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What
made voter drop INLD
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Congress
demands resignation of Chautala Anti-incumbency
does Swami in Adampur
sealed fate of Kuldeep’s rivals Sangwan
makes hat-trick Selja
leaves rivals way behind
Killers
of Lance Havildar roam free One year after his murder, the killers of a serving Army man, Lance Havildar Madan Singh, continue to roam free and threaten family members of the deceased who have been running from pillar to post seeking justice. Father
murders 8-month-old girl A father allegedly killed his eight-month-old daughter following a dispute with his wife and in-laws at Neval village, near here. High Court
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What made voter drop INLD Chandigarh, may 13 The wrath of the electorate cuts across the caste lines, proving the calculations of politicians and mediamen wrong. What more proof is required when the Indian National Lok Dal, the mainstay of which is said to be the Jats, loses badly in the constituencies like Pai and Naultha, which are Jat dominated. Interestingly, the voters of these constituencies voted in favour of non-Jat candidates. The INLD has been virtually wiped out in the state. The Assembly segmentwise drubbing received by the INLD this time is more severe than that in the post-Meham mayhem 1991 elections. The party was then able to pick up 16 Assembly seats. But this year the voters have favoured them only in nine Assembly segments, which constitutes just 10 per cent of the total strength of the House. The INLD has kept company with the Congress and the HVP, which were reduced to the single-digit strength in 1996 and 2000, respectively. To add insult to injury, the voters of four Lok Sabha constituencies saw to it that the INLD candidates forfeited their security deposits. The most prominent party nominee to forfeit his security deposit is the state Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora, who contested from Karnal. The other INLD candidates who suffered this ignominy are Major Gen Bhim
Singh (Rohtak), Mr Balwant Singh (Ambala) and Swami Dharam Dev
(Mahendragarh). To be fair to Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, he could not be faulted for lack of development, particularly in villages. But two factor mainly went against him. First, there was an atmosphere of terror in the state. Second, the people generally perceived that there was complete centralisation of power, consequently the “fruits of power” also, in the hands of the Chief Minister and his two sons. The people were waiting for the right opportunity to hit back and they did. Perhaps, the ruling party was complacent after its victory in three Assembly byelections. It did not realise that except the Rori byelection held immediately after the Assembly elections, the element of fear of reprisals at the hands of the ruling party played a major role in persuading the voters to favour its candidates in Yamunanagar and Fatehabad. In Yamunanagar, Abhay, the younger son of the Chief Minister, has secured only 14,753 votes against 51,183 polled by the winner, Mr Naveen Jindal of the Congress. Even Mr Gurdial Saini of the BJP has been able to poll 21,012 votes from here. Similarly in Fatehabad, Mr Sushil Indora (INLD) could get 23,888 votes against 38,885 votes polled by Mr Atma
Singh Gill of the Congress. Surprisingly, the BJP, which picked up one seat of Sonepat where its candidate, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, won by about 7,500 votes by defeating the Congress nominee, Mr Dharam Pal Malik, put up a good fight. It finished second in the four constituencies of Karnal, Mahendragarh, Ambala and Rohtak. It seems that the statement made immediately before the campaigning ended by senior Congress leader, Natwar Singh that the next Chief Minister of the state would be Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda swayed a large section of the Jat votes towards