Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) today announced candidates for the May 2016 assembly elections. The AIADMK supermo will contest from R K Nagar constituency, from where she was elected in the by-election. The party has also decided to contest seven seats in Kerala and in 30 in Puducherry elections.

Elections In Tamil Nadu:Of the total 27 ministers, including Jayalaithaa, only 17 are going to contest in May 2016 state assembly elections, while 10 were not given seats. The list has combination of new faces, including former DGP R Natraj (who will contest from Mylapore).

Key ministers, who have been close to Jayalalithaa and were sidelined recently, have also found a place in the AIADMK list. They include trusted aids O Panneerselvam (finance minister), Natham Viswanathan (minister for power), and Edapadi Palaniswamy who were also part of the list, which was released by Jayalaithaa today. V Senthil Balaji, who was sacked from the cabinet, was also given a seat for the upcoming election. He will contest from Aravakurichi constituency.

Read more from our special coverage on "TAMIL NADU ELECTIONS 2016"

• DMK-Congress seat sharing deal signed
• BJP national secy, 2 state VPs in first list of TN poll nominees

Interestingly the list of the party, which was founded by actor-turned-politician M G Ramachandran and now controlled by actor-turned politician Jayalalithaa, doesn't have many names from the entertainment industry, except for three and one from ally.

Who is going to contest from where?

Jayalalithaa to contest from Radhakrishna Nagar (R K Nagar), which elected her during the by-election in June 2015. She defeated CPI candidate C Mahendran by a huge margin of 1.5 lakh votes. The Radhakrishnan Nagar seat fell vacant after AIADMK's Vetrivel resigned to facilitate Jayalalithaa's re-election to the assembly.

Jayalalithaa was elected from Srirangam in 2011, but lost that seat and the chief minister's post after a trial court in Bengaluru convicted her in the disproportionate assets case. The Karnataka High Court upheld her appeal and acquitted her of all charges. Jayalalithaa was again sworn in as chief minister, but she has to get elected to the assembly within six months.

AIADMK will contest 227 seats, of the total 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016. Balance seven seats were allocated. While AIADMK decided to contest almost all the seats, its rival DMK has allocated 54 constituencies to its allies, including 41 to Congress.

The balance which is in DMK's hand is 180 seats and the party said it continues to have discussions with other regional parties. However, how many seats DMK is going to contest is yet to be decided.

AIADMK's list includes O Panneerselvam (Bodinayakkanur Assembly), Natham Vishwanathan (Aathur), Valarmathi (Thousand Lights), D Jayakumar (Royapuram), Ponnaiyan (Saidapet), Velumani (Thondamuthur) C V Shanmugam (from Villiupram), Edappadi K Palaniswami ((Edappadi), P Thangamani (Kumarapalayam) among others whose got seats.

AIADMK has also given seats to some of the members, who have quit other parties and joined AIADMK. Of the total of nine DMDK MLAs, who have joined the AIADMK, only Mafoi K Pandiarajan and Ramachandran alone could get seats. M Kalaiarasu and  P T Elangovan who have quit PMK and Parithi Ilamvazhuthi who quit DMK and joined AIADMK were also given seats.

Panama Papers: From Amitabh Bachchan to Adani's brother, names of 500 Indians leaked

Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan's (pictured) name has been mentioned in the leaked files

What do Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF owner K P Singh and Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani have in common?

According to a report in The Indian Express on Monday, these names, among 500 others, figure on a Panama law firm's list of Indians who have setup offshore companies in tax havens through the firm's services.

A huge data leak at Panamanian firm Mossack Fonsecahas revealed that it hid billions of dollars in assets of global politicians, sports stars and entertainers.

The files, called the "Panama Papers" and comprising over 11 million documents from the firm, have revealed names which will shock many.

The problems for Mossack Fonseca, a hitherto unheard of name for the vast majority of Indians and people the world over, began when 2.6 terabyte worth of its confidential data was leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

According to the ICIJ, the consortium, together with the German newspaperSuddeutsche Zeitungand more than 100 other media partners, conducted the investigation into the papers over a period of a year.

The conclusion: Information on more than 214,000 offshore companies connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories unearthed.

But what exactly does being an Indian on the list entail?

