Mumbai, May 31 (IANS) Hitendra Thakur-led Bahujan Vikas Agadhi Monday won the first ever election to the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, on the outskirts of north Mumbai, capturing 55 of the 89 wards.
‘We had expected to win over 50 wards and we got it. I thank all those who had faith in the party and those who elected members of our party,’ Thakur said.
Vivek Pandit-led Jan Andolan Samiti contested from 38 wards and won 19. Out of 48 wards the Congress contested, it won only two.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) failed to open their account from any of the 46 wards they contested, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won one ward out of the 17 contested.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena won from one ward out of 17 contested, while Shiv Sena won from three wards out of 40. Independents won in eight wards.
As many as 383 candidates spread over 89 wards had contested the elections. One candidate of Bahujan Vikas Agadhi was declared elected unopposed.
The election took place Sunday with approximately 43 percent of the 6.5 lakh electorate exercising their franchise, said election officers.
There were 603 polling booths with around 3,500 polling staff on duty.
Situated on the outskirts of north Mumbai, the Vasai taluka had four municipal councils — Vasai, Nala Sopara, Virar and Navghar-Manickpur — and 72 gram panchayats. They were all dissolved and the municipal corporation was formed July 3, 2009.
Radio Pakistan unhappy over criticism of Jaswant Singh book on Jinnah
Abohar, Sep.3 (ANI): The expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has got a new fan in Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan.
In its latest edition, the Punjabi Durbar programme has described all political parties of India be it Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress or Shiv Sena being anti-Pakistan for voicing objection to Jaswant Singh’s book- “Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence”.
In its recent Punjabi Durbar Programme, Radio Pakistan said that Jaswant Singh has paid a huge price for his biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Many Indian scholars have expressed sympathy with Jaswant Singh, but have taken exception to Pakistan Radio describing all Indian political parties as anti-Pakistan.
Anil Kumar, a historian and a commentator on current affairs has stated that political parties in India have tried their best to cultivate good relations with Pakistan ever since independence.
“India has been maintaining friendly relationship with Pakistan since 1947. India parted with funds held by united India, when Jinnah demanded it. Even after Pakistani aggression in 1965 and 1971, India returned to Pakistan the territory which was in India’s possession in the hope that there would be cordial relations between the two countries,” he said.
“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have been continuously trying to maintain good relations with Pakistan, but Pakistan continued terrorist attacks in India,” Anil Kumar added.
“India is a secular country. There are more Muslims in India than the total population of Pakistan. Moslems are happy to be in India. Many feel that they are safer than in Pakistan, which is being subjected to violence by the Taliban,” said Anil kumar, who is, an expert on Indo-Pak affairs.
India is continuing talks at different levels despite incidents like Mumbai terror attacks and Pakistan’s ongoing support to militancy in Kashmir.
It is surprising that broadcasters of Radio Pakistan expect political parties in India to sing praise of Jinnah, who was chiefly responsible for the division of the sub-continent on the basis of religious identities.
They accept Jinnah’s contribution during the freedom struggle against the British Raj, but are critical of his role in dividing the country. (ANI)