the Congress. The animosity of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, which Mr Hooda was able to exploit, also seems to have cost the INLD dear. The elections also saw the virtual elimination of parties like the Haryana Vikas Party and the Ekta Shakti, whose votes seemed to have shifted towards the Congress because of the fear of the INLD nominees winning. A section of the Sikhs also seems to have voted for the Congress, which explains the defeat of the INLD nominee in the Sikh-dominated Pehowa Assembly segment. The Chairman of the Minority Department of the Haryana Congress, Mr Jagdeep Singh Cheema, claims that Mr Bhajan Lal’s gesture of paying obeisance at the Golden Temple has molified the Sikhs towards him and his party. |
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Congress demands resignation of Chautala Gurgaon, May 13 The AICC coordinator and incharge of Haryana with regard to the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Gulchain Singh Charak, said in the wake of the total rout of the ruling INLD, the party had lost the moral right to rule the state. The people of the state had overwhelmingly rejected the INLD and favoured the Congress. In fact, the people of Haryana had made their preference overwhelmingly clear in favour of the Congress as they felt that it was the only party which could provide able and effective
governance, he added. The negative mood of the people against the “misrule” of the INLD government was so intense that the two sons of Mr Chautala also suffered defeats. According to him, the people of the state had displayed total distrust in the BJP and the HVP. There were developments during the election campaign that suggested that the INLD, the BJP and the HVP sometimes joined hands to undercut the Congress vote bank, but to no avail. The people of the state showed political sagacity and saw through the game, he added. Mr
Charak, who is being hailed in the Congress circles for devising a successful electoral strategy of the party for the Lok Sabha election in Haryana, said the Congress had gone to the people with certain issues. They included failure of law and order in the state, the government’s anti-farmer policies, levying of imposts under various heads, harassment of the industry and trade circles by the goons of the ruling party and corruption in public life by the members of the ruling party. He alleged that the ruling INLD unleashed criminal elements and misused official machinery to rig the election. The Congress had demanded, before the election, that polling stations be handed over to the CRPF as the party had no faith in the Haryana police. The CRPF was pressed into service, but only for patrolling. Personnel of the Haryana police were posted at the polling stations. Had the election in the state been completely free from electoral malpractices on the part of the ruling party, the Congress candidates would have won by much bigger margins. |
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Chautala’s son accepts defeat Bhiwani, May 13 Mr Ajay Chautala, having represented Bhiwani twice in the Lok Sabha, trailed third in the elections. In a statement here he said, “I accept the verdict of the people. I have done my best sharing the sorrows and joys of the people and had further accelerated the pace of the development.” Abhey Singh Chautala, MLA from Rohri and younger son of the Chief Minister, too, has lost the Lok Sabha election from Kurukshetra.
— UNI |
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Detailed results Chandigarh, May 13 Ambala Total votes : 829820 Chander Pal (BSP) :
56634 Balwant Singh (INLD) : 128195 Ratan Lal (BJP) : 178713 Selja
(INC): 404302 (Elected) Aman Kumar (HVP): 20976 Ranbir Singh
(ESP) : 13022 Arvind Kumar Sonkar (ABHM) : 2148 Hem Raj (LJNSP) :
2195 Sanjeev Gharu (SP) : 1800 Sunil Kumar (Ind) : 9306 Raunaq Singh
(Ind) : 7149 Ram Sarup (Ind) : 2020 Jaswinder Singh (Ind) : 3360 Kurukshetra Total
votes : 850858 Abhey Singh (INLD) : 201864 Gurdayal Singh (BJP) :
