VoteIndia.in professes that democracy is the best of the available form of governances. But what if there is something currently not available, but something that may work and take care of drawbacks of all the current existing systems? For quite sometime I have been on the quest to churn out a new system that will erase all of the drawbacks of the existing systems, and at the same time provide you with a concrete solution to lead a perfect human life. Little did I know that people across the globe are still debugging on the same issue.

The Lotus Project of the Zeitgeist movement, is not exactly working on a form of governance, but they are working on a new form of economy which in effect is churning out a new form of governance. The Lotus Project aims to convert the existing money based economy to a resource based economy.

In a life proposed by Zeitgeist you do not work to earn money, but you work for your passion. Money is a forgotten past. You do what you like to do. Although their argument of religion and that the entire world politics is a conspiracy seem to be baseless and only a propaganda tool. Their system also has quite a few loopholes.

But the package is certainly worth making a peep. If you like it, jump in and solve their entangled threads, else admire the creativity and say goodbye.

Detail account on  : http://inimish.blogspot.com/2010/01/zeitgeist-spirit-of-times.html#links

Gujarat Assembly on Saturday passed a landmark bill which makes, for the first time in the country, voting mandatory in local body polls.

The Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, which also seeks to raise the reservation of seats for women in local self governance bodies from 33 to 50 per cent, was passed by voice vote.

The opposition, led by Congress, opposed the mandatory voting provision, terming it in contradiction with the constitutional provisions but supported raising of seats for women in the local bodies from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.

The opposition had demanded separate bills for 50 per cent reservation for women and for mandatory voting in local self governance bodies.

Under the bill, if a voter fails to vote for the reasons other than prescribed in the rules, he may be declared a “defaulter voter” and would face consequences for which rules will be framed and placed before the Assembly for its approval later.

“It is observed that due to low turnout of voters to discharge their duty by exercising their right to vote, the true spirit of the will of the people is not reflected in the electoral mandate,” said the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi later told reporters that this is an attempt to strengthen India’s democracy. “Everybody will benefit by compulsory voting be it a ruling party or the opposition,” he said.

While introducing the bill, Nitin Patel described the bill as a historical step taken by the government to strengthen the democratic process by achieving 100 per cent voting in the local bodies’ elections.
According to him, the proposed provision once approved, will put Gujarat in the league of a number of developed nations where voting in the local bodies’ polls is mandatory.

However, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil described it as a “populist measure” by the Sstate government which is absolutely in contradiction with the constitutional provisions.

He added the amendment bill should be split into two and a separate bill for reservation for women should be introduced first.

“My party will support the government and would vote in favour of the bill for enhancing reservation for women from 33 per cent to 50 per cent as done by the Central Government,” Gohil said, adding, “however, Congress party cannot support the provision of mandatory voting.”

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/gujarat/Gujarat-assembly-passes-mandatory-voting-bill/Article1-488451.aspx

321 candidates (32%) with self declared pending criminal charges contesting in Jharkhand assembly election 2009

Out of these 321 candidates, 155 candidates (16%) have declared serious IPC charges i.e. rape, murder and attempt to murder charges against them

All major parties give ticket to candidate with serious pending criminal charges like rape, buying minor for prostitution, kidnapping, murder, attempt to murder, dacoity etc. JMM-22, INC-12, BJP-6, AJSU-14, RJD-13, AITC-9

3454% Average increase in the assets of the 37 MLAs find to be recontesting in Jharkhand Assembly election 2009.

71 candidates declare their asset more than one crore

Ranchi, December 11, 2009: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), a nationwide campaign comprising of more than 1200 NGOs and other citizen led organizations, has been working on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India.

NEW has analysed 997 affidavits out of total 1491 affidavits of candidates contesting for 81 seats of Jharkhand assembly election 2009. This report is based on the analysis of these affidavits.

The following pages give the candidate wise, party wise analysis of criminal, financial and other background of the contesting candidates.

More details on – http://www.adrindia.org/Media-Center/ADR-Press-Releases/321-candidates-32-with-self-declared-pending-criminal-charges-contesting-in-jharkhand-assembly-election-2009.html

Please log on to www.adrindia.org for more details.

