Your chance to buy BMW, Jaguars at ‘bargain’ auction prices

Some 290 impounded cars – including a few Jaguars and BMW – are being put up for auction, according to Major General Mohammed Saif Al Zaffin, Director General of Dubai Traffic Police.

“The 290 cars will be auctioned over the internet through three companies which have been contracted by the Supreme Committee for auctions.”

These are Emirates Auction, Golden Bell Auction and Union Auction.

Maj Gen Al Zaffin disclosed that the dates of the auctions will be announced in Arab and foreign newspapers and in accordance with the procedures, a month before the scheduled date.

He added that the Supreme Committee for auctions did not specify the date of the auction yet. The next auction will be the seventh as six auctions have been organised since 2007.

Maj Gen Al Zaffin said the seized luxury cars such as Ferrari Enzo will not be offered for sale at the next auction.

He added a special auction for the luxury cars will be organized in the near future.

He mentioned that the Traffic Department will make an inventory to determine the number of luxury cars which are impounded for more than 6 months, to be included in the planned auction.

He said the cars up for auction do not have cases pending in courts, and neither are they required by Interpol.

Law 34 of 2008 says impounded cars can be auctioned after the passage of 6 months during which owners have made no efforts to have them released.

It also requires such cars not be part of cases pending in courts or involved in cases of Interpol.

He revealed that the next auction which will included 290 cars includes 20 Mitsubishi cars (including Lancer and pickups etc), 3 Jaguars, and about 60 Nissan (including Tida, Sunny and Altima) cars.

There are also Toyota (including Lexus Prado, Land Cruiser and Mark 2), Peugeot, Ford Mustang, Jeep Cherokee, BMW, Honda (Civic and Accord), etc.

Maj Gen Al Zaffin said that there are also older models such as Nissan Laurel and Sunny 1983 as well there are new models such as the Peugeot 2007 and Land Cruiser 2010.

Lt Colonel Nabil Abdullah, Director of police vehicles and the member of the Supreme Committee for Auctions, said the price of the cars listed for auctions is estimated according to the average account for four estimates, the first estimate through the police, and the other three estimations by the three auctions companies.

The four estimates are collated and an average price is drawn as the price of the car offered for sale.

He said the vehicles will be submitted to the auto auction companies this month. This should take a few weeks. The proceeds will be submitted to the police, after deducting 2 per cent commissions on the sales.

Campaigning ends, stage set for tomorrow’s poll

Bangalore:May.4:The month-long, high-pitched public canvassing that saw national leaders of major political parties and film stars sweat it out to woo voters ended on Friday, setting the stage for polling on May 5 in the State. Counting of votes is scheduled on May 8.

However, the campaign on the last day on Friday largely remained low-key. Senior leaders confined themselves to holding press briefings, while candidates conducted door-to-door campaign and held road shows.

Though Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Sheila Dikshit were in Bangalore, they did not take part in any public campaign. None of the BJP Delhi leaders were in Bangalore.

With curtains coming down on public campaign, the Election Commission (EC) directed that all party leaders and workers who do not belong to respective constituencies should leave. Hence, majority of the State leaders of all the parties remained confined to their constituencies on Friday. BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar held a road show in Basavanagudi and actors Vijay and Ganesh campaigned for BJP candidate in Padmanabhnagar. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy campaigned in Mandya and Kolar districts.

The candidates can conduct padayatra on Saturday. As many as 2,939 candidates are in the fray for the 223 seats. Polling in Periyapatna has been postponed to May 28 following the death of the BJP candidate.

The BJP and the Congress accused each other of corruption, a major issue in the State. While the Congress accused the BJP of creating a record of sorts in corruption in Karnataka, the saffron party retorted by highlighting 2G, coalgate and Commonwealth games scams. Both chanted “sakappa saku” (enough is enough) mantra, calling for end of corruption.

Regional parties, the JD(S) led by H D Deve Gowda, the KJP led by B S Yeddyurappa and the BSR Congress led by B Sriramulu, left no stone unturned in attracting the attention of matabandavaru (electorate) by making a strong pitch for a regional force coming to power in the State. They accused the two national parties of letting down the State’s interest. Gowda and Yeddyurappa went to the extent of shedding tears in public. Gowda’s daughter-in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy, too, wept in Channapatna where she is the party candidate.

Though top leaders of both the national parties had hit the campaign trail, it was NaMo-RaGa duel (Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi) that stole the show. Modi’s public rally in Bangalore, Belgaum and Mangalore came as a moral booster to the party. Rahul was the star campaigner for the Congress.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, senior leaders L K Advani Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely campaigned for the party. The Congress had Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and many Union minister seeking votes.

Besides, political parties added glitz and glamour to their campaigns by roping in cine stars. Telugu actor and Union minister Chiranjeevi was a big hit in Tumkur, Kolar, Anekal (Bangalore urban district) and Bellary, where he campaigned for the Congress. Among Kannada actors who hit the campaign trail were Ramya, Bhavana (Congress), Tara, Ganesh (BJP) and Shruti (KJP). Actor Pooja Gandhi is the BSR Congress candidate from Raichur while veteran actor Ambareesh is contesting from Mandya.

This apart, all parties and their candidates extensively used technology and social media to reach out to the voters. However, padayatras (door-to-door campaign) remained the favourite mode of campaigning. There was only one incident of hate speech by BJP leader K S Eshwarappa in Shimoga. Till Friday evening, the Election Commission had registered 696 cases for various election-related offences and received 2,097 complaints on model code violations.