126910 Naveen Jindal (INC): 382054 (Elected) Mona Ram (BSP) :
23057 Jagmeet Singh (ESP) : 31202 Jitender Singh (HVP) : 77136 Vishal
Jolly (SP) : 2310 Atam Parkash (Ind) : 705 Jagmohan (Ind) : 964 Jagir
Singh (Ind) : 1623 Jai Singh (Ind) : 1346 Bhupinder Singh (Ind) :
2169 Raghubir Chand (Ind) : 8667 Roop Chand (Ind) : 3470 Sunil Gupta
(Ind) : 7381 Karnal Total votes : 818927 Arvind Sharma (INC):
318948 (Elected) Ashok Kumar Arora (INLD) : 113510 Ashok Kumar
(BSP) : 67392 I.D. Swami (BJP) : 154186 Angrej Singh (RGD) : 1977 Premo
alias Premvati Kashyap (FCI) : 1037 Mahender Singh (CPI) : 2487 Raghu
Mal Bhatt (SJP) : 3696 Raj Kumar (ESP) : 82430 Ram Chander Jangra
(HVP) : 21371 Roshan Lal Bindal (SS) : 1315 Surinder Singh (LJSP) :
1729 Rishi Ram Gupta (Ind) : 2364 Kuldeep Sharma (Ind) : 27223 Duli
Chand Malik (Ind) : 1888 Naresh (Ind) : 6282 Mahinder Singh (Ind) :
4807 Raj Kumar Kashyap (Ind) : 1707 Rajbir Singh Chauhan (Ind)
2088 Ram Mehar Singh (Ind) : 2490 Sonepat Total votes :
736518 Kishan Singh Sangwan (BJP): 233399 (Elected) Krishna
Malik (INLD) : 198382 Dharampal Singh Malik (INC) : 225877 Sugan Chand
(BSP) : 37184 Kripal Singh (JD) : 1346 Balbir Singh (RSP) : 999 Satya
Pal (LJNSP): 531 Sube Singh (JCP): 671 Krishan, (Ind): 747 Jagdish
Rai Aggarwal (Ind): 949 Jagbir Singh Malik (Ind) : 21122 Jai Kishan (Ind)
: 572 Naveen Kumar (Ind) : 597 Basant (Ind) : 1786 Braham Singh (Ind)
: 1184 Shamsher (Ind) : 2926 Sant Ram (Ind) : 2889 Satbir (Ind) :
1662 Sityender (Ind) : 2055 Hari Parkash (Ind) : 1640 Rohtak Total
votes : 661651 Abhimanyu (BJP) : 173630 Ms Geeta (BSP) : 24220 Bhim
Singh (INLD) : 105556 Bhupinder Singh (INC): 324117 (Elected) Ajay
Singh (FBL) : 2637 Anoop Singh (RVP) : 460 Ms Usha (HVP) : 10318 Jai
Mal (RSKP) : 379 Bimla (BRPP) : 584 Bharpoor (RLD) : 1849 Shish Pal
(SAP) : 1291 Ajay Kumar (Ind) : 949 Anoop Singh Matanhall (Ind) :
1984 Karan Singh (Ind) : 959 Kuldeep Singh (Ind) : 857 Jai Pal (Ind)
: 2575 Nafe (Ind) : 2033 Mukhtiar Singh (Ind) : 419 Ranvir Singh (Ind)
: 1956 Radhe Shyam (Ind) : 2095 Ram Phal (Ind) : 975 Sajjan Singh (Ind)
: 404 Satender (Ind) : 466 Hari Singh (Ind): 938 Faridabad Total
votes polled : 844718 Haji Abdul Malik (BSP) : 71459 Avtar Singh
Bhadana (INC): 357284 (Elected) Mohammed Ilyas (INLD) :
205355 Ram Chander Bainda (BJP) : 171714 Akhtar (SP) : 4407 Devender
Bhadana (HVP) : 13042 Ram Niwas Rathi (LJSP) : 1097 Lokendra Singh
(SS) : 3920 Subhash Baghel (LPS) : 4172 Akhtar Hussain (Ind) :
624 Kamal Godara (Ind) : 856 Chander Bhan Sharma (Ind) : 3769 Baldev
Singh (Ind) : 2063 Dr K.P. Singh (Ind): 4956 Mahendergarh Total
votes : 848905 Inderjeet Singh (INC): 358714 (Elected) Swami
Dharamdev (INLD): 115154 Rohtas (BSP) : 56181 Dr. Sudha Yadav (BJP) :
148373 Ajay Kumar (RVP) : 2939 Anil Rao (HVP) : 30134 Raghu Yadav
(SP) : 121062 Ram Kishan (BRPP) : 1683 Ved Parkash (NSSP) :
730 Satbir Kundu (Ind) : 7207 Naresh (Ind) : 1495 Bhagat Bal Kishan
Saini (Ind): 1439 Alakh Mohan Mathur (Ind) : 908 Rajender Singh (Ind)
: 3286 Bhiwani Total votes : 871144 Ajay Singh Chautala
(INLD): 241958 Kuldeep Bishnoi (INC): 290936 (Elected) Ram
Bilas (BJP) : 24467 Ramanand (BSP) : 17216 Kaptaan (LJNSP) :
891 Mahinder Singh (SP) : 2977 Surinder Singh HVP : 266532 Kuldeep (Ind)
: 4450 Tapesh Bagati (Ind) : 846 Devi Lal (Ind) : 1474 Bhal Singh (Ind)
: 1826 Mangal Singh (Ind) : 615 Mange Ram (Ind) : 5638 Raj Devi
Jangra (Ind) : 1950 Surinder (Ind) : 4855 Sanjeev (Ind) : 4513 Hisar Total
votes : 769111 Jai Parkash (INC) : 406760 (Elected) Swami
Raghwanand (BJP) : 64667 Sant Ram Parkash (BSP) : 25044 Surender Singh
Barwala (INLD) : 224254 Kawal Singh (HVP): 19472 Ram Niwas (SP) :
2595 Ramji Lal (Ind) : 4910 Attam Parkash (Ind) : 426 Neeraj (Ind) :
535 Parmeshwar Dass (Ind) : 666 Pritam Kumar (Ind) : 575 Balwan (Ind)
: 1385 Randhir Singh (Ind) : 2105 Shamsher (Ind) : 2929 Satpal (Ind)
: 3113 Sunil (Ind) : 9675 Sirsa Total votes : 841682 Atma
Singh Gill (INC): 349397 (Elected) Mahavir Prashad (BJP):
