H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

HP poll: votes’ counting today
Shimla, February 28
The counting of votes cast in the February 26 Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh will begin at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Meanwhile, principal claimants to the chief ministership of Himachal Pradesh, caretaker Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Virbhadra Singh and Pradesh Congress Committee President Vidya Stokes today remained engaged in counting their chickens as the fate of 391 candidates remained digitally sealed in the electronic voting machines at 46 counting centres in the state.

Tension over EVMs in Paprola
Dharamsala, February 28
Tension prevailed in Paprola town of the Baijnath Assembly segment today when 26 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were found in a truck. People of the town surrounded the truck, alleging that an attempt was being made to replace the EVMs at Baijnath. The SDM Baijnath and the DSP rushed to the spot on hearing about the incident.

83.49 per cent polling at Anoh
Dharamsala, February 28
Voting percentage of 83.49 was recorded at the Anoh booth in the Nurpur Assembly segment of Kangra district today after a repoll was ordered by the Election Commission.

Dhumal hails Budget as rural-oriented
Shimla, February 28
Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, today welcomed the Union Budget presented by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, and described it as a common man and rural-oriented Budget aimed at speedy poverty alleviation and employment generation.

School board’s order on exams
Kangra, February 28
The H.P. Board of School Education has decided that the students of class XII who could not pass practical subjects and were to appear in the board examination in March this year, will have to appear in the practical examinations too and the marks obtained by them in the previous practical examinations will not be taken into consideration.

Tibetan youth to hold yatras
Dharamsala, February 28
The Tibetan Youth Congress and the Bharat, Tibet Sahyog Manch will jointly organise Bharat jagaran yatras from March 1. The yatras will start from different places and culminate in Delhi on March 10, where a demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy will be held.

HP poll: votes’ counting today
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 28
The counting of votes cast in the February 26 Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh will begin at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Meanwhile, principal claimants to the chief ministership of Himachal Pradesh, caretaker Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Virbhadra Singh and Pradesh Congress Committee President Vidya Stokes today remained engaged in counting their chickens as the fate of 391 candidates remained digitally sealed in the electronic voting machines at 46 counting centres in the state.

The Election Commission sources said a large number of results would be out before 1 pm tomorrow.

Mr Dhumal reportedly remained glued to telephone to take stock of the constituency - wise situation and expressed confidence that the BJP would form the government on its own this time.

Mr Dhumal also had a stream of party workers and candidates coming to him to inform about the likely result in each constituency.

Ms Stokes and the CLP leader’s house remained crowded with their supporters. The two Congress leaders were engaged in a head count of their supporter MLAs likely to win seats.

Inquiries from political parties revealed, the chief ministerial aspirants had started counting even possible Independent MLAs to shore up their numbers in case the elections delivered a fractured mandate.

Feeling confident of romping home, the Congress was likely to send an observer to the state tomorrow to consult the MLAs on a possible political situation.

Sources in the Congress said an observer would be sent to the state capital and if the party emerged victorious, the matter of electing CLP leader would be left to the high command through a one line resolution.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said the elected Congress MLAs may like to go to Delhi to meet the party leaders after the declaration of results.

Tension over EVMs in Paprola
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, February 28
Tension prevailed in Paprola town of the Baijnath Assembly segment today when 26 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were found in a truck. People of the town surrounded the truck, alleging that an attempt was being made to replace the EVMs at Baijnath. The SDM Baijnath and the DSP rushed to the spot on hearing about the incident.

They tried to pacify the people, who refused to relent. The SDM Baijnath told this correspondent that they were shifting some furniture to the counting hall for tomorrow’s counting. But the election kanungo, had by mistake, got loaded 26 EVMs in the truck, thinking that these were to be taken to Dharamsala.

He said the machines were empty and had been kept in reserve. He said he tried to pacify the people so that the machines could be got checked but they were not ready to listen to him. Meanwhile, police force was rushed to Paprola to avoid any untoward incident.

83.49 per cent polling at Anoh

Dharamsala, February 28
Voting percentage of 83.49 was recorded at the Anoh booth in the Nurpur Assembly segment of Kangra district today after a repoll was ordered by the Election Commission.

District Electoral Officer Prabodh Saxena said the repolling started at 8 a.m. and ended peacefully at 5 p.m. No report of any untoward incident was received from the polling station.

Long queues of voters were seen at the booth. UNI

Dhumal hails Budget as rural-oriented
Our Correspondent

Shimla, February 28
Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, today welcomed the Union Budget presented by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, and described it as a common man and rural-oriented Budget aimed at speedy poverty alleviation and employment generation.

He said the export and industrial growth envisaged at the rate of 20.1 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively, would go a long way in boosting the economy of the country. Mr Dhumal said the coverage of all below poverty line families under the Antodaya Ana Yojna during 2003-2004 would benefit the BPL families in the state.

The Chief Minister said priority given to infrastructure development in education, health and agriculture sectors was a welcome step.

HAMIRPUR: Leaders of Opposition parties on Friday dubbed the Union Budget as anti-people saying that it would increase inflation and harm the cause of poor people.

Mr Bishan Dass Lakhanpal, a former Congress MLA, said here that the Budget had failed to address the crisis in the agriculture and allied sectors. He said the reduction in interest rate for small savings and increase in the rates of fertilisers were bound to hit the farmers.

Mr Mukesh Kumar, district secretary of the CPI, said the Budget was anti-people and would hit the poor and the farmers. Mr Prem Chand Verma, president of the Hamirpur District Non-gazetted Services Federation, described the Budget as pro-employees and said it would benefit the employees in general.

School board’s order on exams
Our Correspondent

Kangra, February 28
The H.P. Board of School Education has decided that the students of class XII who could not pass practical subjects and were to appear in the board examination in March this year, will have to appear in the practical examinations too and the marks obtained by them in the previous practical examinations will not be taken into consideration.

Stating this here today, Mr Vikas Labroo, Secretary of the board, said here that the marks secured in practicals, the failed students appearing in private capacity would not be carried forward. He said that they would have to appear afresh practical examinations. 

Tibetan youth to hold yatras
Our Correspondent

Dharamsala, February 28
The Tibetan Youth Congress and the Bharat, Tibet Sahyog Manch will jointly organise Bharat jagaran yatras from March 1. The yatras will start from different places and culminate in Delhi on March 10, where a demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy will be held.

Giving details, Mr Kuldeep Agnihotri, convener of the manch, and Mr Kalsang Phuntsok Godrukpa, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, said the yatras would start from Dharamsala, Mussoorie, Tezu and Bylakupp and would pass through villages, towns and cities to make Indian people aware of the Tibetan issue.