ON May 20, Nand Kumar, district panchayat member was attacked by hired miscreants. The Party has demanded immediate arrest of these miscreants who are bent to cow down political voices in the region. The CPI(M) has stated that a peaceful town like Bilaspur in Chattisgarh in being converted into a den of anti-social , criminal elements.

A DELEGATION comprising of Sumitra Chopra from CPI(M), Rahul Chaudhary from (CPIML), former MLA Pawan Duggal and other leaders of mass organisations like the DSMM and AIDWA visited village Lalabari in Thanagaji in Alwar district. The delegation met the victim of gang rape and her husband who narrated the gory incident of rape by a gang of the region. This gang has ample support of the local police. This gang is also involved in incidents of rioting and loot. Sushila Devi , victim’s mother and Ramjilal, her uncle said they had no altercation with the gang.

THE state of Uttarakhand is supposedly believed to be calm, without any social and political prejudices. It is also termed as Dev Bhoomi(land of  deities). However, the reality is far away from that. The manifestation of social exclusion and differentiation in Uttarakhand is one of the worst forms in comparison to other states.

ON May 19, the 34th death anniversary of Comrade P Sundarayya was observed in Sundarayya Vignana Kendram (SVK) in Baghlingampalli  and also at the new Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in Gachibowli. Glowing tributes were paid and the statue of Sundarayya was garlanded by Prof Ram Puniyani from IIT Mumbai and by many others present at the venue.

ON May 21, 22 political parties met at Delhi, after the polling to the 17th Lok Sabha was over. The leadership of the 22 parties later met the Election Commission of India and submitted a memorandum regarding the process to be followed for counting of ‘voter-verified paper audit trail’ (VVPAT) slips.

Excerpts from the memorandum: