Monday, December 17, 2007

Ballia by-Election on 29th December

Bye-elections in Bhojpuri belt























Ballia MP Chandrashekhar died after a prolonged illness

















Bikramganj MP Ajit Singh died in a road accident

The by-election to the Ballia Lok Sabha seat was necessitated following the death of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. Samajwadi Party nominee and former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar's son Neeraj Singh has also filed his nomination papers.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee Vinay Shankar Tewari filed his nomination papers for the by-election to the Ballia Lok Sabha constituency scheduled to be held on December 29. Tewari, son of former Uttar Pradesh Minister Hari Shankar Tewari, joined BSP recently.

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Virendra Singh has already filed his nomination papers.

Twenty-one nominations have been filed for the bye-election for Ballia Lok Sabha seat in the eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Those who filed their papers include Vishwamitra of Indian Justice Party, Bhim Raj from Rastriya Lok Dal, Tej Narain (Independent), Girishram from Lok Jan Shakti Party.y

Counting of votes for both Ballia and Bikramganj would take place on January 2, 2008.

P.S: Chandrashekhar, was born in Ibrahimpatti in 1927. He was an active member of the Socialist Party. Chandrashekhar was a prominent leader of socialists. He joined Congress in 1964. From 1962 to 1967, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. He entered the Lok Sabha in 1977. As a member of the Congress Party, he vehemently criticised Indira Gandhi for her activities. This led to a split in the congress in 1975. Chandrashekhar was arrested during the emergency
and sent to prison.

After the emergency, he became the President of Janata Party. In the parliamentary elections, Janata Party did very well and formed the coalition government headed by late Morarji Desai. In 1988, his party merged with other parties and formed the government under die leadership of VP. Singh. Again his relationship with the coalition deteriorated and he formed another party, Janata Dal socialist faction.
With the support of Congress (I) headed by Rajiv Gandhi, he replaced VP.Singh and became the 11th Prime Minister of India in November 1990. His four-month-old government ended on March 6, 1991, from the floor of the Indian parliament as the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi withdrew support which led to his resignation as the Congress party accused Chandrashekhar of spying on Rajiv Singh. The party boycotted parliament and as Chandrashekhar`s government only had about 60 MPs, he resigned in a nationally televised address. He remained the caretaker Prime Minister. After Chandrasekhar's resignation, no one came forward to form a coalition government and the President dissolved Parliament and elections for the 10th parliament were announced for June 1991. Chandrasekhar remained as the caretaker Prime Minister.
His government lasted for 7 months.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991 at an election rally at Sriperumbudur near Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

Chandrasekhar government handed over the investigation of the murder to the CBI on May 24 and it constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under D R Karthikeyan, who had earlier been in Sri Lanka during the time of the Indian Peacekeeping Forces. Unfortunately, Chandrasekhar's government failed to disclose whether there were any special reasons for them to appoint Karthikeyan to lead the SIT, who was by that time a sworn enemy of the LTTE.

Meanwhile, nine days after the assassination, on May 31, the Intelligence Bureau reviewed various scenarios and possibilities. According to its review, there had been 13 instances of bomb blasts in Tamil Nadu between 1986 and 1991. It became clear, according to the review, that Sri Lankan militants, including the LTTE and the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army, took recourse to explosives to achieve their ends.

According to the IB's review, Rajiv Gandhi's murder was narrowed down to two possibilities - it was executed either by Sikh militants or the LTTE. But the government found that Sikh involvement in a murder in Tamil Nadu was unlikely, leaving the LTTE as the prime suspect.

Gandhi had disapproved of the Chandrasekhar government's refuelling facilities given to US war planes that were heading for the Gulf during the first war against Iraq.

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