Delhi

It was a sunny day in the capital Friday even as the maximum temperature was recorded two notches below the season’s average at 33.5 degrees Celsius. The Met Office has forecast a partly cloudy Saturday.

“The skies will be partly cloudy and thunder may be recorded in some areas. The day will become mainly clear from afternoon onwards,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

The maximum and minimum temperatures (Saturday) are likely to hover around 36 degrees Celsius and 19 degrees Celsius, respectively.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice H.L. Dattu on Friday stayed the Delhi High Court’s ruling on nursery admissions in city schools.

The apex court stayed the high court order after a petition of parents had challenged it, arguing that children who have shifted from a different state to Delhi will not get any quota.

The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the Delhi Government.

The nursery admissions in the national capital will have to wait for some more time as Supreme Court Friday put on hold Delhi High Court’s nod to the schools to go ahead with the admission process except interstate transfer admission cases.

A bench of Justice H.L.Dattu and Justice S.A.Bobde stayed the nursery admissions on the plea of the parents who are aggrieved by the high court’s order excluding interstate transfer cases from the admission process that was set rolling by the interim order on April 3..

Some 120 million people Thursday voted in 14 states and union territories in a critical third phase of general election to pick 91 of the 543 MPs, including seven from the seat of power in New Delhi whose control is considered vital for any party to rule India.

In what could be called a carnival of democracy, men and women cutting across social and economic strata poured into 140,850 polling centres from the time they opened at 7 in the morning for the 11-hour balloting.

Delhi Thursday recorded its highest voter turnout in the last three decades with 64.77 percent polling.

The capital saw a 64.88 percent turnout in the 1984 elections, held post the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi. The turnout in 2009 election was 51.85 percent.

“The high voter turnout was because of the awareness campaign started by the election commission since the Delhi assembly polls in December 2013,” said chief electoral officer Vijay Dev.

Of Delhi’s seven parliamentary constituencies, North East recorded the highest voter turnout – 67.08 percent.

Over 20,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the Delhi poll Thursday will be kept under the strict watch of paramilitary forces till May 16, when counting is scheduled to take place, officials said Thursday.

“A total of 21,967 EVMs have been kept in seven counting centers, one in each parliamentary constituency, under the scrutiny of paramilitary forces,” said Chief Electoral Officer, Vijay Dev.

He added that the voting machines will be kept sealed till counting day, May 16.

Delhi Thursday recorded over 64.77 percent voter turnout – the highest in three decades – in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Here is a look at how Delhi voted over the years in Lok Sabha elections (from the highest turnout to the lowest).

In the 1977 general election, held after the lifting of the infamous Emergency, Delhi recorded 71.31 percent turnout.

Before that, the highest recorded turnout was in 1967 – 69.49 percent, while in 1962, Delhi recorded 68.75 percent.

The 1971 general elections saw a voter turnout of 65.19 percent.

The majority of the over 300,000 first time voters in the national capital Thursday opted for change and desperately want the new government to bring development and clean governance.

Of the over 12 million voters in Delhi, 337,000 exercised their franchise for the first time Thursday as they voted to elect seven Lok Sabha members – the Congress won all the seats in 2009 – from 150 candidates including 57 independents.

Ajanta Pokhrel, 32 and visually impaired, described her vote-casting experience Thursday here as “different”. With polling stations equipped with wheelchairs, Braille sheets and designated volunteers for assistance, Delhi’s differently-abled community hailed the provisions made by the Election Commission as a pleasant one.

An impressive 52 per cent polling was recorded till 3 PM in the Lok Sabha election for the seven seats in the national capital even as long queues of people were seen at the booths across the city.

“52 per per cent of the 1.27 crore eligible voters cast their votes till 3 PM,” a senior official of Delhi Election Commission said.

He said polling has so far been peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident.

There were reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVM) in some parts of the city but they were rectified, EC officials said.

It will be a warm, sunny Wednesday here and the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 32 degrees Celsius, the Met Office said.

“The sky will remain clear through the day and the afternoon will be warm,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

Wednesday morning was sunny and pleasant as the minimum temperature settled two notches below the season’s average at 17.5 degrees Celsius.

It will be a warm, sunny Wednesday here and the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 32 degrees Celsius, the Met Office said.

“The sky will remain clear through the day and the afternoon will be warm,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

Wednesday morning was sunny and pleasant as the minimum temperature settled two notches below the season’s average at 17.5 degrees Celsius.

As many as 67 petrol pumps across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Rohtak will offer a discount of 50-paise per litre on petrol to consumers who exercise their voting rights on April 10.

“A 50 paise per litre discount will be offered to anybody coming to these petrol pumps with voting mark on Thursday during voting hours,” Ajay Bansal, general secretary, Federation of All India Petroleum Traders, said.

