Chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who led the Congress to a hat-trick win in last year’s assembly elections,celebrated 11 years of Congress rule in Delhi, with a small festivity at her residence.

Dikshit, 72, celebrated the feat by cutting a cake in the presence of a group of supporters, who wished her a long political career.

On the occasion, she said hosting the next year’s Commonwealth Games successfully was her “topmost priority” now.

Dikshit was sworn in as chief minister of Delhi for the third consecutive term on December 17 last year, an unparalleled feat for a Congress leader in recent times.

The Congress Thursday lost two seats in the Delhi by-elections with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) winning one seat each.

While BJP’s candidate Pardymn Rajput defeated Congress’ Tilotma Chaudhary in Dwarka, RJD’s Asif Mohhamed Khan trumped the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Braham Singh in Okhla.

Elections in Dwarka were held on Sep 10, and in Okhla on Sep 15.

In Dwarka, BJP’s Parduymn Rajput defeated his Congress rival Tilotma Choudhary by a margin of 11,365 votes while in Okhla, RJD’s Asif Mohd Khan pipped BSP’s Brahm Singh by 5,007 votes.

In the counting for the bypoll held on September 15, Asif Mohammad Khan polled 23,394 defeating Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Bramha Singh by more than 5000 votes. Congress candidate Farhad Suri came third in the Muslim-dominated constituency with 17,804 votes.

“When a judicial probe is ordered into the September 19, 2008 Batla House encounter I will withdraw from the election for the Okhla seat,” announced Khan while kickstarting the campaign one month ago. All through the campaigns he reiterated the demand for a judicial probe into the encounter in which two Azamgarh youth, suspected as terrorists, were gunned down.

In the last assembly poll in December 2008 he strongly raised the issue and people responded by giving him 25000 votes, just 500 behind the sitting Congress MLA Parwez Hashmi whose ascension to the Rajya Sabha necessitated this bypoll. Khan and his wife had lost municipal council elections some months ago.

Polling in the Assembly bypoll for the Okhla constituency began on a low turn out. And it stayed that way till the end. While the first hour saw a 6.61-per cent turnout, it reached 24.39 per cent by afternoon, before settling at 35.8 per cent by 5 pm when polling drew to a close.

Candidates attributed the low turnout in the predominantly Muslim-dominant areas due to the Ramzan.

Gurjjar-dominated areas of Madanpur Khadar and Aligaon recorded about 50 per cent polling in most booths.

Congress could face a challenge in retaining the Okhla Assembly seat as two Gujjar candidates, including one of its rebels, are likely to change the caste equations in the Muslim-dominated constituency which goes to bypolls on Tuesday.

NCP nominee Rambir Singh Bidhuri, a former Congress leader, and BSP’s Brahma Singh Bidhuri have the potential to make a dent into the Congress stronghold, which has 43 per cent Muslim voters, 15 per cent Gujjar electorate and 11 per cent OBCs. Asif Mohd Khan from RJD is also a strong candidate.

The seat which has been a Congress fortress since 1998 outgoing MLA Parvez Hashmi had won on a Janata Dal ticket in 1993 but switched parties since saw the ruling party hang on by a wafer thin margin of 541 votes in the November elections. For a very long time during the counting, Hashmi had been trailing to RJD candidate Asif Mohammed Khan, brother of former Union minister Arif Mohammed Khan but managed to hold his ground in the end.

By-election to Dwarka and Okhla assembly constituencies in the national capital will be be held respectively on  September 10 and September 15.
The two segments fell vacant after their respective MLAs Mahabal Mishra (Dwarka) and Parvez Hashmi (Okhla) were elected to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha recently.

Candidates List for Dwarka Assembly bypolls

Tilotma Chaudhary-Indian National Congress
Pardumn Rajput-Bharatiya Janata Party
Hari Prakash-Bahujan ekta party(R)
Naresh Chander Pal-Bharatiya Sampuran Krantikari party
Om Prakash Indora-Rashtriya Janadhikar Party
Prof Ram Narayan Singh-Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party
Ramesh Kumar Hotla-Independant
Subhash Kumar Chaudhary-Independant
Mukesh Kumar Tanwar-Independant
Madan Mohan-Independant
Mordhwaj Rai-Independant
Gulfan-Independant
Anil Singh-Independant

Candidates List for Okhla Assembly bypolls

Farhad Suri-Indian National Congress
Mohd Irfan Ahmad-Bharatiya Janata Party
Asif Mohd Khan-Rashtriya JANATA Dal
Braham Singh-Bahujan samaj Party
Rambir Singh Bidhuri-Nationalist Congress Party
Sanjay-Rashtriya Janadhikar Party
Sunita Choudhary-Awami Party
Jamaluddin-Independant
Ilyas Khan-Independant
Mohammad Ayub-Independant
Waism Ahmad Ghazi-Independant

Manoj Chaudhury of Department of Buddhist Studies won the president’s post while ABVP’s Kirti Vadhera (Miranda House) bagged the Vice President’s post.