The Indian Express, a partner in the investigation called "Project Prometheus", explains: "Some of the Indians floated offshore entities at a time when laws did not allow them to do so; some have taken a technically convenient view that companies acquired is not the same as companies incorporated; some have bunched their annual quota of remittances to subscribe to shares in an offshore entity acquired at an earlier date. Still, some others have received income earned abroad and deposited it in the entity to avoid tax. Some have opened a bank account to keep payoffs in government contracts, or held “proceeds of crime” or property bought with money made illegally in Trusts/ Foundations."

The report suggests that many of the Indians, featured in this Panama Leaksand who set up these offshore entities prior to 2013, are likely in violation of the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme — introduced in February 2004.Read More.

West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016

Amid a multi-layered security cover, more than 23% voters exercised their franchise till 9 a.m in 18 constituencies of Left-wing extremism-affected areas in the first phase of West Bengal Assembly election 2016 held today.

Election Commission officials said the polling percentage was 23.4% in the three districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the first two hours.

Read more from our special coverage on "West Bengal Election 2016"

• Bengal polls to begin tomorrow with small cluster of 18 seats
• West Bengal polls: Rajnath Singh to address three rallies today
• Mamata Banerjee cautions people against voting for CPI(M)

There had been no reports of any violence in the districts and polling process was going on smoothly even in the Maoist-hit areas, they said.

Phase 1 of the Elections In West Bengal will decide the fate of 133 candidates, including 11 women, fighting from the 18 constituencies.

Out of them, 13 seats have been classified as LWE-affected areas where voting will end early at 4 p.m due to security considerations.

In the remaining five constituencies of Purulia, Manbazar, Kashipur, Para and Raghunathpur voting will go on for two extra hours till 6 p.m.

The total number of voters in the constituencies are a little over 40 lakh (40,09,171) out of which 20,47,202 are men.

The third gender category list shows only a handful of 16 voters.

There are 4,945 polling stations out of which 1,962 have been classified as critical ones where extra caution is being taken.

Voter Verifiable Audit Trails (VVAT) are made available in 562 polling stations.

Unlike in 2011 Assembly polls where the Trinamool Congress was its partner, Congress this time has forged an alliance with the Left parties.

All the three - Trinamool, Left-Congress alliance and BJP - have fielded candidates in all the 18 seats.

Gobordhan Bagdi is the only one fighting from two seats, Para and Raghunathpur, on a JMM ticket.

In all the Left-wing extremism affected polling stations, the EC has decided to deploy a minimum of one section of force, which has around ten security personnel.

A minimum of three security layers including sector forces and a quick response team have been arranged.

The central forces are present in every polling booth and depending on the requirement the deployment of forces is being increased.

For aerial surveillance, two choppers have been conducting regular sorties to trace any undesirable activity.

Meanwhile, three faulty EVMs were replaced in Taldangra seat in Bankura district, election officials said. While the fault was detected in two EVMs before voting began, and that of another was spotted just after the polling started.

Brilliant Brathwaite, Super Samuels win World T20 for Windies

Brilliant Brathwaite, Super Samuels win World T20 for Windies

West Indies tonight created history by becoming the first nation to win the ICC World T20 twice with a dramatic four wicket victory over England riding on Carlos Brathwaite four consecutive lusty sixes in the final over of the innings.

Chasing a tricky target of 156, it was Marlon Samuels, who did an encore of the 2012 final that Darren Sammy's men had won, hitting a magnificent 85 not out off 66 balls with nine boundaries and two huge sixes.

However it was the unheralded giant Brathwaite, who showed why he commanded such a record IPL price fromDelhi Daredvils scoring 34 off only 10 balls as he hit the four most important maximums of his short cricketing career.

With 19 runs needed off the final over, Brathwaite hit the first ball behind square for a six and the next was hit over long-on for a six and the third over long-off to basically bring down the equation 1 off 3 balls before finishing off with another hit over deep mid-wicket.

The entire stadium save a few English fans erupted in joy as the West Indiesteam members rushed to the field to congratulate the heroes.

It was one of the most beautiful sights as the women's team also joined their men as the danced to the now popular Bravo rap of 'Champion' in unison. They took a 'lap of Honour from an Eden Gardens that gave them a standing ovation.

The West Indies despite all their problems are now World Champions in U-19, women's and men's World T20.

For England's bowling unit, the hero certainly would left-arm seamer David Willey, who had phenomenal figures of 3/20 in 4 overs with an astounding 13 dot balls as he increased pressure on the Caribbean batsmen before Stokes frittered it away.Read More.

