New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday denied bail to Dr. Akash, who was arrested in connection with the tragic fire at New Born Baby Care Hospital, where many children were killed in a massive fire.

The decision came after careful consideration of the potential for the accused to evade legal proceedings and the gravity of the allegations.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vidhi Gupta Anand of Karkardooma Courts noted the serious nature of the offences and the ongoing investigation.

“It is without any doubt that the alleged offences are serious in nature and investigation is at initial stages and there are several aspects of investigation such as supervisory role of accused Dr. Akash, collection of the prescriptions signed by him, his role in delaying the call to the police/fire services etc which are yet to be investigated upon in detail,” she stated.

The defence counsel, Advocate Naveen Kumar Singh, argued that Dr. Akash was merely a trainee at the hospital and not an employee or in a supervisory role.

Singh asserted that Akash was assisting the nursing staff and was not responsible for patient treatment or prescriptions.

The court, however, was not convinced by the defence’s arguments. “The possibility of accused Dr. Akash fleeing the process of law cannot be ruled out and considering the seriousness of the alleged offenses and gravity of allegations made, possibility of the accused Dr. Akash influencing the witnesses can also not be ruled out,” CMM Anand noted.

The prosecution, represented by an Additional Public Prosecutor (APP), opposed the bail application, stressing the serious nature of the allegations.

The APP contended that Dr. Akash was not a mere trainee but was in charge during the night of the incident and fled the hospital without informing the authorities, which was done by the general public instead.

The prosecution also pointed out the presence of a dead body in the ICU prior to the incident and informed the court that the high court is also seized of the matter.

The defence rebutted by stating that the fire was an accident caused by a short circuit on the second floor and resulted in suffocation deaths, not burns.

They argued that Dr. Akash had rescued seven babies before the arrival of emergency services. Additionally, the defence cited procedural discrepancies and the potential negative impact on Akash’s career, noting his youth and lack of influence.

Despite these arguments, the court found the allegations and the potential risks too significant to grant bail.

Last week, the court had sent the owner of the Baby Care New Born Hospital, and Akash to 14-day judicial custody.

Hospital owner Dr. Naveen Khichi was arrested in the wake of the tragedy at the private hospital, along with Akash, who was on duty at that time.

Police probe into the hospital fire has revealed that the licence issued to the hospital by the Delhi Government Health Services (DGHS) had expired on March 31.

The probe also revealed that the doctors at the hospitals were not qualified to treat newborn babies, who needed neonatal intensive care, as these doctors were only BAMS degree holders.

Further, when the hospital was inspected by police, fire brigade staff and crime team, it was also found there were no fire extinguishers, improper entry and exit, and no emergency exits.

The probable cause of the fire was stated to be a short circuit.

–IANS

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Kolkata, June 3 (IANS) Counting of votes for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal will begin on Tuesday morning in the backdrop of Exit Poll projections of the BJP pulling off its best-ever electoral performance in the state.

The combined findings of five Exit Polls by reputed agencies, including Bengal’s most followed ABP-Cvoter, have predicted a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 27 seats in favour of the BJP. The projections also gave a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 21 seats to the Trinamool Congress.

In 2019, the BJP improved its tally to 18 seats from the two it won in 2014, while the Trinamool ended with 22 seats, down from the 34 it won in the previous elections. The remaining two seats were won by the Congress, which managed four seats in 2014.

The latest Exit Polls also predicted 0-3 seats for the Congress-Left Front alliance in West Bengal.

As per the ABP-Cvoter Exit Poll, the BJP is also expected to gain in vote share in Bengal — from 40.7 per cent in 2019 to 42.5 per cent this time. On the other hand, the Trinamool’s vote share is expected to decline to 41.5 per cent from the 43.3 per cent it managed in 2019.

Political observers feel that the district which can be a significant contributor to BJP’s projected tally is East Midnapore, a virtual bastion of the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

According to them, the BJP candidates will in all probability win both the seats in the district — Tamluk and Kanthi.

In 2019, Trinamool had won both these seats, but the Adhikari family was in the ruling party camp then.

