Exit polls say Mamata likely to sweep WB, split on TN, Kerala

The Left Front's 34-year rule in West Bengal is set to end with the Trinamool Congress-led alliance likely to win three-fourths of the seats, according to exit polls and post-poll surveys by various media outfits.

While unanimous on this, the polls released on Tuesday differed on what will happen in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam and were silent on the outcome in Puducherry.

Two exit polls, done by AC Nielsen for Star Ananda and by CVoter for a host of media organizations, as well as two post-poll surveys done by CSDS for CNN-IBN and Week and by ORG for Headlines Today, gave the Mamata Banerjee-led alliance between 210 and 235 of the 294 seats in the West Bengal assembly.

Not all of them gave a break-up for the alliance, but if their projections come true, it would mean the Trinamool Congress alone would have a comfortable majority in the assembly, which may be almost as much of a worry for the Congress as for the Left.

The Star Ananda-Nielsen poll was confined to West Bengal, but the other three disagreed on the outcome in Kerala. The CSDS post-poll survey suggested it would be a really close contest with the CPM-led Left Democratic Front marginally more likely to form the government, largely thanks to the popularity of chief minister V S Achuthanandan. The CVoter and ORG polls in contrast gave the Congress-led United Democratic Front a clear edge.

A poll done by Asianet-C-Fore for Kerala has projected the UDF winning between 72 and 82 seats with the LDF winning 58-68 seats.

If the latter predictions come true, it would mean that the Left would be out of power in both of its major states for the first time in over three decades.

In Tamil Nadu, the CSDS and ORG post-poll surveys project a very close fight.

While the CSDS poll predicts that the AIADMK-led opposition alliance has the edge and is likely to get a slim majority, the ORG poll suggests the reverse. The CVoter exit poll is the only one to suggest the state will deliver a decisive mandate favouring the opposition front. Its projection is that the J Jayalalithaa-led coalition will win between 168 and 176 of the 234 seats in the assembly.

In Assam, the CSDS poll is the only one that projects a clear winner, predicting between 64 and 72 seats for the Congress in the 126-member assembly. The ORG survey gives the Congress between 41 and 47 seats and the CVoter exit poll gives the party between 41 and 45 seats.

Even if these projections come true, however, the Congress will be most likely to form the next government given the projected distribution of the remaining seats between the Asom Gana Parishad, the BJP, the Assam United Democratic Front and other smaller groups.

TOI

SC verdict in Bhopal gas case, Amar Singh tapes today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will have a busy day on Wednesday as it is scheduled to pronounce judgments on whether to apply new and stringent charges against former top officials of Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas leak case, as also the plea for making public the contents of the Amar Singh tapes.

Both these judgments will be pronounced simultaneously at 10.30 am, though by separate benches. The judgment on Bhopal will be pronounced by a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, while the verdict on the plea for making public the intercepts of Amar Singh's conversations will be given by the bench of Justice G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly.

The CBI had filed a curative petition seeking application of Section 304-II charges against accused, including former UCIL chairman Keshub Mahindra. The agency questioned the rationale behind the SC's earlier judgment diluting the charges to Section 304A of Indian Penal Code. Section 304-II entails a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment whereas a person convicted under Section 304A could be punished for a maximum of two years jail term.

Member of Parliament Singh will also be anxious to know whether the apex court agreed with his plea against publication of his telephone intercepts, carried out through a forged authorisation letter in 2005. Singh had obtained an injunction from the SC against the disclosure of contents of the "Amar Singh" tapes on grounds that these contained his private conversations which were tapped illegally. However, a PIL had sought publication of all those intercepts which were not in the private domain alleging that they pertained to fixing several deals at the cost of the public exchequer.

In addition to these two, the court is scheduled to hear former BJP president Bangaru Laxman's plea against the CBI in the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act that was lodged against him when a sting operation captured him taking a bribe.

It will also hear a petition filed on behalf of Sarabjit Singh, who is facing death penalty in Pakistan for alleged involvement in terror activities. The petitioners were buoyed by the release of Gopal Dass by Pakistan after a request by the Supreme Court.

TOI

Breaking News: India rejects Rehman Malik's claim that Dawood is not in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday rejected Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik's claim that the designated global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim was not in his country, insisting that Pakistan needed to disclose the whereabouts of the don who has houses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

"If the minister ( Rehman Malik) is so sure that Dawood is not in Pakistan, he should tell us where is he.... According to our information, Dawood is in Pakistan," home secretary Gopal K Pillai said in a sharp riposte to Malik's assertion, in an interview to an Indian TV channel, that Dawood was not lodged in the neighbouring country.

Malik made light of Dawood's daughter being married to former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad's son, as he shrugged off New Delhi's charge that the gang lord, also wanted for the 1993 serial bomb attacks in Mumbai, had been sheltered by Pakistan as part of its anti-India agenda. "I think marrying a lady in Pakistan does not give a certificate that Dawood is in Pakistan. But if you have any information, we will happy to have a look into it. If we get hold of him, naturally we will look into it. But as far as our information is concerned he is not here."

The disclaimer failed to wash with India's home secretary. Asked to comment on Malik's claim, Pillai asserted that India's most wanted criminal has houses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. "We would welcome any more information (from Pakistan about Dawood)," he told reporters.

New Delhi has on a number of occasions shared information with Islamabad on Dawood's houses, with the latest being passed on during the home secretary-level talks between the two countries here in March. But Pakistan has always remained in the denial mode.

An Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN), pending against Dawood since 1993, has even clearly mentioned the don's address in Karachi's Clifton area. Indian intelligence agencies suspect that Dawood is hiding there in one of the safe-houses of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI.

Asked about Pakistan's response to India's demand for voice samples of the 26/11 perpetrators, Malik said: "The lower court has rejected the plea and now we have moved to high court. This shows our interest to give the voice sample.....I assure Chidambaram (Indian home minister) and people of India that we are at it but we cannot go beyond law. We will use every possible legal means to get it."

TOI