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Battle now is for post of CM
Why did Chautala not cast vote?
BJP considers second round
crucial
Floods haunt political parties
Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda seems all set to retain his high-profile Kharswan (reserved) seat for the third consecutive time.
Posters now appear in Kishanganj
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Battle now is for post of CM
Chandigarh, February 7 Mr Bhajan Lal, who had three tenures as Chief Minister, is the HPCC
chief and a leading claimant for the CM's office. A victory for Mr Bhajan Lal
from his traditional Adampur constituency is assured and he is determined to
convince Ms Sonia Gandhi about the support he enjoys among the MLAs. Mr Bhajan
Lal, if an aide of the HPCC chief is to be believed, is getting in touch with
all the party candidates who are likely to win in the elections. " In any
case those affiliated to Bhajan Lal have got most of the party tickets and
majority of them are going to win", he said. The HPCC chief's supporters
are also claiming that Ms Gandhi's choice of Mr Pratapsinh Rane as the Chief
Minister of Goa is a good sign for Mr Bhajan Lal because the Haryana leader,
too, is a seasoned politician like Mr Rane. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had
defeated the late Haryana stalwart Devi Lal in three consecutive Lok Sabha
elections in Rohtak, and now representing Rohtak in the Lok Sabha for the
fourth time, is another contender for the CM's office. Being an MP, he did not
contest in the election but campaigned extensively for various candidates and
used a chopper for his movement which was provided to him by the party. Mr
Hooda, too, is in Delhi where he is working on his goal. Mr Randeep Singh
Surjewala was appointed working president of the Congress shortly before the
elections. Young, articulate and computer savvy, Mr Surjewala definitely fits
the bill of giving a youthful appearance to a Congress Government in Haryana.
Mr Surjewala is facing the Chief Minister and INLD supremo, Mr Om Prakash
Chautala, in Narwana constituency and if he can overcome the hurdle, it will
certainly enhance his stature in the political scene. Mr Birender Singh,
former HPCC chief and Congress candidate from Uchana Kalan, believes that if it
is Ms Sonia Gandhi who makes a choice about the Chief Minister, it is going to
be him. He apparently had good rapport with the late Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv
Gandhi. Ms Selja, a Union Minister of State, is another name that is being
heard for the CM's office. She is a Dalit and a woman and won in the Lok Sabha
elections in May with the largest margin among the successful Congress
candidates of Haryana. She is no pushover. One thing is certain. Whoever
becomes the CM, he or she will have to put up with the opposition of the others
who have been denied the office. |
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Why did Chautala not cast vote?
Chandigarh, February 7 Mr Chautala said since the “ban” had not been
lifted so far by the commission, he could not exercise his right to franchise.
The INLD supremo, however, forgot to, or did not, tell the media that he had
cast his vote during the last Lok Sabha elections held in May, 2004, in his
native village of Chautala in Sirsa district. During the 1999 Lok Sabha
elections, Mr Chautala was told by the then Election Commissioner, Mr J.M.
Lyngdoh, not to be present in Haryana on the polling day. As a result of this
order, Mr Chautala could not exercise his right to franchise. Later a writ
petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which said the
Election Commission should not have passed such an order. However, during the
2000 Assembly elections, there was no ban on the movement of Mr Chautala inside
Haryana on the polling day. But he did not cast his vote for reasons best known
to him. According to sources in the INLD, Mr Chautala perhaps did not cast
his vote this time because of some superstition. A section of the media also
reported that the Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, could not exercise his
right to franchise because he is enrolled as a voter in Chandigarh. According
to sources in the Election Commission, a person is enrolled as a voter only at
that place of which he is ordinarily a resident. Since Dr Kidwai, for that
matter, senior officers and other employees of the Haryana Government, who are
posted in Chandigarh and are ordinarily residents of City Beautiful, could not
cast their votes inside Haryana. In case a person, ordinarily a resident of
Chandigarh, enrols himself as a voter inside Haryana, it would be considered
irregular. Though certain senior bureaucrats wanted to contest the Haryana
Assembly elections, it would not have been possible for them to do so as they
were residents of Chandigarh. It is another matter that such bureaucrats
dropped their plans at the last moment because at that stage their request for
voluntary retirement could not have been accepted under the All-India Service
Rules. The sources say Governors fall in the category of “special
voters”, who can be enrolled as a voter at their native places even if they
do not ordinarily stay there because of the position they hold. “Special
voters” have to be declared as such by the President and are the holders of
constitutional posts. In 1960, the President had declared several categories
as “special voters”, who included the President, the Vice-President, the
Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, Prime
Minister, Chief Ministers and Union and state Ministers. |
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BJP considers second round
crucial
Ranchi, February 7 The BJP has 19 of these 29 seats while its
alliance partner JD(U), has two. The BJP has marshalled its expert resources to
boost the campaign of its nominees, persuade party rebels to opt out, enthuse
its cadres and provide guidance in election management. The RSS and other Sangh
associates are also lending a helping hand. While three of its General
Secretaries are camping in Jharkhand, nearly 35 of its “winner” MPs and
MLAs are out in constituencies to provide valuable tips to the party workers.