Delhi Metro will start services at 4 a.m. on Lok Sabha election day in the city Thursday, an official said.

“Metro train service will be available from 4 a.m. on Thursday, with a frequency of 30 minutes till 5 a.m. Thereafter, normal service will be available for the entire day,” said a Delhi Metro official.

Delhi Metro, whose services start at 6 a.m., ferries some 25 lakh people on weekdays and around 20 lakh on weekends.
(IANS)

Delhi Congress today wrote a letter to Election Commission to deploy more security personnel in minority dominated areas, expressing concern that the BJP may create social unrest on the polling day to polarize votes.

“The BJP could create social unrest on the polling day, and therefore the Pradesh Congress has written to the Election Commission to deploy more security personnel at the minority dominated areas,” said DPCC president Arvinder Singh.

It was a warm Tuesday in the capital though the maximum temperature was recorded two notches below the season’s average at 31 degrees Celsius. The Met office forecast similar weather Wednesday.

“The skies will remain mainly clear (Wednesday) with mist in the morning,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

Wednesday’s maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 31 and 21 degrees Celsius respectively.

Tuesday’s minimum temperature settled at 21 degrees Celsius – average for the season.

There are over 400 sensitive and 90 hyper-sensitive polling booths in the national capital where balloting would be videographed, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said Tuesday.

“There are 417 sensitive booths and 90 hyper-sensitive booths, special arrangements have been made in these booths. The polling process would be videographed and there will be extra deployment of Delhi Police personnel,” Vijay Dev told reporters here.

As an added security measure, mobile phones will not be allowed inside any of the 11,763 polling stations in Delhi which goes to polls Thursday.

Over 12 million people are eligible to cast their votes Thursday in the national capital’s seven Lok Sabha constituencies, an Election Commission official said Tuesday.

“A total of 12,760,372 Delhiites will be eligible to cast their votes for the seven Lok Sabha seats Thursday, of which 7,057,648 are males and 5,657,785 are females while 839 fall in the ‘others’ category,” Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev told reporters.

The city has over 400 sensitive and 90 hyper-sensitive booths.

Devotees celebrated Ram Navami, the birth of Lord Rama, in the national capital Tuesday, ending their nine-day-long fast of Chaitra Navratri.

The Hindu festival commemorates the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who was born to king Dasharatha and queen Kaushalya of Ayodhya, now in Uttar Pradesh.

On the occasion, people perform rituals and adorn the idols of Lord Rama with flowers, ornaments and new clothes. Only after performing elaborate worship of the deity, the devotees break their nine-day fast.

Women with curves often don’t stock up stylish pieces in their wardrobe. An expert suggests tailored outfits, flared silhouettes and more to make voluptuous women also look in vogue.

Jasmin Kerawalla, owner and creative director of COCO boutique, shares tips on how plus-size women can spruce up their wardrobe:

* Trim and tailored: Incorporate this season’s key trend, which is layering. Floppy jackets or cardigans or shrugs are a huge no. Wear a well-fitted jacket over a fitted dress or shirt for a clean look.

Commuters on National Highway-24 may face some inconvenience Tuesday because of traffic diversion due to a protest by some religious groups, said a Delhi Police advisory Monday.

The advisory was issued as there is a possibility of some Muslim protesters staging a demonstration at several places against acquisition of Karbala land in Jor Bagh area of south Delhi.

It was a warm Monday in the capital though the maximum temperature was recorded two notches below average at 32.2 degrees Celsius. The Met office forecast similar weather Tuesday.

“The skies will remain mainly clear after mist in the morning,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

Tuesday’s maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 31 and 19 degrees Celsius respectively.

Monday’s minimum temperature settled a notch above average at 21 degrees Celsius.

It was a warm Monday morning here and the Met Office has forecast a partly cloudy sky with spells of light rain in some areas.

“The sky will be partly cloudy, with possibility of brief spells of light rain or thunderstorm in some areas,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

The minimum temperature was 21 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season’s average.

The day’s maximum temperature is likely to hover around 36 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 60 percent.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi on Sunday said and that the Aam Aadmi Party stood nowhere in the competition as it was a creation of the media and the Congress and had to fade away sooner or later. “The AAP was a creation of media and Congress so sooner or later they had to go,” said Lekhi. “Many of the people who were in the party are coming to us as they want to join the BJP.

Delhi experienced a warm Sunday as the maximum temperature settled a notch above the season’s average at 35.1 degrees Celsius. The Met office has forecast cloudy sky with possibility of rain Monday.

“The sky will remain cloudy tomorrow (Monday). There is possibility of rain or thunderstorm,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 35 and 21 degrees Celsius Monday.

Sunday’s minimum temperature was recorded 20 degrees Celsius, average for this time of the season.