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SAD turn of events for BJP
Battle for ballot
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Rural poll shadow on MC elections
Kalia campaigns, Akalis wear a frown
Teachers on duty, classes affected
Cong accuses BDO of foul play, flays govt policies
Court nod for Congress candidate
Cong fears rigging
20 families leave Cong, join SAD
CPI (ML) leaving nothing to chance
Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra
Give more water to Abohar: CM
Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mahianwala Kalan (Zira)
Electioneering intensifies
Construction of new Judicial Complex
Youths attack girl
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SAD turn of events for BJP
Bathinda, May 9 The group also allegedly tried, albeit in vain, to force its entry into the cavalcade of the minister. When Kalia was addressing the rally at the village, the group turned the face of its jeep, fitted with a loud-speaker, towards the rally site and its occupants started making parallel speeches in order to distract public attention from Kalia’s rally. The police, after dragging its feet for long, eventually took the jeep in its possession and rounded the group but let them off after an hour, it was learnt. Piqued over the incidence, Kalia, while addressing another election rally at Bhucho Kalan village, called the Kotha Guru Ka incidence unfortunate and unwarranted. Indirectly airing his displeasure over the administrative dithering in booking the disruptionists, Kalia asserted that the administration should play the role of a referee. “It should manage things and not take sides,” he quipped. Kalia addressed a total of seven rallies which evoked a massive response and two sitting sarpanches belonging to the SAD also joined the BJP during the rallies, added Kalia. It may be mentioned that out of the total 16 Zila Parishad seats in this district, the BJP is contesting from the four seats of Bhucho Kalan, Burj Throd, Bangi Ruldu and Kuttiwal. However, its major alliance partner SAD was unable to digest this very fact that the BJP had started playing on the rural turf which was hitherto considered their monopoly. Today’s ugly incident was going to have far-reaching ramifications, portending ill effects for the cordial ties between the SAD and the BJP.
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Parties go all out to woo voters
Zila Parishand, Panchayat Samiti elections Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service
Moga, May 9 Altogether as 38 candidates are in fray for the ZP and 280 candidates for the Block Samitis. In the Kot-ise-Khan constituency of the ZP, there seemed to be a triangular contest between candidates of the SAD, Congress and BJP, while in the seven other constituencies the Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) and CPI are also in the fray, giving sleepless nights to the ruling party candidates. On the rest of the seven constituencies, a direct contest between the Congress and SAD is quite visible. In the Zila Parishad constituencies of Dhudike, Nihalsingh Wala and Gholia Kalan, the CPI candidates have an edge over the Congress and SAD candidates, while the LBP is making its presence felt in Samalsar and Samadhbhai. In the Ramuwala Nawan and Ajitwal constituencies, independent candidates have also filed their nomination papers. No matter, there is a direct contest between the SAD and Congress in these constituencies, but independents, to some extent, have disturbed the political calculations of the two main parties. In Jaimalwala, Daulatpura Ucha, Ghal Kalan, Singhanwala, Bilaspur, Jalalabad East and Fatehgarh Panchtoor, the SAD and Congress candidates are going neck and neck and it can be anybody’s game with little advantage to the ruling party. As far as the elections of the five Block Samitis in the district is concerned, in the Moga-I block, Ravinder Singh of the SAD, from the Matwani zone, has already been declared elected unopposed, while in the rest of 22 zones of this block, 58 candidates are in the fray. Around 41 candidates are fighting from Moga-II, while in Baghapurana and Kot-ise-Khan, 53 and 66 candidates are in fray respectively. Around 62 candidates have stake in Nihalsingh Wala. In the Kot-ise-Khan block, two candidates of the SAD Gurnam Singh Inderwala and Sandeep Kaur have been declared elected unopposed from zone 22 and zone 24, respectively.