State	Total No. ACs	ACs reserved for SC	ACs reserved for ST
Jharkhand	81	9	28

	1st Phase	2nd Phase	3rd Phase	4th Phase	5th Phase
Date of
issue of	3/11/2009	7/11/2009	13-11-2009	17-11-2009	24-11-2009
notification	(Tuesday)	(Saturday)	(Friday)	(Tuesday)	(Tuesday)
Last date for
making	10/11/2009	14-11-2009	20-11-2009	24-11-2009	1/12/2009
nominations	(Tuesday)	(Saturday)	(Friday)	(Tuesday)	(Tuesday)
Date for
scrutiny of	11/11/2009	16-11-2009	21-11-2009	25-11-2009	2/12/2009
nominations	(Wednesday)	(Monday)	(Saturday)	(Wednesday)	(Wednesday)
Last date for
withdrawal
of	13-11-2009	18-11-2009	23-11-2009	27-11-2009	4/12/2009
candidatures	(Friday)	(Wednesday)	(Monday)	(Friday)	(Friday)
Date of poll,	27-11-2009	2/12/2009	8/12/2009	12/12/2009	18-12-2009
if necessary	(Friday)	(Wednesday)	(Tuesday)	(Saturday)	(Friday)
Date before
which the
election
shall be	31-12-2009	31-12-2009	31-12-2009	31-12-2009	31-12-2009
completed	(Thursday)	(Thursday)	(Thursday)	(Thursday)	(Thursday)

Hours of poll: 7 AM to 3PM

Counting shall be held on : 23-12-2009 (Wednesday)

No. and name of Assembly Constituencies in Phase-1 (30 ACs)

1-Rajmahal

2-Borio (ST)

3-Barhait (ST)

4-Litipara (ST)

5-Pakaur

6-Maheshpur (ST)

7-Sikaripara (ST)

10-Dumka (ST)

11-Jama (ST)

12-Jarmundi

16-Poreyahat

8-Nala

9-Jamtara

13-Madhupur

14-Sarath

15-Deogarh(SC)

17-Godda

18-Mahagama

63-Ranchi

64-Hatia

65-Kanke (SC)

47-Jugsalai (SC)

48-Jamsehdpur East

49 Jamshedpur West

38-Sindri

39-Nirsa

40-Dhanbad

41-Jharia

42-Tundi

43-Baghmara

No. and name of Assembly Constituencies in Phase -2 (15 ACs)

58-Tamar (ST)

61-Silli

62-Khijri (ST)

66-Mandar (ST)

34-Gomia

31-Gandey

32-Giridih

33-Dumri

20-Barkatha

21-Barhi

22-Barkagaon

24-Mandu

23-Ramgarh

19-Kodarma

60-Khunti (ST)

No. and name of Assembly Constituencies in Phase – 3 (7 ACs)

35-Bermo

36-Bokaro

37-Chandankiyari (SC)

28-Dhanwar

29-Bagodar

30-Jamua (SC)

25-Hazaribagh

No. and name of Assembly Constituencies in Phase – 4 (14 ACs)

44-Baharagora

45-Ghatsila (ST)

46-Potka (ST)

53-Majhgaon (ST) 55-Manoharpur (ST)

56-Chakradharpur (ST)

50-Ichagarh

59-Torpa (ST)

67-Sisai (ST)

68-Gumla (ST)

69-Bishunpur (ST)

70-Simdega (ST)

71-Kolebira (ST)

72-Lohardaga (ST)

No. and name of Assembly Constituencies in Phase – 5 (15 ACs)

52-Chaibasa (ST)

54-Jaganathpur (ST)

57-Kharsawan (ST) 51-Seraikella (ST)

80-Garhwa

81-Bhawanathpur

75-Panki

76-Daltonganj

77-Bishrampur

78-Chhatarpur (SC)

79-Hussainabad

26-Simaria (SC)

27-Chatra (SC)

74-Latehar (SC)

73-Manika (ST)

I woke up on 13th with a child like enthusiasm & knowledge that I was going to vote for the first time. I had checked & rechecked on mumbaicityelections.org whether I was registered or not. I had also applied for a change in address on the website. unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to collect my EPIC from Airoli.

My first stop was the place where my parents were registered, It was a frustrating 15mins when I saw that my family was registered but I was Not. Secondly, the person sitting to check tells me, “Madam, if your name is not in the LIST, you CANNOT vote”. I asked him a simple question,” what if i have a EPIC & my name is not in the list?”. He replied,” You CANNOT VOTE.”

“Welcome to the system” was my first though. I called up 1290 & found out the correct address of my polling booth.  The lady who answered was loud & obnoxious. She gave me the address as “Sector 25″  & on searching I found, no sec-25 exists. after 45 mins of going from booth to booth, i came to a school – SURPRISE SURPRISE,, SCHOOL NO 25!!!!!

Finally, i went in, identity verified & stuff, The GRAND FINALE:

I asked for 490- Form 17a. The lady in front of me asks,”Whose that? Whom do you want to meet?”