This time, the BJP fielded former judge of the Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, from Tamluk, while Suvendu Adhikari’s younger brother Soumendu Adhikari is the party nominee from Kanthi.

Similarly, Hooghly can be another district that might propel BJP’s numbers this time, feel political observers.

In 2019, the BJP managed victory in the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat, while the remaining two constituencies in the district, Serampore and Arambagh, went in favour of the Trinamool.

This time, as per projections, the BJP is expected to snatch the Arambagh constituency from Trinamool, besides retaining Hooghly.

There are also indications that the BJP candidate from the Kolkata Uttar constituency, Tapas Roy, might emerge victorious by defeating three-time sitting Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay.

If the results go as per the Exit Poll projections, the BJP will be making clear gains at Trinamool’s cost which can be attributed to two factors.

First, consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of the BJP against a division in minority votes between the Trinamool, Congress-Left Front alliance, and the AISF.

Second, a substantial chunk of floating voters who voted for Trinamool in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 Assembly elections having distanced themselves from the ruling party this time, mainly because of the multiple cases of corruption against its leaders.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, June 3 (IANS) Counting of votes polled for 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana will be taken up at 34 counting centres amid tight security on Tuesday.

Counting of votes for the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency, where a by-election was held along with Lok Sabha polls, will be taken up simultaneously.

Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj said the process will start at 8 a.m. in all the centres where a total of 120 halls have been earmarked for counting of votes.

Postal ballots will be counted first and this will be followed by the counting of votes cast in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A total of 1,855 tables have been arranged for the counting of votes cast in EVMs. There are 19 counting halls for counting 2.18 lakh postal ballots. There will be two counting halls each for Chevella and Malkajgiri constituencies.

The election authorities have also arranged 276 tables for counting of postal ballots at all centres.

According to the CEO, over 10,000 staff will be posted on counting duties while an additional 20 per cent workforce will be on standby. A total of 49 central observers and 2,414 micro-observers will monitor the counting process.

A three-layered security is in place at the counting centres for peaceful and smooth conduct of the process. Twelve companies of the Central Armed Police Force, guarding the EVM strong rooms, will oversee security in coordination with state police.

The first layer of security will be for the counting hall while there will be a second tier for the campus. The third layer of security will cover 100 metres around the campus, where vehicles will not be allowed.

The authorities will keep a tight vigil with CCTV cameras installed in all counting halls. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been imposed near the centres.

As a precautionary measure, authorities have announced the closure of liquor shops on Tuesday.

Following the initial EVM vote count, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips from five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly segment will be tallied with the EVM count. Post-counting, the EVMs will be stored in strongrooms for 45 days in case any election petitions are filed.

Hyderabad, Nalgonda and Karimnagar will have maximum counting rounds of 24 each. Nizamabad will have only 15 rounds of counting.

A voter turnout of 65.67 per cent was recorded in the polling held on May 13.

A little over 3.17 crore voters, half of them women, were eligible to cast their votes. Of them, 2.18 crore cast their votes.

Most of the constituencies witnessed three-cornered contests among the ruling Congress, the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the 2019 elections, the ruling BRS had bagged 9 seats, BJP won four seats and Congress three seats. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had retained one seat.

–IANS

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Amaravati, June 3 (IANS) All arrangements are in place for the counting of votes in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer M.K. Meena said on Monday.

The counting of votes polled in state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will begin at 8 a.m. with the counting of postal ballots.

This will be followed by counting the votes recorded in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A total of 401 counting halls have been set up at 33 places across the state. This time, in view of the record number of postal ballots received in the state, the election authorities have set up special counters.

Meena, who personally visited a few counting centres, said the Election Commission of India has appointed 119 counting observers for the state.

A total of 3.33 crore votes were polled in simultaneous elections to the 175-member Assembly and all 25 Lok Sabha seats on May 13. A total of 4.61 lakh postal ballots were cast while 26,473 voters availed of home voting facility. As many as 26,721 service voters also exercised their right to vote electronically.

