PIL FILED AGAINST BENGAL 8-PHASE POLL SCHEDULE
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission’s decision to hold an eight-phase election in West Bengal has been questioned in a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer before the Supreme Court. The petition is yet to be heard by the Court.
The petition questioned the February 26 decision of the poll panel to conduct the election in eight phases in West Bengal as against three phases in Assam, and a single phase in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Union Territory of Puducherry.
The petition claimed that because “West Bengal is not facing any terrorist attack or under disputed war zone”, this was “a clear case of violation of Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution of India.”
Elections will begin in West Bengal on March 27.
BENGALURU: A 27-year-old man declared brain-dead by a private hospital was found alive by a health officer who was preparing to conduct a post-mortem in Karnataka’s Bagalkote on Monday, district health department officials said on Tuesday.
The incident took place in Mahalingapur government hospital when Dr S S Galgali found that Shankar Gombi’s body still had a pulse.
On February 27, 27-year-old Gombi met with an accident on Rabakawi road and was rushed to a private hospital in Belagavi district, officials in Mahalingapur
police station said. After remaining under observation for two days, hospital authorities declared him brain dead and asked his kin to take away the body.
“As I was driving towards the hospital, I found cut-outs and banners across the town announcing the death of the man (a common practice in Karnataka). I knew I would have to conduct a post-mortem on this man but didn’t expect he would be alive,” Galgali told Hindustan Times. Gombi hails from a politically influential family.
“As I started the autopsy, I found some sensations in the body. I used a pulse oximeter and on checking his heartbeat, he was found to have a pulse. I immediately removed him from the ventilator and waited for a bit. To my surprise, he moved his hands. I immediately called his family and shifted him to another private hospital,” he added. On Tuesday, Galgali learnt that Gombi was showing signs of improvement and his vitals were normal.
To be sure, this perhaps means the man was not brain dead in the first place. A brain dead person will have a heartbeat and pulse as long as they are connected to the ventilator.
Doctors at the private hospital where he was initially admitted was not available for comment at the time of filing this report.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday lambasted his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on the issue of women safety and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will shut all slaughter houses and stop inter-faith marriages if it was voted to power in the assembly polls from March 27.