Pollscape

Exit the Speaker,enter the son.

Exit the Speaker,enter the son

KOLKATA: Among the new candidates the CPM has fielded in West Bengal is Dr Fuad Halim,son of Assembly Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim,and contesting from from Ballygunge in Kolkata. The entry of the doctor,40,coincides with his fathers decision to retire. The senior Halim,now 76,has been Speaker for 29 years since 1982. Fuad studied at St Joseph College,Bowbazar,and then at Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College from 1989 to 1995. For the last 15 years he has been practising in Kolkata. Fuad says he has been a member of the party since 1991 and was the vice-president and then president of the colleges SFI unit of the college in 1993 and 1994. He has also been an elected office-bearer of Indian Medical Association. I had the opportunity of seeing how my father works in the Assembly, he says.

CPM keeps 149 out,Cong rubs it in

New Delhi: The CPM candidate list is minus 149 of its MLAs,including nine ministers,and the Congress mocked them,saying they have not been denied tickets but voluntarily refused to contest because they have accepted defeat even before the polls. The fact is that these 149 legislators have not been denied tickets but have refused to contest seeing the writing on the wall. They refused to accept CPM tickets as they wanted to avoid imminent defeat at the hands of Congress-Trinamool combine candidates, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed said.

AGPs Vision 2030 for Assam

guwahati: The AGP brought out a Vision 2030 for Assam. Party president Chandra Mohan Patowary said as the AGP represents the aspirations of states regional identities,it had requested academicians and intellectuals to prepare the document. He said the party will concentrate on people-sensitive,sustainable development for the people of Assam. During Congress rule,he said,there has been no growth and the states per capita income is one of the lowest.

Christian forum says will jump into fray

Kozhikode: Accusing both the ruling LDF and the UDF of neglecting settled farmers,the Christian Democratic Union CDU has threatened to field candidates in some of the Assembly constituencies. Babu Benedict,president of CDU,said that they would be fielding candidates in Kozhikode North,Thiruvambady,Nilambur,Irikkur,Kalpetta and Peravur.

EC vows to check money flow in TN

Chennai: Conceding that flow of money is a big challenge in Tamil Nadu,the Election Commission said it would put in place strong measures to control it. We feel the seizures are not enough. There is lot more money which we need to seize. So we are going to tighten our control, Chief Election Commissioner CEC S Y Quraishi told reporters.