For the Parliamentary constituencies, 2,443 EVM tables and 557 postal ballot tables were arranged. For Assembly constituencies, 2,446 EVM tables and 557 postal ballot tables were arranged.

The vote count in the Amalapuram Lok Sabha constituency will be completed in 27 rounds. This is likely to take nine hours. Counting will be completed for the Rajahmundry and Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituencies in 13 rounds each and the results for these two seats are expected in five hours.

There will be 26 rounds of counting each in the Bhimili and Panyam Assembly segments. The results from the Kovur and Narsapuram Assembly segments are expected in five hours.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code will be imposed at the counting centre. Mobile phones will not be allowed in the counting centres. Security forces have been mobilised to maintain law and order.

Tight security measures have been taken in the wake of violent incidents that occurred on the polling day and on the subsequent days at a few places.

A heavy voter turnout of 82.73 per cent was recorded in the simultaneous elections.

For the Assembly elections, a total of 2,387 candidates are in the fray.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendula), TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam), and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram) are among the key candidates.

For 25 Lok Sabha, 454 contestants are in the fray and the prominent among them are state BJP chief D. Purandeswari (Rajahmundry), state Congress President Y.S. Sharmila Reddy (Kadapa) and former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, now in the BJP (Rajampet).

In 2019, the YSRCP secured a landslide victory, winning 151 of the 175 Assembly seats with a 49.95 per cent vote share. The TDP could only secure 23 seats with 39.17 per cent of the votes while the remaining seat went to the Jana Sena. The YSRCP had also won 22 Lok Sabha seats while the remaining three went to the TDP. The BJP and Congress drew a blank in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

This time, the state witnessed a direct fight between the YSRCP and the NDA, comprising the TDP, the Jana Sena, and the BJP. Under the seat-sharing agreement, the TDP is contesting 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats. The JSP has fielded candidates in 21 Assembly segments and two Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP is contesting 10 Assembly and six Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress fielded candidates in 159 Assembly and 23 Lok Sabha constituencies. It has left the remaining seats for its allies CPI and CPI-M.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Professor Gourav Vallabh, the well-known TV face of Congress having recently switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spoke to IANS on a slew of issues, ahead of the counting day.

From duplicity of Congress to the opportunistic INDIA bloc, he tore into the grand old party-led Opposition and said that the 2024 results will serve as a trigger for full-scale infighting within. He also said that the alliance partners will not just have a go at each other but will also be seen running in different directions after the election results.

Below is the full interview:

IANS: Congress is proclaiming victory in at least 295 constituencies while Digvijaya Singh is pointing fingers at EMS. Doesn’t this show Congress duplicity?

Gourav Vallabh: Digvijaya Singh seems to have pre-empted the Congress leadership. He is speaking the same thing which Rahul and his coterie are set to say after the declaration of results on June 4. He has started preparing the ground for holding EVMs responsible for party’s defeat.

June 4 will mark the rout of Congress nation-wide by about 4 PM. After the debacle, the party will start looking for an escape route by pinning the blame on EVMs for its ignominious show in the 2024 elections. Congress leaders including Digvijaya Singh have already started setting the narrative by making such claims. Rahul will also join this blamegame after election results.

A senior Congress leader has been recently pulled up by the Election Commission for making wild and unsubstantiated allegations against it. He claimed that top BJP leaders tried to intimidate EC officials on duty to influence the poll outcome.

However, all this is not likely to make any difference to party’s poll prospects. They have been rejected by the country as well as countrymen.

IANS: Rahul Gandhi dubbed the Exit Polls as ‘Modi media poll’ and ‘fantasy poll’. Given your past association with Congress, what do you think is the reason behind Rahul’s obsession with the media?

Gourav Vallabh: Rahul claims to have the support of masses however he barely makes a connect with the people. This is apparently the reason behind media not giving him bigger coverage than his counterparts. By speaking harshly to the press, he actually vents his anger and frustration.

His occasional outbursts at media persons and also incidents of singling them out by enquiring about their castes is very startling.