I went to the presiding officer, who looked like a pan stall owner & as expected, he gave me a blank look. I patiently explained about 49-O and he tells me, “WOH BILL PASS NAI HUA PARLIAMENT MAIN”.

I gave up. believe me, I gave up, voted for the the candidate I thought was the best & just pushed off from there.

If people inspecting at the polling booth are so ignorant about 49-O, what do we expect from the common man? We need to spread this information about 49-O like wildfire.The voting this time has been 50% in Mumbai, it will be more the next time.

Honestly, This experience has just made me stronger, because I am going to vote next time & I will vote for 49-O.

-Aakansha

Click on the state title below for a detailed, constituency wise result.

Maharashtra (Click here)

Status Known For 288 out of 288 Constituencies Party Won Leading Total Bharatiya Janata Party 46 0 46 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 0 1 Indian National Congress 82 0 82 Nationalist Congress Party 62 0 62 Samajwadi Party 4 0 4 Shivsena 44 0 44 Others 49 0 49

Haryana (Click here)

Status Known For 90 out of 90 Constituencies Party Won Leading Total Bahujan Samaj Party 1 0 1 Bharatiya Janata Party 4 0 4 Indian National Congress 40 0 40 Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) 6 0 6 Indian National Lok Dal 31 0 31 Shiromani Akali Dal 1 0 1 Others 7 0 7

Arunachal Pradesh (Click here)

Status Known For 60 out of 60 Constituencies Party Won Leading Total Bharatiya Janata Party 2 1 3 Indian National Congress 42 0 42 Nationalist Congress Party 5 0 5 All India Trinamool Congress 5 0 5 Others 5 0 5

The affidavits have been emailed to all registered users two days before the election day. Now it is upto YOU to evaluate the pending criminal cases, educational qualification, assets, liabilities, professional performance and to choose the right candidate, one worthy and deserving of your vote.

Let the voting begin!

Shiv Sena Party headed by Uddhav Thackery has announced its candidate list for the upcoming state elections http://www.shivsena.org/Candidates%202009.pdf. It is really interesting to see the political parties using the power of the Internet. Their website http://www.shivsena.org/ contains links of cartoons created by BalaSaheb Thackery and you can also have a say in their manifesto. I am sure other political parties are also trying to woo the net savvy voters. This is what I call for the people by the people.

-Krish

SCHEDULE FOR STATE ELECTIONS 2009 (ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS) ARUNANCHAL PRADESH, HARYANA AND MAHARASHTRA

Date of Issue of Notification	Last date for nominations	Date for scrutiny of nominations	Last date for withdrawal of candidatures	Date of poll if necessary	Date before which the election shall be completed
Friday 18th September 2009	Friday 25th September 2009	Saturday 26th September 2009	Tuesday 29th September 2009	Tuesday 13th October 2009	Sunday 25th October 2009

Counting shall be done on Thursday, the 22^nd October 2009

Number of Assembly Constituencies going to polls

State	Total Number of Assembly constituencies	Assembly constituencies reserved for SC	Assembly constituencies reserved for ST	Number of polling stations
Arunanchal Pradesh	60	Nil	59	2061
Maharashtra	288	29	25	82028
Haryana	90	17	Nil	12894

India has spoken, and how! It has chosen development over the noisy, short-sighted and sometimes downright pathetic rants of some selfish fools. These politicians will never realize what the people want.

This time around, young first time voters were quite large in number. The youth have a completely different mindset and perspective than what most political parties are used to. We have grown up watching our leaders throw chairs and chappals at each other and listened to those election promises over and over to the point of being clichéd. We are tired of divisive, religion, caste based and hate politics. Personally, all I would want is to study and do my job well, go home and spend some quality time with family and friends, go on a fun holiday, do something constructive…not waste my life fighting, swearing at or degrading other people over some petty issues.

UPA won by a thumping margin and although the full credit should go to the humble Dr. Manmohan Singh and the young Rahul Gandhi, the Congress should also thank it’s opponents. The first remark, ’125 saal ki budhiya’ showed the people that the Congress still had the most experience in the field. The second about ‘dynasty politics’, a reference to Milind Deora, Priya Dutt, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia among others, put the spotlight on the new, educated breed of politicians that the Congress had.

Heartiest congratulations to the UPA for pulling off this win. And although they have achieved a majority, I hope the Congress rules responsibly and takes clear headed decisions. Alongwith economic reforms, they should look to uplift the population starting with the most economically challenged and downtrodden sections of our society and seek a positive change in their lifestyle. Here’s hoping for a true ‘India Shining’