Spotlight

New Delhi,16 April 2007

A HISTORIC COMEBACK

HYDERABAD, April 17 (INFA): In a first-of-its-kind event in the country, the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council has been revived, 22 years after it was abolished by the Telugu Desam Government in 1985.

In no other State has the Council been resurrected once it was scrapped.  In all, 64 newly-elected and nominated members, took oath as the members of the Council on April 2 last.

No doubt, the revival of the Council has taken a tortuously long time due to political vicissitudes in the State. To fulfill the Congress poll promise in 2004, the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre enacted the AP Legislative Council Bill in 2005 and it became an Act in January, 2006.

However, it took over almost a year for the Election Commission to complete the preliminary steps for the conduct of elections to the Council, which has a total strength of 90 members.

Elections were held in March for 75 out of 78 elected seats. Polls to three seats from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy local authorities quota have been put off in the absence of elected civic bodies in Hyderabad and adjoining municipalities.

The conduct of polls was not a smooth affair, with the Opposition parties, led by the Telugu Desam Party kicking up controversies, initially, on the delimitation of graduates and teachers constituencies and the enrolment of voters and later on the “open ballot” system followed by congress members in eight districts in elections from local authorities.

Results of the polls to eight seats each from graduates and teachers’ Constituencies, 31 seats from Assembly quota and five from local authorities have been recently announced.  The Opposition alleged that instead of nominating distinguished personalities in various fields, the Governor accommodated mostly Congressmen. In fact, the Congress picked up ex-ministers, former MLAs, ex-MLCs and former MPs as its candidates from the Assembly, local authorities and nomination quotas. The ruling party is, thus, poised to gain effective control of the Council with a two-thirds majority.---INFA

GOOGLE GOES SOLAR

NEW DELHI, April 17 (INFA): The internet search leader ‘Google Inc’, is converting its headquarters in Mountain View, California, to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America.

The ambitious project which would be the largest solar project proposed in the State will require installing more than 9200 solar panels on the 1 million square foot Googleplex campus. The panels are to be installed by Pasadena-based ‘EI Solutions’, a large scale solar power systems provider.