Many of these leaders had worked for the BJP’s victory in the Chhattisgarh
and Madhya Pradesh Assembly poll. The confusion in the UPA ranks with the
alliance constituents competing against each other on most seats and the recent
ruptures in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have given the BJP added confidence
about its victor. The third round of election is in the JMM-dominated
Santhal Parganas region where the BJP had won only seven of the 28 seats in the
last Assembly elections. Though the BJP expects to improve its tally here due
to bickerings in the JMM following senior leader Stephen Marandi’s decision
to contest as an independent, the party sees a good result in the second phase
crucial to its chances of forming a government. The BJP has decided to raise
the issue of dismissal of its government in Goa at all its public meetings in
an attempt to portray the Congress as “anti-democratic.” Senior BJP leader
Yashwant Sinha said today that the Congress had not learnt any lesson from
Emergency. “The Congress is heading for authoritarian tendencies. What
happened in Goa is an illustration of this. We will appeal to the people to not
leave any scope in giving us a clear verdict,” he said. Referring to the
meeting of senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes with cardinal T P Topo here
yesterday, Mr Sinha said the “so-called secular forces would have raised a
hue and cry if BJP leaders had met a religious leader during elections.” Mr
Sinha attacked Mr Soren for “raising insider-outsider issue” in the poll.
“If Mr Soren considers Congress President Sonia Gandhi dharti-putri, how can
he talk in such terms,” he said. On questions about an understanding with Mr
Marandi, the BJP leader said that the party was open to the possibility. “If
he wants to come, the NDA alliance is open,” he said. |
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Floods haunt political parties
Supaul, February 7 Recalling the RJD chief’s advice to the poor to turn the adversity into an opportunity by catching fish and relishing it which they in normal times could not afford, a local grocery shop owner Ram Bhakta asked “how can one forget that insult?”. The electorate of the 15 districts which go to the polls on February 15 in the second phase, faced floods last year and the handling of the accompanying misery and devastation is an issue with the people. Of the 15 districts, 12 belong to north Bihar and the rest three lie south of the Ganga which faced floods partially. Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Begusarai, Supaul, Madhhepura, Saharsa, Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar and Khagaria lie north Of the Ganga while Munger, Lakhisarai and Shekhpura are to the south of the holy river which has been the source of irrigation for centuries making the area fertile but lack of flood- control measures cause havoc when foods hit the area. Not only the Ganga but another major river, Gandak, along with many small rivers coming from Nepal are also responsible for causing floods. “The state administration failed us and salt was rubbed on our wounds when Lalooji cracked that crude joke”, LJP supporter Janardan Yadav said. “Instead of initiating measures which could help the area, the RJD chief passed the buck to the previous NDA Government”, Janardan Yadav observed. “Yes, floods is an issue in all these districts. Lack of employment opportunities forces people to migrate. Worst, you know, is that floods affect the poor the most and flood relief is often pocketed by the well- off and politically well-connected”, a CPI (ML) activist Sudhir Tiwari pointed out ,adding that electoral results may upset many calculations. The maximum migration to Delhi, Punjab and Haryana takes place from this area as many families wait every month for the arrival of money orders, Tiwari said. The absence of an effective public distribution system goes only to compound the existing misery, a carpenter Rizwan Hussain said and hastened to add that these problems affect only the poorer sections and they are the ones who invariably vote. “It is difficult to make a guess about the outcome of the elections this time as the contests are multi-cornered and margins of victory or defeat are going to be very low”, an RJD leader Vishwa Jivan Singh said candidly. The RJD and the BJP-JD (U) had 41 and 23 seats, Respectively, in the 2000 elections out of the 86 Assembly seats going to the polls in the second phase. The Congress had eight while the CPM and the CPI had three and two seats, respectively. Even Independents had won four seats. |
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Munda out to score hat-trick
Ranchi,
February 7 Though
the adivasi Chief Minister was involved in a multi-cornered election with 16
candidates in the fray, he was practically facing a straight contest from his
traditional rival Congress candidate Kunti Soy, widow of Mr Vijay Singh Soy,
who had contested against Mr Munda in the past elections without success. The
JMM did not field any candidate this time following an agreement with the
Congress. Hence, it would be a straight contest between the BJP and the
Congress. — UNI |
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Posters now appear in Kishanganj
Kishanganj, February 7 Mohammed Safiuddin, officer in charge of Kishanganj police station, told PTI today that a case was registered with the town police station against Guddu Press and the Shia-Sunni front for allegedly violating the model code for elections on the directive of district Electoral Officer-cum-District Magistrate Vijay Kumar. Investigation was on, he said, adding that no arrest had been made so far. In spite of a stern warning by the Election Commission against using “communal” posters on the post-Godhra riots, these were pasted on the walls of a few buildings in the Khagra area of Kishanganj town.
— PTI |
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