Jalandhar, January 15
Almost all applicants for the 10 Jalandhar seats have been camping in New Delhi for the past six days .Every one of them has a different story to tell.

Mr Tejinder Bittu said, “The tickets most likely are going to be announced tomorrow and day after. We are merely banking on guess work. In fact, our party has become quite tech-savvy. No news is trickling out this time as things are confined only to top four or five leaders, all of whom have data stored in their laptops. There are no PAs involved taking down minutes of the meetings, so there are no chances of information coming out from any quarters”.

Except for a few applicants who are sure of getting tickets again , the rest all are in Delhi. Mr Avtar Henry, re-contesting from Jalandhar North , is at his home planning his campaign. Harping on his own achievements, he said, “I have already started meeting people and telling them about my biggest success. While I had promised a flyover across the Domoria Bridge railway crossing, I have also started the process for two more near DAV College and Maqsudan”.

Reclaiming his ticket from Jalandhar South, Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, too is in Jalandhar. Even as his ticket has been challenged by the Mayor, Mr Surinder Mahey. He too seemed confident of getting the ticket which he or his father Darshan Singh Kaypee has been getting for the last many years.

The Kartarpur SC seat held by Ch Jagjit Singh also has no major rival. His candidature, though, has been challenged by a Mahila Congress leader, Ms Mona Gill.

The two seats where the position is unclear are :Jalandhar Cantonment and Lohian. The Jalandhar Cantonment ,currently represented by Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, daughter of former CM Beant Singh, is being challenged by a dozen odd candidates. The prominent ones include her brother, former minister Tej Parkash Singh, Punjabi University VC S.S Boparai’s wife and former minister Swaran Singh’s daughter and the Jalandhar Improvement Trust chairman, Mr Tejinder Singh Bittu.

Mr Bittu, who had put up a massive show of strength in the recent Vikas Yatra at Chogitti, has also applied for the Jalandhar Central seat, represented by sitting MLA Raj Kumar Gupta. The constituency, which primarily comprises of Hindu voters, also has former Mayor Jaikishan Saini asking for the ticket.

Lohian constituency, the only seat which had remained with the Akalis in Jalandhar last year, has some heavyweights asking for the ticket ,including Mr Brij Bhupinder Singh Lally, Col C.D. Kambhoj, in whose name all grants were being received in the last five years in the area, Rana Hardeep Singh, MP Rana Gurjit Singh’s nephew, Mr Balkar Singh, Zila Parishad member, and Mr Hardev Singh Laadi, nephew of former Governor Darbara Singh.

For the Adampur seat there are a couple of applicants ,including Mr Kanwaljit Singh Lally, sitting MLA, and Market Committee chairman, Mr Rana Randhawa.

Jalandhar, January 15
Kin of the BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s kin have the party president ,Ms Mayawati ,for celebrating her birthday on Monday with full pomp and show within months’ of the founder’s death.

Mr Harbans Singh and Bibi Swaran Kaur, brother and sister of Kanshi Ram, said that Mayawati should have not celebrated her birthday as the founder of BSP had died only a few months ago. Traditionally no festival is celebrated for a year after the death of a relative.

Late Kanshi Ram’s kin alleged all this showed that Mayawati had nothing do with the ideology of the founder of BSP.

Going a step further, the state president of Bahujan Kranti Party (BKP), Mr. Pawan Tinu, alleged Mayawati was collecting several crores on her birthday. Mr. Tinu said that his party would contest the ensuing Assembly elections on its own. A meeting of the state committee would be held in this regard on Wednesday.

Jalandhar, January 15
A man was killed by his in-laws within three months of his love marriage on Sunday evening.

Natha Ram’s in-laws were unhappy over his marriage to Mamta.

The in-laws invited Natha Ram and Mamata at their residence in New Dashmesh Nagar yesterday evening.

Mamta’s brothers and uncles killed her husband in front of her eyes. While Mamta’s mother Kamla Rani shut her mouth with her hands, her brothers Arun Kumar, Raman Kumar and her uncles Madal Lal and Roshan Lal attacked Natha Ram with iron rods after shutting his mouths with their hands.

Her mother Kamal Rani took Mamta to the Jalandhar bus stand to take her to her grandparent’s in Amritsar but she managed to flee from there and reported the crime to the police.

While the police took Kamal Rani into its custody, the other four accused are still absconding, said DSP HPS Khakh.

Mamta had fled her home to marry Natha Ram three months ago . This was Natha Ram’s second marriage.

Meanwhile, an FIR under Sections 302, 120-B and 149 of the IPC has been registered against Natha Ram’s in-laws.

Phagwara, January 15
Three unidentified mobike-borne youths snatched a purse from a woman near Chachoki village here on Sunday night.

Mrs Poonam Tandon, former Principal of local Government Senior Secondary School for Boys and a resident of Urban Estate, has complained to the police that three unidentified motorcyclists snatched her purse, when she was riding a rickshaw on her way to home, from near the Bahra Hospital in Chachoki village on Sunday night. She told the police that when she resisted, one of them attacked her with a sharp-edged weapon and chopped off one of her fingers. She further revealed that her purse contained Rs 10,000 in cash, two credit cards and some important documents.