Coimbatore poll shifted to Feb 28, car-bomb defused
The Lok Sabha election in the textile city
of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu will be held on February 28 instead of
February 22 as decided earlier, the Election Commission announced
on Wednesday.
The decision had been taken because of the prevailing situation
in the city, the Commission said.
Reports from various sources were taken into account and a
formal notification would be issued separately, the Commission said.
Coimbatore was rocked by as many as 13 explosions on Saturday
last, and a few more on the following days. Nearly 60 people have died
and more than 200 were injured in the blasts.
Meanwhile, experts from the army and the National
Security Guards on Wednesday successfully defused a powerful bomb
planted in an abandoned car in Coimbatore on Wednesday after a three-day struggle.
The car, loaded with five boxes each containing 10 to 12 kg of
gelatine, was found abandoned at R S Puram, near the venue
of an election meeting which was to have been addressed by Bharatiya
Janata Party president L K Advani on Saturday.
The car had created panic among the residents and a majority of
the about 300 families in the area had vacated
their homes, apprehending danger to their lives. The entire area
near the car was cordoned off by the police till the bomb was defused.
Shops and commercial establishments, banks and hotels in the
vicinity have remained closed since Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Coimbatore district collector and
returning officer for the constituency G Santhanam and Police
Commissioner Nanjil Kumaran said elaborate security arrangements had
been made for peaceful polling and the people need not
worry about the law and order situation.
Kumaran said rumours were now the biggest problem the police faced
and warned rumour-mongers that they would be sternly dealt with.
More than a hundred people were rounded up on Tuesday night
for violating prohibitory orders in force in the city and for
spreading rumours.
UNI in Coimbatore
Elections '98
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