as the single largest party, five short of a clear majority.
• Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a stunning debut, winning 28 seats, marking the end of 15 years of uninterrupted Congress rule in the national capital.
• Government-formation in the three bigger States — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh would be smooth. Delhi, with a hung Assembly, faces uncertainty: the BJP said that unless it can secure a majority “in the natural process”, it would prefer to sit in the opposition.
• Rajasthan’s next Chief Minister is the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje. After a nine- month-long campaign, she led her party to a landslide victory, ousting the Congress’s Ashok Gehlot from power: the BJP won 162 of the 200 seats in the Assembly. In Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be Chief Minister for a third term, having ensured that his party outdid its performance in 2008, winning 166 of the 230 seats.
• In Chhattisgarh, on the other hand, the trends see-sawed all through the day. But in the end, the BJP won 49 seats, nine ahead of the Congress, ensuring a third consecutive triumph for chief minister Raman Singh.

NOTA vote maximum in Chhattisgarh

• It was Chhattisgarh that polled the largest number of ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) votes — an option available for the first time to voters to reject all the candidates. Delhi recorded the least number of NOTA votes until results last came in.

• As many as 10,848 voters exercised the option in Chitrakot, a small constituency in the naxal-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh — declared a “liberated zone” by left-wing extremists. This was the highest number in all four States where Assembly election results were declared on Sunday. The least number of NOTA votes was polled in Mehgaon in Madhya Pradesh, with 136 voters exercising the choice.

• An interesting scenario emerged in Pansemal (reserved for the Scheduled Tribes) in Madhya Pradesh, where there were only two contestants — one from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the other from the Congress. While the winning BJP candidate polled 77,919 votes, his rival got 70,537, whereas 9,288 votes were recorded under NOTA — much more than the difference between the votes polled by the candidates.

• Interestingly, there was no constituency where voters did not reject their candidates.

• However, according to the Election Commission of India, NOTA votes will not be treated as valid. Under Section 158 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it is the total number of valid votes polled by all candidates that is to be taken into account for calculating the one-sixth of votes polled by an individual for returning the security deposit.

• Hence, votes polled under the NOTA option will not be taken into account for calculating the total valid votes polled by the candidates for returning the deposit.

Waqar, Gilchrist inducted into ICC's Hall of Fame

• Pakistan's pace bowling great Waqar Younis and former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist were inducted into cricket's Hall of Fame.
• Waqar joins Hanif Mohammad and former team-mates Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram as the Pakistanis in the exclusive club. Gilchrist will be the 19th Australian male inductee.
• Waqar claimed 373 wickets in 87 Tests and 416 wickets in 262 one-day internationals before retiring after the 2003 World Cup. He now works as a television commentator.

Under-pressure IOA concedes to IOC demands, amends constitution

• IOA’s amended clause clearly states that where charges have been framed by any court in India, in respect of an offence which is of serious nature under Indian Penal Code/ Prevention of Corruption Act in which punishment of imprisonment of more than 2 years is prescribed then the member/office bearer/member of executive council of IOA will resign immediately and if not they will be provisionally suspended and will not be eligible to contest in elections and the case will be referred to IOA Ethics Commission for further guidance.

• The House unanimously decided to amend the relevant clause in IOA constitution which would bar charge-framed persons from contesting elections.

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