115128 Dr. Ramesh Bhukal (BSP): 24448 Ami Lal (RVP) : 10823 Dr.
Sushil Indora (INLD): 277922 Rair Chand (HVP) : 46059 Des Raj (Ind) :
4773 Vikramjit (Ind) : 13132 |
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Jubilation in Cong camp Yamunanagar, May 13 Mr Anil Goel, general secretary, State Vyapar Mandal of the Congress, said the people had given a verdict against the NDA government at the Centre and the INLD government of Haryana. Yamunanagar district has five segments — Chhachhrauli, Jagadhri and Sadhaura falling in the Ambala constituency and Yamunanagar and Radaur in the Kurukshetra constituency. Mr Subhash Chaudhry, Chairman of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Seva Dal and former minister, said that it was a victory of Ms Sonia Gandhi who is the undisputed” leader of the country. Mr Narpal Singh, former president of the District Youth Congress and Mr Nav Rattan Dev, senior Congress leader thanked the voters of Yamunanagar district who have given a clear verdict against the NDA government. |
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Anti-incumbency does Swami in Karnal, May 13 According to Mr
R.S. Doon, Returning Officer-cum-District Magistrate of Karnal, Dr Sharma secured 3,18,859 votes, Mr Swami got 1,61,106 votes, Mr Ashok Arora of the INLD got 1,06,443 votes, Mr Raj Kumar Sharma of the Ekta Shakti got 82,404 votes, Mr Ashok Kumar of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got 67,385 votes, rebel Congress candidate Mr Kuldip Sharma got 27,914 votes and Mr Ram Chandra Jhangra finished at the seventh position polling just 20,989 votes. The result report compiled by the Returning Officer reveals that the Congress maintained its lead in all the nine Assembly segments falling within the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress candidate polled 30,975 votes in the Indri Assembly segment, 30,417 votes in
Nilokheri, 48,282 votes in Karnal, 21,889 votes in Jundla, 31,389 votes in
Gharaunda, 29,996 votes in Assandh, 48,225 votes in Panipat, 32,754 votes in Naulth and 44,932 votes in Samalkha Assembly segment. According to Dr Ranbir Singh, Professor of political science from Kurukshetra University and consultant in the Haryana Institute of Rural Development
(HIRD), the major drawback of Mr Swami was that he adopted bureaucratic style of dealing with the public after becoming the minister and spent most of his time at New Delhi. “He did not bother the issued concerned with the local people be it the issue of toll tax barrier, setting up of a medical college in the memory of late Kalpana Chawla and various development works in Karnal and Panipat”, he said. The results indicate that the rebel Congress candidate, Mr Kuldip Sharma, who fetched just 27,914 votes failed to put a dent in the Congress vote bank. On the other hand, the Ekta Shakti gave a deep setback to the ruling INLD as its main vote bank comprising the Ror community used to favour the Lok Dal. The most interesting part of the Congress win is that Dr Arvind Sharma campaigned for a very just a week in the constituency. “This indicates two things — a strong anti-incumbency factor against both the INLD and the BJP or the NDA and secondly there was a wave in favour of the Congress in the state,” said another political observer. The HVP’s poor performance helped the Congress divert a major vote bank of the backward classes in its favour. The HVP candidate who was banking upon the 3.25-lakh strong BC community and the traditional support from the Jats. |
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Adampur sealed fate of Kuldeep’s rivals Chandigarh, May 13 In the Adampur segment, the Congress got 60773 votes, followed by the INLD (24554 votes) and the HVP (14401 votes). Mr Bishnoi defeated his nearest HVP rival, Mr Surender Singh, by over 25,000 votes. Mr Bishnoi received 2,77,353 votes against 2,52,060 of the HVP. Mr Ajay Chautala got 2,30,349 votes while Mr Rambilas Sharma (BJP) could manage to get only 22,364 votes. Mr Bishnoi led his rivals in the Bhiwani, Bawani Khera, Hansi and Mundhal Khurd Assembly segments also. Mr Surender Singh polled the maximum number of votes in the Tosham and Dadri segments even though these constituencies are represented by two Jat MLAs from the Congress. The HVP candidate was also ahead of his rivals in the Jat-dominated Badhra and Loharu constituencies. Mr Bishnoi came second in Tosham and Dadri while Mr Ajay Chautala came next to Mr Surender Singh in Badhra and Loharu. The victory of Mr Bishnoi has given a shot in the arm of Mr Bhajan Lal, who reportedly wanted to field his son from Faridabad but shifted him to Bhiwani due to pressure from his rivals Mr Bishnoi was locked in a contest with the children of two other political heavyweight Lal families of Haryana. Another victory which has enhanced the prestige of Mr Bhajan Lal is that of Mr Atma Singh Gill from Sirsa. Mr Gill, who is from Mr Bhajan Lal’s camp, started as an obscure candidate but gradually consolidated his position. He defeated two-times INLD MP Sushil Indora by over 71,000 votes. He got 3,49,388 votes against 2,77,905 polled by the INLD nominee. Being the home district of Chief Minister of Haryana and INLD President Om Prakash Chautala, the defeat from Sirsa is considered a particularly strong blow for the ruling party of Haryana. |
