The mystery of 49-O

Since the terror attacks, there is a flood of mails cursing the politicians, need for change and asking people to use Rule 49-O of ‘The Conduct of Election Rules’. There seems to be loads of myths associated with this rule. Even the websites on the net are providing wrong information (Check THIS and THIS) let alone social networking forums. This post is just to break a few myths associated with Rule 49-O.


49-O is not an article of Indian Constitution. Its one of the Rule of ‘The Conduct of election Rules .


Under this rule, you can visit the polling booth, identify yourself to the presiding officer at the booth and then inform him that you do not intend to vote anybody. Please note that in the process your identity will be revealed which is against the essence of Secret Ballot. This is just a way to indicate that you voted (So your vote cannot be misused) but not in favor of any candidate. Your vote would be a part of official counting numbers but it won’t have any impact on the outcome of the results.


Under no conditions there would be any re polling or cancellation of elections.


A few sites suggests if the no. of ‘ voted nobody’ is greater than the winning margin then the election would be declared void and there will be re-polling. Some even suggests that these candidates cannot be a part of re election process. These are baseless statements.

Cheers.

Terrorist Attack...2

Indian media is terming the recent terror attacks in Mumbai as 'India's 9/11'. I agree, it was. Hundreds were killed at WTC and large number of people were injured. Same happened at Taj, Oberoi and Nariman house. But let me assure you that the similarity will end there. Don’t fool yourself thinking that there will be preventive measures or stringent actions against terrorist outfits as done by America. Political eyewash has already started. RR Patil has resigned, Shivraj Patil has been shown the door and Vilasrao Deshmukh has followed the suit.

This was not the first time when the ‘new age terror’ struck India nor it will be the last. Not so long ago, we have witnessed attack on the Parliament (which was also termed as attack on Indian soul or something), blasts in Jaipur, Bombay local trail serial blasts, operation B.A.D just to name a few. Every time we saw the rhetoric of politicians, blame game from the ones in opposition, promises of strong actions against terrorism and appeal to remain calm to the people of India in the hour of crisis. Needless to say, nothing concrete happens.

The problem lies elsewhere. These terrorists are not interested in killing a certain number of people. They make bold statements. That your parliament is vulnerable. That the life line of Mumbai can be cut. That the premier cities of India can be made to bleed at will with well planned serial blasts. Even they now know how soft we are on terror. Afzal Guru is a glaring example. What will come out of this Taj/Oberoi investigation? May be it will throw some names and a few arrests. What will we do with them when we cannot hang Afzal Guru even after Supreme Court ruling is a big question.

It’s been a decade since we are asking for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Not sure how much we are going to add there when we have bigger security issues at home.

Much has been made of Mumbai’s undying spirit and its ability to bounce back. In this very spirit of Mumbai, politicians used to take shade in. For me, it’s not the spirit; it’s the hunger, the need to work for millions of Mumbaikars who cannot afford to sit back for a day or two as it would mean empty stomach at the end of the day. Is there any option left to the common man other than going to work and start doing the routine? This time even that spirit was broken. Mumbai didn’t bounce back for 4 days.

Whenever there are talks of national security, only two parties participate, Congress & BJP. Rest like NCP, SP, BSP, DMK, TDP, ABC, KBC, KKHH, HAHK goes into hibernation as if it’s not their headache. They come out of their hiding only when its time to form a coalition. In few days time, general elections will stare these political parties and all will get busy in deciding candidates, election rallies and India Shining campaigns. They will do what they can do best, Talks and Promises. As far as this media is concerned, somebody will fall into a bore well soon and they will be on their way to capture the ‘news of national importance’.

As for us, nothing will change.

Terrorist Attack...

TERRORIST ATTACK—Civilians Dead—Policemen Dead—ISI—Lashkar-e tayaaba—Pakistan is a terrorist state—Prime Minister’s appeal for calm—Long face of Home Minister--Urgent Cabinet Meeting—Emergency meeting on Security—Opposition attacks Government for being too soft—Chants of ‘Bring POTA’ --Tight security at all places – Police arrests 6 suspects—Charge sheet/Court cases….

