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U.S. Johar, the famous film comedian,; sought election from Bombay South and New Delhi (against the Congress(I) candidate. CM. Stephen). The former External Affairs Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, was the Janata candidate there.
Karunanidhi Roy (Ind) who did not want to take any chances filed his nominations from seven constituencies. �
The largest number of candidates (39; twice the 1977 figure) and the longest ballot paper (32 inches long) were in the Union Territory of Chandigarh:
There were multi-cornered fight in all constituencies except in seven1 where straight contests were witnessed.
Nrhe acceptance of the nominationspaper of Sanjay Gandhi from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and that of V.C. Shukla from Mahasamund 'in Madhy a Pradesh were challenged in the Court on the ground that both of them were convicted by a court on criminal offences (in Kissa Kursi Kas case) and hence not eligible to seek elections.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi was pitted against Mrs. Vijaya Raje Schin-dea (Janata); a former princess
opportunists. It promised a stable government with a change.
The Lok Dal (which failed to produce a common manifesto with its partner in the caretaker government. Congress (U)) spoke of a "firm, clear and radical strategy*; to run the government. It: offered to fight the authoritarianism of Mrs; Gandhi and the "communalism": as represented by the Jana Sangh in the Janata P*rty.
'.��I The Congress (U) sought to return to tike up its "historical task" with its maturity, experience and commitment and claimed the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi atid Jawahartal Nehru.;
'Asserting that the Janata Party and the Lok Dal were both sides of the same coin, the Congress (I) promised to eliminate communal-1 lim as represented by the Janata and provide a better deal to the weaker sections of the society. It blamed the Janata for all the ills in the economy brought about by its inept handling of the government curing its 30-month rule.
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In the light of the reaction of the defunct Anti-conversion Bill, all the parties promised freedom of religion. Prohibition which was the fancy child of Morarji Desai
�i . V
,vho was. imprisoned during the j $id not find any serious mention emergency; In Medak she fought in any manifesto. Jaipal Reddy (Janata). In both the places the Lok Dal withdrew
"sheif candidates in favour of the 'Janata. �'
?n Amethi Sanjay Gandhi faced his old rival Pratap Singh (Janata) ?nd in Mahasamund V.C. Shukla had a new opponent in Brij Lai 'Varma, a former Janata Minister.
Y.B. Chavan, Dy. Prime Minister, was locked with *his main opponent Mrs. Shalini Patel (Congress (I), wife of '& former Maharashtra Chief Minister in his home constituency in Satara from where he was returned in 11977 with', a margin of 1.9 lakh votes.
The Janata Party President, Chandrashekar, sought re-elec-^k>n from Ballia.
George Fernandez who sought re-election from Muzaffarpur in (U.P) on Lok Dal ticket faced tough opposition because of his swindling popularity. He won the 1977 elections with a margin of 3.34. lakhs while in jail.
.The Manlfeottoc/'
lit was an American author who said that election meant collecting the votes from the poor and 'notes (money) from the rich, offering protection from each other.
The voter was baffled. He was ] unable to make his choice on the basis of the promises made by each party in their manifestos. For.one thing he knew that they are hot to be kept beyond the elections if the performance of the; leaders in past was any indica-. tion. Then, most manifestos were: identical with the necessary in-'
gridient to woo each section of Ihe society with special emphasis on the poor and harijan. A common theme of these manifestos was the desire to fight against poverty , and unemployment, cheeky on prices, the policy of non-alignment,' minority and rel-; jgious rights, etc. , ;
The Congress (I) manifesto projected Mrs. Indira Gandhi as* line Only leader who could save the country and assured a stable government under her leadership.- . ' "�; '
The Janata Party offered thef iPrime Ministership to Jafflivaii Ram as India's first harijan Prime Minister and assured to complete the task for -which they Were elected to power in 1977, now that; the party got rfd of defectors and
For the voter it was a difficult Choice. The general attitude was to choose the (better of the two evils when caste or other factors did not influence him. After all a government will have to be chosen.
Strange Alliance
Political ideologies did not matter in the elections. There were party alliance of convenience in different states in a bid to capture the "kursi" (chair) somehow. ' :>
[ The CPl and CPM which were opposed to the Janata party
' because of the alleged "Rss-Jana Sangh" domination representing communialism in the party had an
/electoral understanding with the Janata party in Tamil Nadu with the AlDMK which shared power at the centre with the LOK-Dal Congress (U) in the caretaker government. There was similar alliance in Punjab through the ruling Akali Dal which also had electoral adjustments with the
. Janata party.