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Sangwan makes hat-trick Sonepat, May 13 The victory here had become a prestige issue for the BJP and Mr Chautala after the BJP decided to go it alone in the elections. Mr Sangwan played a key role in convincing the BJP high command to break the alliance with the INLD. The ant-incumbency factor against the INLD played a major role in the victory of Mr Sangwan. The electorate voted against the INLD following its failure to provide electricity and water free of cost to the farmers, the autocratic style of functioning of Mr Chautala, allegation of rampant increase of corruption in the government departments, retrenchment policy and imposition of VAT. The factor that went against the Congress was delay in the distribution of ticket. The Congress candidate began his campaign when Sangwan had almost completed the campaign in all nine Assembly segment in the constituency. |
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Selja leaves rivals way behind Ambala, May 13 The Congress candidate won by a margin of more than 2.34 lakh votes. The Congress has won this seat after 13 years. Ms Selja polled 4,15,264 votes while the former Haryana unit BJP president and outgoing MP, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, polled 1,80,330 votes. The Indian National Lok Dal candidate and Sadhaura MLA, Mr Balwant Singh, polled 1,30,972 votes. The Congress won from all nine Assembly segments falling within this parliamentary constituency. In Ambala City, the INLD secured 4,167 votes while the BJP got 23,362 votes and the Congress 44,502. In Ambala Cantonment, the INLD got 1,100 votes, the BJP 16,867 and the Congress 32,794. In Jagadhari, the INLD polled 8,285 votes, the BJP 22,420 and the Congress 49,781. In Mullana, the INLD received 15,666 votes, the BJP 17,759 and the Congress 45,407. In Kalka, the INLD got 21,999 votes, the BJP 33,640 votes and the Congress 72,975 votes. In Sadhaura, the INLD received 19,950 votes, the BJP 17,786 and the Congress 40,982. In Naggal, the INLD polled 25,197 votes, the BJP 12,763 votes and the Congress 48,539. In Chachrauli, the INLD got 17,354 votes, the BJP 18,434 and the Congress 34,386. In Naraingarh, the INLD received 17,294 votes, the BJP 17,271 votes and the Congress 39,881. Among postal votes, five votes were in favour of the INLD, 28 were for the BJP and 17 were for the Congress. When the trends in favour of Congress candidate Selja began to emerge, Congress activists were jubilant. Even before the final round of counting began, the Congress activists began to celebrate. A cavalcade of vehicles formed a part of the victory procession, which began from Ambala Cantonment and headed for Ms Selja’s house in Sector 9, Ambala City. The Congress workers raised slogans in favour of Ms Selja and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The cavalcade threw traffic out of gear. Former Haryana minister Nirmal Singh, who had managed the campaign of Ms Selja, was delighted at her victory. “I am very happy. We always believed that we will win and we won,” he said. Former president of the Ambala City Congress unit, Mr Balwant Gupta, said more than five quintal of ‘laddoos’ had been ordered to celebrate the occasion. The Ambala Cantonment Congress unit president, Mr Ashok Jain, said he was happy and the credit of Ms Selja’s victory goes to the hardwork put in by the workers. “The voters have reposed faith in Congress since they are confident of good governance,” he said. In 1977, Dr Suraj Bhan defeated Mr Ram Prakash of the Congress. In 1980, Dr Suraj Bhan retained the seat by defeating Mr Som Nath of the Congress. In 1984, the seat was wrested by Mr Ram Prakash of the Congress, who defeated Dr Suraj Bhan of the BJP. In 1989, Mr Ram Prakash of the Congress again emerged victorious by defeating Dr Suraj Bhan of the BJP. The Congress candidate, Mr Ram Prakash, continued his winning streak by retaining the seat for the third consecutive term in 1991. Dr Suraj Bhan of the BJP wrested the seat from the Congress in 1996. He defeated Mr Sher Singh of the Congress. The next General Election held in 1998 was perhaps the first time that a non-Congress, non-BJP candidate won the seat. Mr Aman Kumar Nagra of the Bahujan Samaj Party won in 1998 by defeating Dr Suraj Bhan of the BJP. In the last general election held in 1999, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria of the BJP defeated Mr Phool Chand Mullana of the Congress. This time, Ms Selja of the Congress has won. |