TERRORIST ATTACK AGAIN! —Civilians Dead—Policemen Dead—ISI—Lashkar-e tayaaba—Pakistan is a terrorist state—Prime Minister’s appeal for calm—Long face of Home Minister--Urgent Cabinet Meeting—Emergency meeting on Security—Opposition attacks Government for being too soft—Chants of ‘Bring POTA’ --Tight security at all places – Police arrests 6 suspects—Charge sheet/Court cases….

The transition

Who doesn't get fascinated by the rags to riches stories? Stories of guys who made it big against all odds or those who rose from their humble background to become the Whos Who of their field.

Somehow, I find myself glued to such stories. I love autobiographies. Most of them tread this line. It fascinates me when I read about one Naresh Goyal who started as a cashier travel agent and now owns the biggest private sector airlines. I love the story of Lance Armstrong who battled his cancer, went through the rigours of chemeotherapy and then set the sporting scene ablaze with 7 Tour de France victories. The Dhirubhai Ambanis, the Oberois and the Kushalpals. List is endless.

A certain Christopher Gardener who once struggled in life so badly that he was left to sleep in public toilets along with his infant son but later became owner of one of the the best known stock broking firm. We love to watch a Hrithik Roshan winning mountain peaks in Kargil not because he was brave but because of what he became from what he was showed in the second reel of the movie.

All this blabbering because I just watched an interview of Milkha Singh on CNN IBN. The guy who till now , for me, was a headline who lost bronze in Rome Olympics by a whisker and whom I used to rate behind only Bishan Singh Bedi wen it comes to giving illogical views in media. This interview changed all that.

Cheers!

Congrats Preity Zinta and 'his' team

Thanks to Harbhajan now there is a controversy regarding Zinta's gender!

Money Talks!

IPL is a roaring success.

Players who are used to temperatures of 20 and 25 degrees are now lining up to play in the killing heat of Apr-May

Now no player would complain about 'too much cricket' and 'burnout' issues.

And now articles like this would become extinct!!

Money Talks!

Cheers!!

PS: Look, who's blogging!

Olympic Saga

Unprecedented and Bizzare are two of many terms being used for the security arrangements that are in place for the Olympic torch run. All this for a 2.5 Kms stretch.

And they say politics and games are two separate issues!

Few days back, my friend Abhay pointed me to an article by Vir Sanghvi where he logically discussed why Politics and Games cannot be (and never were) separated.

Here is the excerpt:

South Africa was prevented from participating in the 1964 Olympics after India and other non-aligned nations threatened a boycott. The South Africans were only allowed back in 1992, when apartheid was being dismantled. In 1976, nearly all African nations, not content with a ban on South Africa and Rhodesia, boycotted the Olympics because New Zealand was taking part. New Zealand’s crime was that it had allowed its rugby team to tour South Africa. Rugby is not an Olympic sport, but that wasn’t the point. The Africans said that any country which engaged with South Africa would be shunned.

This is not a position peculiar to the non-aligned movement. The 1958 Olympics were boycotted by some European countries because the USSR was taking part. The Europeans were protesting the invasion of Hungary. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared that the US would boycott the Moscow Olympics to protest the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and 80 other countries followed suit. In 1984, the Soviets retaliated by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics.

The Chinese themselves are no slouches when it comes to boycotting the Olympics. In 1976, they threatened to boycott the Montreal Games if Taiwan was allowed to compete as the Republic of China. (The Canadians threw the Taiwanese out.) In 1980, the Chinese joined the boycott of the Moscow Olympics.


Somehow I find myself unable to associate myself emotionally or in any why with the symbolic gestures like carrying an Olympic torch or for that matter something like this! Why not just go ahead with the opening ceremony and get on with the games? Why doing this merry-go-round in so many countries and attaching so much pride and honour in carrying the torch? This pride and honour is another issue which is beyond my head. The 70 odd guys who are supposed to carry the torch on 17th April in New Delhi are the prominent personalities of their fields and are already honourable. Its only them who are taking pride and feeling honoured and not the common man (Ask those guys who will be virtually locked between 1pm and 6pm inside the buildings where they are employed just because their building happens to face Rajpath!)

Anyways! Life goes on...