State doesn't want to leave anything to chance when it comes to terror attacks

Though the state government has not so far received any specific threat of terrorist attack during the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, the state has made a strong representation to the Centre for allotment of more central paramilitary forces (CPMF) to maintain law and order during the polls and also for the protection of vital installations on Saurashtra and South Gujarat coast.

The Election Commission on Monday announced five-phase polling starting April 16 for the 15th Lok Sabha. The model code of conduct comes into effect immediately.

New Delhi, Mar 1 : Indian Premier League Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi on Sunday lost the Rajasthan Cricket Association elections held for the post of President to Sanjay Dixit, an Indian Administrative Services officer.

Required to get 17 votes to secure a win in the election with majority, Modi could manage just 13 of the total 32 votes. Dixit, on the other hand, bagged 18 votes.

Vitoria/Santiago de Compostela, Spain  - Spanish police detained a suspected member of the militant Basque separatist group ETA shortly before voting started Sunday in regional elections in the Basque region and nearby Galicia.

Officials said the 24-year-old may have been preparing an imminent attack.

Materials for making explosives were seized from the man, who was held overnight in the Basque locality of Billabona.

He was also suspected of preparing booby traps which failed to cause injuries to police officers who came to inspect them in January.

Vitoria/Santiago de Compostela, Spain  - Voting began Sunday in two suspense-filled Spanish regional elections which were to take the political pulse of a country sinking into a deepening recession.

Voters were electing 75-member regional parliaments for the northern Basque region, which has 2.1 million residents, and nearby Galicia, with 2.8 million.

In the Basque region, a party defending Spain's unity against separatist strivings was deemed to have chances to govern for the first time since the region was granted a wide measure of autonomy in 1979.

Moscow  - Voters in nine semi-autonomous republics and regions in Russia went to the polls Sunday amidst the most difficult economic crisis the country has seen in years.

Despite growing dissatisfaction among the general populous, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has expressed hopes of winning in all regions.

The opposition meanwhile has complained of widespread electoral violations during the campaign.