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Record victory margin
for Selja in Kalka Panchkula, May 13 Though Kalka has traditionally been a Congress seat, yet the victory margin of 39,335 in the segment has surprised even die-hard party leaders, who did not expect such a huge
margin. Even the Congress MLA, Mr Chander Mohan, who polled over 61,000 votes in the 2000 Haryana Assembly poll, won the seat by over 13,000 votes. On the other hand, Ms Selja polled 72,975 votes in the segment leaving BJP’s outgoing MP Rattan Lal Kataria(33,640) and INLD’s Balwant Singh (21,999) far behind. And what is heartening is the fact that the Congress’s victory margin had been evenly spread in almost all areas of the Assembly constituency giving sleepless nights to the BJP and INLD ahead of the state Assembly polls early next year. Ms Selja’s election campaign had not been a smooth affair here from day one owing to the “outsider” tag attached to her
name. To add to her problems, Mr Chander Mohan and his supporters reportedly did not put their heart and soul into the election campaign as he seemed to be more busy with the campaign of his brother, Mr Kuldip Bishnoi, in Bhiwani. And what gives credence to the fact that the Bhajan Lal faction virtually gave a go-by to the Congress candidate’s campaign is the fact the voter turnout in the slums, a solid Congress vote bank, was lower this time. Even as the campaign lacked momentum, Ms Selja, who is also the AICC Secretary, reportedly hinted at certain tough decisions following which certain recalcitrant leaders fell in line. However, it was only in the last days that the leaders jumped into the fray. The efforts of Mr Shashi Sharma, District Congress senior vice-president and the election in charge, bore fruit as is clear from the victory margin. Apart from the anti-incumbency factors at play against the Central and state governments, the INLD’s poor show is being attributed to the lacklustre performance of the local Municipal
Council. The working of the council, headed by INLD’s Seema Chaudhary, seemed to have fallen short of the expectations of the residents. It may be recalled Ms Chadhary’s
husband, Mr Amardeep Chaudhary, who is also the INLD secretary, was the election in charge for the Ambala constituency, and he also cannot escape the part of the blame for the poor performance. Meanwhile, Mr Chaudhary blamed the INLD defeat on the anti-incumbency factor against the Central Government. Mr Sham Lal Bansal, BJP election convener, blamed the INLD’s poor performance and the BJP-INLD alliance for over four years for party’s defeat. Dr
K.B. Singh, Congress convener, said the electorate had given a befitting reply to the autocratic rule of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. |
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Keen on economic package for Ambala Ambala, May 13 Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Ms Selja said she was keen to get an economic package for Ambala since there was a pressing need for addressing the unemployment issue. “For such a package, I will need the cooperation of the Centre and the state government,” she said. She said the ‘India Shining’ campaign and foreign origin issue had failed to have an impact on the electorate. “Both issues were rejected by the people. Their verdict is clear and the ‘feel good’ bubble has been burst,” she said. She said she would strive for overall development of Ambala. She kept her emotions in check even as her supporters began dancing on the roads when the trends began to come in her favour. Victory at the hustings brought cheer to her face, but she did not go overboard in celebrating it. Answering a query, Ms Selja made it clear that the overwhelming support for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana would translate into a landslide victory for the party during the Assembly elections. She said there was a need to focus on real issues. “Regarding ministership in a Congress government at the Centre, it is the prerogative of the central leadership,” Ms Selja said. She was one of the youngest ministers in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. Ms Selja gave credit to Congress workers for her success in the elections. “All Congress workers worked hard at all levels. The booths were manned well and they put in considerable effort during campaigning,” she said. She stated that Congress activists worked like a well-oiled machinery. “Not a moment was wasted, no miscommunication took place and there was no infighting,” she said. She observed that anti-incumbency was a factor which had contributed to her victory. “We must keep in mind that we were the best alternative for the people,” she said. She said after the formalities here were complete, she would go to Delhi and add to the Congress kitty.”
