1. Delete Duplicate Votes, Says TDP
Telugu Desam Party candidates in as many seven constituencies where the party is contesting the Assembly elections have petitioned the respective returning officers to take steps to delete the duplicate voters in the electoral rolls.
In separate petitions submitted to the returning officers, Revuri Prakash Reddy (Warangal West), Mecha Nageswara Rao (Aswaraopet), Nama Nageswara Rao (Khammam), M. Chandrashekhar (Mahabubnagar), M Muzaffer Ali Khan (Malakpet) and K Venkatesh Goud (Sanatnagar) urged the authorities to delete the duplicate voters in the voters list. They claimed that the field verification done by the party after the publication of the electoral rolls by Election Commission there were several names which appeared twice.
According to the release, as many as 84,000 duplicate entries were identified in these constituencies.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Another Baby Girl Dies in Shishu Vihar
A infant baby girl passed away in the state run children’s home, Shishu Vihar in Hyderabad on Saturday, 1 December. This is the second death at the home in a week’s time. Officials suggest the baby was suffering from pneumonia and had been admitted to the Niloufer Hospital for further treatment.
The baby was shifted to the home in October from Karimnagar. As per her case history, she was born to a minor girl in Karimnagar district and was weak since her birth. Meanwhile, it has been a worrying trend for the home as it is the second such death in one week. On Wednesday, 28 November, another 5-month-old baby had fallen sick to diarrhoea and passed away at the Niloufer hospital. Saturday’s death would be the 4th such death at the home in the past year, however, the number has been much lower than last year when 20 had died.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. TRS Wooing Telugus From Other Regions in Hyderabad
In the run-up to the Telangana Assembly elections there has been this spectacle of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders, including Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his heir apparent K T Rama Rao, taking pains to proclaim ‘whoever is living here is a Telanganite... we have not discriminated against anyone in the last four-and-half-years... Hyderabad belongs to everyone....” during their election campaign.
Though there is no precise figure, political pundits are of the opinion that these voters can swing the election this way or that way in at least 35 constituencies, other than the Old City, spread across the state and predominantly so in the capital region and neighbouring districts. In the last General Elections within the capital region, TRS has bagged three seats — Secunderabad, Malkajgiri and Medchal — when the state just got bifurcated and the party was riding the crest of popularity wave.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Where are the Manifestos for Women?
Political parties may help you get your daughter married off, but probably cannot assure her workplace safety. At a time when women are fighting hard for equal representation and equal access to public spaces, manifestos of most political parties are conspicuously silent on the issue, at least going by their manifestos.
The #MeToo movement, that caught the nation’s attention in the very recent past, finds no mention in manifestos of BJP, People’s Front or the TRS. No party has recognised the issue or presented ideas or solutions to deal with sexual intimidation and harassment at the workplace. A cursory reading shows that most measures meant for women are, indeed, patriarchal.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. GHMC Braces for Election
GHMC Commissioner and District Election Officer of Hyderabad, M Dana Kishore on Tuesday, 4 December, announced complete preparedness on GHMC’s part, for conducting elections in the city on 7 December.
The hours of poll will be from 7 am to 5 pm, and the voters may carry any of the 12 specified documents for proving his/her identity in case he or she does not have EPIC. A total of 40,57,488 voters from 15 constituencies of core city will have a chance to decide the fate of the respective candidates in the fray. Of them, 1,91,510 voters are new enrollments, though not necessarily first-time voters. They have been distributed their Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) in colour, and also photo voter slips with details of polling station printed overleaf, have been distributed to all voters, Dana Kishore said.
(Source: The Hindu)
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