Manoj Choudhary, in the end, had only an 11-vote advantage over his classmate from the Department of Buddhist Studies Bajinder Singh. The second-placed All India Students’ Federation (AISF) candidate got 5,380 votes.

Kirti Wadhera,polled 2,546 votes more than her nearest candidate — Anurag Sharma, a Department of Buddhist Studies student contesting as an Independent.

NSUI’s Ashradeep Kaur (Campus Law Centre) won the post of Secretary while Samajwadi Chatra Sabha’s Anupriya Tyagi (Hansraj College) bagged the post of Joint Secretary.

Ashradeep  Kaur won by the largest margin: 4,181 votes.

Manoj Choudhary, incidentally, is the first Independent DUSU president since Rajiv Goswami of the Mandal agitation fame won with NSUI support in 1991.

Voting to decide the fate of 29 candidates for the four Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) posts began on a dull note this morning.Then there are the college representatives. Over 60 colleges of the university participate in the DUSU elections.

The polling for the colleges where classes are held in the mornings started at 8.30 a.m. and will end at 12.30 p.m. For evening colleges, the timings will be 3-7 p.m.

This year’s DUSU elections are being held amid controversy over disqualification of several frontline student leaders’ candidature for flouting the recommendations of a panel headed by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh.
The Delhi High Court had on Tuesday dismissed the petition of five candidates, who had challenged their disqualification.

The high court had dismissed the plea of Deepak Negi of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Rohit Chahal of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the president’s post; Umesh Tomar (NSUI) for vice-president; Lalit Kumar (ABVP) for secretary and Ashok Khare (ABVP) for joint secretary.

A plea filed by five disqualified Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) poll candidates from National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

Stating that the chief election officer had taken the decision in accordance with the rules, justice Sanjeev Khanna rejected the plea filed by Deepak Negi and Umesh Tomar of NSUI and Rohit Chahal, Lalit Kumar and Ashok Khare of ABVP. Negi and Chahal were candidates for president’s post. While Tomar was aiming for vice-president, Kumar was a candidate for post of secretary and Khare for joint secretary.

Justice Khanna dismissed the petitions of the five candidates saying the decision to disqualify them from contesting the poll was taken by following an appropriate procedure. “I do not think principles of natural justice have been violated,” Justice Khanna said. “The university, before taking any action, had issued showcause notices.”

As per the allegations, their candidature was cancelled after the five were found spending more money than the fixed amount of Rs 5,000 each, using cars and organising rallies for their election campaigns which was against the former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh’s recommendations.

National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidates moved the Delhi high court on Monday, challenging their disqualification from the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections.

Candidates for the president’s post Deepak Negi (NSUI) and Rohit Chahal (ABVP), NSUI’s vice-presidential candidate Umesh Tanwar, and ABVP’s Lalit Chaudhary and Ashok Khari, running for the posts of general secretary and joint secretary, were disqualified on Friday for violating the poll code.

Another NSUI candidate, Rahul Mathur, a candidate for the post of joint secretary, was also disqualified on Monday. Now, NSUI and ABVP will participate in the polls with only one candidate each, leaving ample opportunities for other parties like SFI, AISA, INSO and others.

According to chief election officer Gurmeet Singh , “we are implementing the Supreme Court guidelines on DUSU elections. This time a tough decision has been taken to send a clear message that law should not be violated. Earlier, they did not bother and follow any of our decisions.”

According to DU, these candidates were found spending excess money than the fixed amount of Rs 5,000, using cars and organising rallies for the election campaign which were against the Lyngdoh committee’s recommendations.

In their petition, ABVP candidates alleged the university had misinterpreted the recommendations and sought the court intervention to restore their right to fight the elections.

NSUI candidates said the party was against the recommendations as they were practically not feasible, adding the election officer cannot exercise his power once their names were finalised.

With the candidature of NSUI and ABVP members for the post of the DUSU president being cancelled on Friday, for the first time since 1991 it looks like the union will have a non-NSUI, non-ABVP president. This could also be true for the post of joint secretary if Rahul Mathur of NSUI, who was served a showcause notice on Saturday, fails to satisfy the university authorities with his explanation.

The smaller students’ organisations aiming to make a mark in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections are rubbing their hands with glee. A day after the university’s chief election officer disqualified five candidates from big guns NSUI and ABVP for violation of election code, these fringe players in Delhi University student politics now feel they are in with a real chance.

Among those disqualified are

ABVP

* Rohit Chahal (president candidate)

* Lalit Chaudhry (general secretary)

* Ashok Khari (jt secretary)

NSUI

* Deepak Negi (president)

* Umesh Tanwar (vice-president candidate)

The disqualifications have made the likes of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Association (AISA), Ambedkar Students’ Organisation of India (ASOI), Indian National Students’ Organisation (INSO) and Disha Student Organisation look at the September 4 elections with hopes of breaking the NSUI-ABVP monopoly in DUSU.