I am going to have a permanent base in the constituency,” she said. Referring to the Konkpur incident, Ms Selja said results of the Konkpur polling booth had proved that we were winning there. “The case against Mr Nirmal Singh was pre-planned and it was a conspiracy,” she said. She added that the Congress had done well by securing 433 votes while the BJP got 123 votes and the INLD secured 262 votes. On former Haryana minister Nirmal Singh, who managed Ms Selja’s campaign, she said he was one of the stars and he had a bright future. “We have always accorded respect to senior party leaders, but the world over, the trend is towards youngsters. Demographically, the youth form a major portion,” she said. Ms Selja said this was a decisive win. “Ms Sonia Gandhi’s major rally in Ambala on May 2 clearly showed that we were going to win. The massive turnout of people was an indicator that the Congress was going to win,” she said. “Ms Sonia Gandhi’s rallies had an electrifying effect, generating enthusiasm among the people,” she added. |
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Killers of Lance Havildar roam free Hisar, May 13 Madan Singh of 4 MECH battalion was on leave when he had to report to his unit to sign certain documents on March 8, 2003. On his way to his village, Untwali, in Churu district of Rajasthan, he was murdered and the body was found on Rajgarh Road here. The Sadar police station registered an FIR in this connection under Sections 302 and 210 of the IPC. More than a year has passed but the investigations have made no progress. Mrs Santosh Devi, widow of the dead soldier, gave the police the names of the suspected killers but they have not yet been questioned. The local Army authorities have been vigorously pursuing the case with the local police but their efforts have not borne fruit. Two of Madan Singh’s brothers are also serving soldiers and they, too, have been pleading with various authorities for a speedy investigation of the case. The family members have sent several communications to the President of India, the Chief Minister, Haryana, and the DGP, Haryana, but there has been no response. The widow of the deceased approached the National Human Rights Commission. The commission gave her a case number and shot off a letter to the DGP, Rajasthan. The matter rests there. The Inspector-General of Police, Hisar, transferred the case to the CIA staff in March last but the investigation has not begun yet. Family members of the deceased say that they have been receiving threats to their lives from the suspected killers asking them not to follow up the case. They are now planning to meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to seek his help in his capacity as the supreme commander of the country’s armed forces. |
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Father murders 8-month-old
girl Karnal, May 13 The local police recovered the decomposed body of the infant on Thursday from near a canal flowing near the village. The police has registered the criminal case and initiated an inquiry into the episode. Prem Kumar, son of Ram Prasad a Nepali by origin, went to his in-laws’ house at Neval on May 10 to persuade his wife Sangita to return with him. The negotiations between the couple and her parents went on for two days without any result, said the police sources. On May 12, Prem Kumar took his eight-month-old daughter with him and did not come back. A hunt was launched to find them. |
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High Court Chandigarh, May 13 In their writs, Mr Amrik Singh of Kaithal and Mr Narinder Nath of Raipur Rani near Panchkula had claimed that they could not file their nomination papers for the election because when they went to file their nomination papers, a huge crowd was present and they could not get inside. The crowd, they claimed, was supporting Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Abhey Singh Chautala and had gathered there to see him file his nomination. When the petitioners went to fie their nominations, the time for the same had elapsed. Today, while dismissing the petitions, the Bench also gave them liberty to file election petitions if they wanted to carry on the legal battle. |
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