'Shocked' friends, industry condole death of Pratyusha

Expressions of shock and condolences poured in from friends and near ones in the TV industry over the alleged suicide of TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee, who was found dead at her suburban residence today.

"Sad sad sad. Nothing's worth ending your one beautiful gift called life for... My heart bleeds for the parents and family...," tweeted 'Bigg Boss 7" winner Gauhar Khan.

"The news is absolutely saddening. I know life is tough but why do you need to do this. She was so young, I don't know what happened. Lots of strength to her family during this time," Kushal Tandon, her co-contestant said.

The 24-year-old was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her flat in Bangur Nagar in suburban Kandivli, a police officer said.

However, no suicide note was found from the flat, he said, adding the exact cause of the death, which occurred around afternoon, will be known only after an autopsy is conducted. Read More.

Kolkata flyover collapse could hurt Mamata, Trinamool's Assembly election prospects

It's not the best of times for Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister of West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016, Mamata Banerjee.
 
The buzz around the Narada news video -- allegedly showing ministers, MLAs and MPs from the ruling Trinamool taking cash for extending favours to a fictitious company --was just about dying down when disaster struck Thursday afternoon in one of the most congested areas of the city; the 2.2 km under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed, killing at least 21 lives. Rescue operations are still on, and that number could rise.
 
The timing couldn't have been worse for Banerjee, with state Assembly polls slated to start in less than a week. The first phase starts on April 4 with West Medinipur. The more immediate repercussion of the mishap, however, is likely to felt in the city where elections are on April 21 and 30.
 
The Left Front is already accusing not just the government but Banerjee personally. Last November, Banerjee had announced that the flyover would be completed by August 2016.
 
West Bengal Election 2016 : "In an authoritarian regime, no one questions the queen. There was a mad rush to complete the flyover which has caused this tragedy. The Chief Minister should take moral responsibility for this mishap," CPI(M) leader, Mohammed Salim said.
 
Banerjee, who was campaigning in West Medinipur yesterday, rushed to the site of the accident and promptly started supervising rescue operations, microphone in hand. A makeshift nabanna(state secretariat) was set up some 500 metres from the site, complete with a fax machine. It was important to be seen at the disaster site and Banerjee stayed till late into the night.
 
She had already absolved her government's guilt by saying that the flyover contract was given to the Hyderabad-based contractor, IVRCL, in 2009 by the Left Front government. But right now, no one is buying that argument.
 
The flyover had missed the deadline at least six times with the original deadline being 2011.
 
According to the contract, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the implementing agency was supposed to supervise each stage, Salim pointed out. "What were they doing when a fault was detected the previous night by the contractors' side," he asked.
 
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, too, are raising the pitch against Banerjee. The BJP has asked for a CBI investigation. Both the parties have said the construction and collapse reek of corruption.
 
"The urban development minister has been caught taking bribe in the video so what can we expect? This is under his ministry. Why is it that the contractor has changed the design and the course so many times?" Salim asked.
 
Banerjee, for her part, is set to take IVRCL to task, with the Kolkata Police filing at least three FIRs against the Hyderabad-based company.
 
This will not be the first time that Banerjee punished a company for loss of lives in a tragedy. Months after she took charge as Chief Minister, there was a major fire at Emami co-promoted AMRI Hospital that killed 90 people. The Emami promoters were taken into custody immediately which had a widespread repercussion on the Marwari business community that felt discriminated against.
However, most of the directors were granted bail a few months after the incident; the chargesheet was filed in 2012, but the trial is yet to start. The hospital itself was reopened in July 2014, according to media reports.
 
This time, however, with elections knocking on door, it's a completely ball game.
 
Till months back, Elections in West Bengal were expected to be a cakewalk for Banerjee. After the Narada incident, however, a ABP Ananda-Nielsen opinion poll has given Trinamool 178 seats in the 294 West Bengal Legislative Assembly, still a majority but lower than the 190 it bagged in 2011. The Left-Congress combine is expected to bag 110 seats while the BJP would remain a marginal player with one seat.
 
In terms of vote share, the TMC-Congress alliance had got 48% in 2011 while the Left was at 39%; this time, the TMC is expected to get 45 per cent vote share and the Left-Congress close on the heels at 44%, according to the opinion poll.
 
Banerjee is still slated to win but suddenly calculations on margins of victory are no longer a certainty.
 
"In 2011, many of the Left Front supporters voted for the Trinamool. This time, many Trinamool supporters may vote for the Left," a Left leader said.