,//,. The Congress (U) under the presidentship Dev. Raj Urs who parted company with Mrs. Gandhi's Congress (I) to fight her authoritarianism was in league with the Congress (I) in Goa.
The Congress(I) and Janata Party which were the main rivals in the national scenes had an electoral understanding in Kerala in spite of the fact that the Janata leadership was against it.
The Lok Dal which is sharing power at the centre with the Congress(U) Was opposed to each other in more than 100 constituencies under separate manifestos. ... �
At the same time the (U) had electoral understanding with the Janata party in Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh, Kar-nataka, etc.
In Tamil Nadu the DMK joined hands with Mrs. Gandhi in spite of the fact that the DMK government of Karunanidhi was summarily dismissed by her in 1975 and the Sakaria Commission, was instituted to inquire into the corruption charges against him.
The situation in Maharashtra was still confusing. The ruling parallel congress had understanding with the Janata and Congress (U) in some parts of the state,
with the left parties like JCPI and CPM in their strongholds and with the Lok Dal in j certain constituencies. j
Retired from Pontics j r
The seventh Lok Sabha will have a number of new faces in| place of a number of sitting members who were denied party tickets or voluntarily retired from politics or declined to fight elections. '/Enough is enoughthey seem to contend in disgust, j
' The first person to announce his retirement from active? politics was the former Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, on his exit from office; He had been! actively campaigning for his party butf declined to nght the elections.
The veteran parliamentarian, H.V. Kamath, did notjseek reelection. The same was? the case with C. Subramaniam, presently Defence Minister; and the former Lok Sabha Speaker, K.S. Hegde.
Swaran Singh who was a Cabinet Minister in all the previous governments until 1977 declined a Congress (U) ticket from Jull-under. There was strong rumour that he was joining the Congress
A.C. George, Sayed! Mohammed, O.V. Alagesan. K; Gopal all of whom were ministers at the centre did not seek re-election.
Election Resulto �:,
The first person to be'elected to the 7th Lok Sabha was Dr. Farooq Abdullah, son of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheik Abdulla. He was elected unopposed from the, Srinagar constituency. ' ;\
A1I the remaining results will be announced by January 10 and a new 'government will pe formed thereafter. �� i. �
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; New Delhi (IBS) ] - Landing charges at all the four ihternat-ional airports in the country would be increased by; 15 per cent from April 1, 1980. j
According to sources! in International Airports Authority of India (IAA1), which looks j after their management, letters have already been sent to various airlines operating from; there inviting any objections. In principle, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which, has a membership of over 100 airlines, haS already approve^ the stipule ated increase.
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: The revision is in keeping with the increase in airport maintenance expenses and worldwide : figures. : > i-:..:' : � v
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: The charges have steadily been going up throughout! the world in the past few years. For instance, in India itself, while the landing charges for a Jumbo (international flight was Rs 5,432 at present it is \ Rs 15,774. The domestic charges for the same flights?are rbughtly per cent less. -
By George Mathew
� New Delhi: After her defeat at the polls in 1977 Mrs. Indira Gandhi had planned to flee from India. .'A-; p;:
This was revealed in a recently pMbiished book entitled '4 Persons, passions and Politics*1 written by one of her close confident Mohammed Yunus. He was Mrs; . Gandhi's roving ambassador with a cabinet rank during the emergency.
According to Mr. Yunus, Mrs. Gandhi's plan was frustrated by the then Chief of the Research and Analysis Wine (RAW) R.N. Rap, Who alerted the govern-* ment; Her passport>was| impounded thereafter;
Mr. Yunus has also revealed that Mrs. Gandhi was a sheer puppet; in the hands of the caucus, Foi instance; he narrates the "Turkman Gate incident" in which a number of people were reported killed in police firing against the residents who resisted the demolition in the area during emergency by the Delhi Development Authority at the instance of
The lowest charges are for the Fokker and Avro flights: Rs 304.50 for international flights and Rs 198 for domestic.
INDIAN CHIEF REjMAINS
New Delhi (IBS) -]M.A. Vellodi, a former secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs^ was re-elected Chairman of thel Disarmament Commission for 1980. Rotation is the usual principle! followed, but the European, African* Latin American and Asian groups parr ttcipatihg in the voting opted in favour of the Indian for a second term* ; - .