It’s an irony that many generations of Congress worked hard to free the society of caste bias and its scourge but today Rahul Gandhi is working against his own ancestors and the tall Congress leaders of Independent India, who tirelessly worked for bringing parity in the society.

IANS: Do you see any revolt or uprising in Congress, after the June 4 results?

Gourav Vallabh: Uprising happens in a party when the partymen feel intimidated or suppressed by a strong leadership. Congress has become leaderless and rudderless today. It has no ground connect left, it has lost direction and now going haywire.

IANS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started review meeting of his 100 day action program for the third term while Congress is busy with own issues? How do you see this?

Gourav Vallabh: This is called ‘destructive approach’. I also wrote about this in my resignation letter to the party. Constructive criticism should be the principle of any Opposition party, however Congress of today is relying on two principles – A for Abuse and R for Run.

It wants to abuse somebody and then run from questions. This escapist approach doesn’t strike chord with the public. The projections of Exit Polls are a clear indication of party getting a thumbs down from public.

IANS: How do you see the attacking approach of Congress social media in-charge Supriya Shrinate. Has she sharpened the party’s pitch or has it done more harm than good?

Gourav Vallabh: I can’t say much on the issue as I haven’t worked much with her. But, her father was a Parliamentarian and her stature in the party only reflects its penchant for nurturing dynastic politics.

IANS: How was Rahul Gandhi projected as ‘Jannayak’ and what was the strategy behind it?

Gourav Vallabh: Rahul Gandhi is neither represents ‘Jan’ nor he works like a ‘nayak’, so the strategy of projecting him as ‘Jannayak’ is bound to fail.

I was surprised to see a video of him. While the media was posing questions to him and he was singing a song. This shows his and party’s ‘shoot and scoot’ tactic and makes it a recipe for disaster.

My assessment is that Congress won’t get seats, equal to the pack of cards.

IANS: Has Congress become a party of ‘sycophants’?

Gourav Vallabh: I have already said that there are only two sets of people left in the Congress. One group is that of dynasts and political heirs (whose father and relatives have been CMs or top party office bearers) and the other lot is that of sychophants and yesmen, who can got at any length to support and defend whatever Rahul says.

The party committed series of blunders in recent past like rejecting an invite for Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha, standing with those who abused and criticised Sanatan Dharma while Congress leaders went on to hurl abusive jibes at PM Modi.

Rahul, in his poll rallies, casted aspersions at wealth creators like Ambani and Adani without any proof.

I raised these issues with the party leadership but it turned a deaf ear to my pleas.

IANS: Congress has asked its polling agents to stay put at the counting centers till evening to avoid any rigging of EVMs. It has also asked them to raise objections and record video, if anything objectionable. Your take on this?

Gourav Vallabh: There are clearly laid down rules and guidelines for counting. There won’t be any irregularities, as claimed by INDIA bloc.

Election Commission is a constitutional body, the country has a firm faith in it. It is the Congress which will see its trust in the poll body evaporate on June 4 by 4 PM.

IANS: Will the AAP-Congress alliance stay in Delhi, after the election results? What is you assessment?

Gourav Vallabh: You will see the obvious happening on June 4. After 5 PM, the two parties will be seen blaming and cursing each other after the impending decimation of opportunistic alliance. Both will be seen shifting blame at each other for poll defeat, both in TV studios and among the general public.

Same equation will be seen in Bihar, where the Congress and Lalu Yadav’s RJD will fire salvos at each other. Congressmen will say Lalu regime’s “jungleraaj” went against them while the latter will claim that the grand old party ruined their chances.

Mamata has already said that Congress will struggle to reach 40 seats count.

All the ‘manufactured unity’ of the “rainbow alliance” will dissipate on June 4, after the election results. The multitude of parties that came together harbouring dreams of PM’s chair will be seen fighting and trading bitter barbs with each other.

More than 28 parties that came together under one INDIA umbrella will run away in various directions. One leader will be seen heading to Bangkok while others would be seen packing their bags for some other locations.

–IANS

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