Hamirpur, February 16
Electioneering din touched its peak as traditional political rivals — the BJP and the Congress — ended their first round of “carpet bombing”, by taking their political agenda to the voters at the grassroots level.

Valleys and open spaces throughout the hill state reverberated with propaganda, including political bashing of opponents on popular issues like corruption, non-performance and discrimination, as in the past 48 hours as many as 30 state-level election rallies were held featuring top central leadership of the two parties.

Bitterness created by “personalised politics and onslaught” notwithstanding, the electioneering in Himachal Pradesh compared to neighbouring Punjab, where the Assembly elections were held almost a year ago, is a study in contrast.

When the BJP lodged a formal protest with the Chief Electoral Officer, Ms Manisha Nanda, about the missing “credit line” in the advertisements inserted by the Congress, the “discrepancy” was acknowledged and subsequently a credit line started appearing in the ads.

The usual allegations of “free flow of liquor” or even “money” and the use of “muscle power”, commonly made during any elections in Punjab, are largely conspicuous by their absence here. There may be stray complaints of “supply of liquor” or even “disbursement of money”, but no such substantial allegation to this effect has been made by any party against its rivals so far.

Turnouts at elections rallies — both of the Congress and the BJP — throughout the state varied between 1,000 and 7,000 persons. Unlike Punjab, none of the political parties requisitioned services of either singers or music groups to keep the audience “entertained” or “amused” even in cases where the arrival of the main speakers was delayed for one reason or the other.

“We have been receiving some complaints about the active participation of government employees in the electioneering. Action will be initiated after an initial inquiry,” says Ms Nanda holding that “otherwise things are moving smoothly and arrangements are reviewed periodically.”

Another contrasting feature has been security guards. “I am not aware of any request from any candidate asking for a security guard,” reveals Ms Nanda holding that “request, if any, is assessed before security guards are provided. Himachal Pradesh is a peaceful state and we have no such problems.”

Asked about the use of polythene sheets as election material, Ms Nanda said the guidelines of the Election Commission on the subject were only “advisory and not mandatory”.

But the Department of Environment and Pollution has reportedly taken cognizance of the use of polythene sheets for making flags, buntings and even banners at certain places. It has reportedly issued directions to all Deputy Commissioners to ensure that there is “no littering of polythene material”, recycling of which stands banned in the state.

A tour of some parts of the state yesterday revealed that polythene-based election material had been replaced by flags, buntings and banners made from khadi cloth.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee has issued a list of ministers and senior Congress leaders who will camp and campaign in the state.

Those nominated for the election duty are Mr Tej Parkash Singh and Mr Bhag Singh (Doon); Mr Ramesh Dutt Sharma and Mr Shamsher Singh Rai (Nalagarh); Mr Rakesh Pandey and Mr Ram Lubhaya (Kasauli), Rana KP Singh and Mr Varinder Rana (Kot Kehloor), Mr Ramesh Dogra, Mr Pawan Kumar Adiya and Mr Kuldeep Nanda (Gagret), Dr Harbans Lal and Mr Ishar Singh (Chintpurni), Mr Gurmail Singh and Mr Ram Krishan Kataria (Santokhgarh), Mr Sardul Singh, Mr Dharampal Sabharwal and Mr Ram Parkash Bali (Una), Mr Santokh Singh, Dr Malti Thapar and Mr Naresh Thakur (Kutlehar), Mr Ashok Sharma and Mr Rajbir Singh (Nurpur), Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri , Mr Rumal Chand and Mr Shyam Behl (Gangath), Mr Ashwani Shekhri and Mr Ram Rattan (Jawali), Mr Mohinder Singh KP and Dr Harbans Kaur (Jaswan), Dr Mohinder Kumar Rinwa and Mr Raman Bhalla (Bhattayat), and Mr Sant Ram Singla and Ms Babli Brar (Shimla).