Sanjay Gandhi. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir; Sheik Abdulla; came to confirm reports of deaths of which the number ranged from 613 to 1611 after obtaining an express sanction from Mrs. Gandhi;
Mr. Yunus who went to the area with the Sheik says that the "fact finding mission" of the Chief Minister ended abruptly when his guide, Bashir, was whisked away by the police before their very eyes. When the matter was reported to Mrs. Gandhi she simply said "what am 1 to do?**
About the people Who rejected Mrs. Gandhi in the 1977 elec-tions> the book says that "the people were fed up, frightened and resentful*' of the emergency. "To ask them for votes,in that stage was like saying as the proverb goes *aa bael mujhe maar' (come the angry bull, hit me).
Mr. Yunus says that it was the emergency which had turned the country into "a sick child" aiid the election was the "bitter medicine" which the "patient" was asked to take without the "needed time to cure.''
New Delhi (IBS) - Different political parties during the election fray have sung different songs about media freedom.
The Jan Party, Lok Dal, Congress-U and the CPM in their election manifestos; have favoured an amendment of the Constitution to safeguard the freedom of the Press.
'The Congress-I manrfestoi, however,.merely records its commitment to maintain Press free-, dom and also the party's "opposition to Press censorship."
The Congress4 promises 4'all possible encouragement''in the; development of small and med-
New Delhi (IDs) - The authority vested with the Tarij jPiaras' (Five Chosen Ones) to issue a Hukumnama is an unique feature of the Sikh religion, and explains why both Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi, the Akali Dal Chief, and Mr. Jivan Singh Umaranagal, Punjab's dashing Revenue Minister have accepted the ruling and its subsequent penalty so easily. *
While its outline might be somewhat similar to the]'Fatwa', by 'Ulema* (Muslim divines) on crucial matters pertaining to their religion, the Sikh Hukumnama, originally issued by the Guru himself, is different ini content and scope.
The authority now lies with the jathedars of the most revered gurudwaras, the Akal Takth, Amritsar, Shri Keshgaih Sihab, Anandpur, Path a Sahib arid Shri Hazur Sahib, Nander, and the head priest of Harmandir Sahib which is me Golden Temple, Amritsar; The verdict of these men is final.;'
The first history making Hukumnama was issued by the Sixth Sikh guru, Hargobind in 1606, soon after he ascended the throne, after the execution of his father Guru Arjan Singh under orders of the Mughal Emperor Jeh&ngir, for charges of subversion against Islam. With the swords of 'peeri' and 'meeri' girding his waist he issued directions to his followers to send him gifts of oxen, camels, foodstuffs and horses.
One hundred years later, in 1708, the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, issjued a Hukumnama ordering his followers to render all possible support to Baba Banda Bahadur, in his first
ium newspapers, including those in the regional languages.
The Lok Dal and the Congress-U also talk of encouraging the Press to have "self-regulatory instruments to check unethical trends in journalism.
Except for the Janata Party, : others are silent on the role of radio and television and the film industry.
The Janata Party reaffirms its commitment to convert AIR and TV set-up into an autonomous corporation. Its manifesto recalls the Prasar Bharati Bill introduced by the Janata Government on the subject which has lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
is
against political tyranny and economic exploitation of the later Mughals. Before he breathed his last the 10th Guru put an end to the succession of gurus. He made the Adi Granth the eternal guru and also made the entire community its own collective leader. The regulationary authority, was however to be exercised by the five separate Sikh heads.
Yet, Gobind Singh's wife, Mata Sundari had to issue yet another Hukumnama in 1715, directing the Sikhs to disown the head Banda, as he had violated the concepts laid down by Guru Gobind, by proclaiming himself Guru. The lady's command was obeyed and Banda abandoned by his followers. The leader was finally captured by the Mughals and beheaded hear Delhi in 1716.
While the1- Sikhs have treated Banda as an outcast since then, it was! this leader who actually shattered the stronghold of the later Mughals and paved the way for the Punjab to come under the rule of Sikh rajas like Ranjit Singh and others.
BOEING SERVICES ON BOM BAY-COCHIN LINE
New Delhi (IBS) - Indian Airliens will introduce a Boeing service on the Bombay-Cochin route and an Airbus service on the Bombay-Goa route under the amended winter schedule. The airline will begin operations with a 126-seat aircraft with restricted load to link Bombay and Cochin. The number of passenger traffic between the cities has compelled the airline to operate the Boeing 737 even in the face of its fleet constraints. The airline will also operate a HS-748 on the same route.