Long queues in Gujarat as BJP, Congress claim victory

AHMEDABAD, Dec 16 (Agencies):Hundreds of thousands of men and women stood in long queues to vote in the final phase of Gujarat's assembly elections Sunday as both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress claimed victories.

After a poor start to polling due to cold winds, voter turnout went up rapidly across Gujarat's northern and central areas as the day progressed in a do-or-die battle involving 599 candidates in 95 constituencies.

In some places, however, voters gathered at polling centres even before they opened at 8 a.m.

A total of 18.7 million people are eligible to vote Sunday, and cities and towns in both regions witnessed maximum enthusiasm to pick a new assembly.

A confident and combative Chief Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the BJP would sweep the elections to retain power in a state whose electoral outcome is widely expected to have an impact on national politics.

BJP leader and prime ministerial candidate L.K.

Advani also made a similar assertion.

After casting his vote in Ranip area of Sarkhej constituency, Modi flashed a V sign to his cheering supporters.

'The BJP is fighting for the future of Gujarat.

I am sure we will get an unprecedented majority,' he said.

A large crowd of Modi fans who had been waiting for the chief minister went wild as he reached the polling booth, screaming in unison: 'Modi! Modi!' Modi's cabinet colleague Amit Shah is contesting from Sarkhej, the biggest seat in size and number of voters.

The chief minister, who has turned the Gujarat ballot as a Modi-versus-Congress battle, himself is pitted against central minister Dinsha Patel in the adjoining constituency of Maninagar in Ahmedabad.

Shortly before Modi spoke, Advani voted in Shahpur constituency of Ahmedabad amid chaos after an electronic voting machine (EVM) at the polling booth failed to function.

Advani told reporters later: 'The BJP is going to win in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

And the results are going to decide the timing of the mid-term (parliamentary) elections.' The Congress made similar claims.

State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki said: 'There is a wave for change.

This time the situation will be a reverse of what it was in 2002.' But Advani insisted that there was no anti-incumbency.

'The BJP will form the government in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,' he said, referring to the two states going to the polls this month.

Several heavyweights from the BJP, which has ruled Gujarat for almost a decade barring a short break, and the Congress, which is desperate to oust the BJP, are in the fray.

Issues of security and terrorism dominated the acrimonious campaign in the second round.

Developmental issues, with which the campaign began in the state, took a back seat.

Among the other high profile contenders Sunday are cabinet ministers Anandiben Patel, Amit Shah, Prabhatsinh Chauhan and Ashok Bhatt.

Congress veteran Narhari Amin is also in the fray.

Sunday began with a major embarrassment for the BJP when one of its candidates was arrested within an hour.

Police took into custody Jayanti Rathwa, candidate from Pavi Jetpur constituency of central Gujarat.

He was charged with illegal possession of weapons, which were seized from three vehicles driven by his supporters.

Also, the Election Commission has charged Gujarat Education Minister Anandiben Patel with violation of poll conduct after she allegedly distributed saris among voters in her Patan constituency in the northern region.

The EVMs did not function well in more than one place.

In some seats, voters complained that their names were not in the Election Commission list though they possessed the relevant identity cards.

Naturally, arguments erupted in several places between angry voters and exasperated officials.

In 2002, the BJP swept central Gujarat and dominated the northern region of the state in the aftermath of communal violence.

The Congress is making a determined bid to bounce back to power.

The first phase of the Gujarat assembly election took place Dec 11.

The votes will be counted Dec 23.

US Army's 'Specialist Kaur' is back in Iraq action CHANDIGARH, Dec 16 (Agencies):The burst from a malfunctioning automatic weapon may have injured her but not her spirit to be where the action is.

Gunner Ranbir Kaur, a Jat-Sikh girl born in India, is headed back to Iraq for patrol duty with the US National Guards.

Being in the middle of hotspots is nothing new for Kaur, 21.

She was assigned duty in war-ravaged Iraq earlier this year after having done a stint in patrolling the streets of another hotspot, the Afghan capital Kabul.

After her injury in November, Kaur rested for four weeks and on Saturday she headed back for Iraq.

'She is very determined.

The accident in Iraq meant a cooling off period for her in the US.

But she is now headed back to work in Iraq.

She seemed quite enthusiastic about going back there,' Hoshiarpur-based horticulturist-author Khushwant Singh, who featured her in his book 'Sikhs Unlimited' this year, told IANS after speaking to her in the US this week.

Kaur's new assignment in Iraq will be as a trucker and a gunner at an undisclosed Iraq city.

The dauntless Kaur slung an M-16 rifle on her shoulders when she was 17.

At 20, she patrolled the mean streets of Kabul in 2006.

'I have test-fired almost every weapon in the US Army now,' Kaur told the author in his book that featured successful Sikh men and women among the Indian diaspora.

He referred to her as 'Specialist Kaur' - a name she acquired in the US forces.

She was the first Sikh girl to join the US Armed Forces, becoming one among the over 200,000 women soldiers in the force.

That was in 2003.

Her work in Afghanistan and Iraq has ranged from protecting airports, streets of Kabul and heritage and religious buildings.

For a girl whose favourite conversation line is 'If I gotta go, I'm gonna go', things were not as easy even after she joined the US Armed Forces.

She received hate mails and one criticism levelled against her was that she found it convenient to join the US forces in order to get citizenship.

The truth, however, is that she got her citizenship before she joined the forces.

'In countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, everything is frontline.

If death does not deter me, nothing else can,' she told Khushwant.

She took an 'awesome' fascination for the uniform while still in high school where marines and regulars from forces used to distribute fliers to students outside the school career centre.

Born in Nijjran village of Punjab's non-resident Indian (NRI)-dominated Jalandhar district, the young girl reached US shores as a seven-year-old after her father Mahan Singh, pursuing dollar dreams, secured a US green card in 1990.

Singh, who lives with his large family in San Joaquin Valley, Earlimart-California, is now a grape-grower.

Kaur's liking for action was revealed when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.

She responded to the request of an organisation, the United Sikhs, to help salvage from the rubble the holy book of the Sikhs - Guru Granth Sahib - also referred to by the community as a living guru.

Kalam finally gets an official residence in Delhi NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Agencies): It took Centre more than four months to provide India's former first citizen a home in the Capital from where he had commanded the country's armed forces for five years and sworn in two Prime Ministers.

Ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam has moved to his allotted accommodation at 10 Rajaji Marg on Thursday from the 'High Risk Category Officers' Hut', a simple accommodation provided to him in Delhi Cantonment.

The 75-year-old former President has been staying in the Army hut since demitting office on July 25.

Kalam, who has Z-Plus security cover, was living in the guest house despite his office making several representations to the Urban Development Ministry for early renovation of the house allotted to him.

However, the work undertaken by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had been moving slowly despite repeated reminders from security agencies that want to install gadgets to protect the former President who faces threats from several militant groups, including Lashker-e-Toiba.

The type-VIII duplex bungalow was shortlisted by Kalam in the second week of June so that authorities would have ample time to refurbish it but till October this year, metal and wooden frames and debris were being still carried out of the house while its compound swarming with labourers.

According to protocol, a former President has to be provided a house in Delhi if he chooses to reside here.

While no one from the CPWD was willing to come on record for the delay, possibly for the first time, some officials claimed that lot of renovation was needed as the former President had desired for certain changes.

However, when asked about the changes, the officials chose to be mum.

The type-VIII building is built on a plinth area of 5,000 square feet and is an original Lutyen's bungalow with little additional construction.