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Rural poll shadow on MC elections
Bathinda, May 9 Reacting to the reported statements of SAD leaders implying that the BJP has no base in the villages, the BJP leaders have started citing their strong base in urban areas to build up pressure for the municipal polls here. Though the BJP has put up only four candidates for the Zila Parishad elections claiming that winning them was a certainty, but the Shiromani Akali Dal (B) is not in doubt that the BJP candidates would lose their surety on all seats. It is also being said that the BJP is now chalking out a behind the scene deal with the Congress to defeat SAD candidates at Hamam Singh Wala seat and other places. The Congress may stand to gain eventually as the SAD and the BJP are busy fighting each other. SAD district president Sikander Singh Maluka, said, “The results of these polls would serve as an eye-opener on seat allocation for the MC elections. The BJP has this misconception due to the seats they won in Majha and Doaba areas in Assembly elections. But had they contested from Malwa, they would have not bagged any seat as the Dera factor played an important role in the elections here,” he added. |
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Kalia campaigns, Akalis wear a frown
Bathinda, May 9 Kalia campaigned against the SAD candidates in the Bhagta, Bhucho and other areas of the Bathinda district throughout the day. Campaigning for these elections would close tomorrow. A senior SAD leader said it was unfortunate that Kalia, who was a member of the committee that has been appointed to hammer out a seat sharing formula between the SAD and BJP for these elections has chosen to himself campaign for the “rebel” BJP candidates. No minister belonging to the SAD was campaigning for his or her own party nominees as the dispute has been referred to the two-member committee, he said. Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan, Member of Parliament, said that no top leader of the SAD has come to campaign for the party candidates and the work has been assigned to the local leadership. When contacted, Kalia said that the committee failed to reach a consensus on seat sharing and as such the local leadership of the two parties has been asked to make adjustments among themselves. He said that he came here to campaign for the BJP candidates, as there was no MLA of the party in this area. An ugly situation was prevented in the Kotha-Guru village where some miscreants allegedly belonging to the SAD, tried to disrupt Kalia’s election rally. It is worth mentioning that the SAD and BJP candidates are facing each other in most of the constituencies. SAD chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal, had appointed the two-member committee consisting of Kalia (BJP) and Daljeet Cheema (SAD) to settle the dispute, but they have failed to reach an understanding on the issue. Political observers point out that the elections for the grassroots institutions have brought the differences between the SAD and BJP to the fore within a year of formation of the coalition government in the state. The divide might further widen during the panchayat elections later this month, they expect. |
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Teachers on duty, classes affected
Bathinda, May 9 The polling day has been declared a holiday while the preceding day is Sunday but the teachers are busy collecting election material and looking after the arrangements. Even after the polling, the teachers would be busy till the ballot boxes are collected and counting of votes takes place. The teachers were called for poll rehearsal on May 7 and some of the primary schools were closed as no teacher was available. The Jassi Pau Primary School near here was closed, as all the teachers were on election duty. District Education Officer (Primary) Gurminder Pal Dhillon said she was not aware of it. “Moreover, it is the duty of the central head teacher (CHT) to ensure that the entire staff is not relieved for election duty,” she added. District Education Officer (Secondary) Baljinder Singh Mann said more than 2500 teachers of 248 odd government schools and some private aided schools have been assigned poll duties. But it is only a daylong task and the studies of students will not suffer as a public holiday has been declared on the polling day. Physically challenged and pregnant women have been exempted from election duty. About 20 per cent of the total teachers deputed on election duty are females, he added. There are 616 polling booths in the district and the total number of teachers and other employees on poll duty crosses the 4100 mark. |
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Cong accuses BDO of foul play, flays govt policies
Harirai Pur, May 9 The Congress MLAs were canvassing for Rachhpal Singh Raju, Zila Parishad candidate from Burj Tharor constituency today. Commenting on today’s incident where a group of Akali activists allegedly tried to disrupt an election rally addressed by State Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia at village Kotha Guru Ka, Kangar said, “This clearly shows that SAD is harassing its own coalition partner, the BJP, and what can one expect from them when they harass us. The BJP is not happy with Sukhbir’s interference in the day to day functioning of the state government. That is why, cracks are forming in their coalition.” Addressing a gathering at village Harirai Pur, Bhatti said, “At the time of elections, the SAD-BJP combine had promised that all poor people will be given atta (flour) at the rate of Rs 4 per kg and dal (pulse) at Rs 20 per kg. But after the elections, they said that beneficiaries of this scheme would be only those who have an annual income of less than Rs 30,000. And we all know that people working as daily wage earners get a mere Rs 100 per day, i.e. Rs 36,000 annually. It means that SAD treats such people as above poverty line. So how can a person earning just Rs 100 per day be considered ‘not fit’ for the Atta-Dal scheme? Showing bias, even the Congress workers were kept away from this scheme.” DC Rahul Tewari said, “I have not received any complaints yet. However, if anyone complains to me in writing, an inquiry will be conducted as per law.” The two leaders also visited villages like Jeeda, Khemuaana, Bhokhra, Aklia Kalan, Balar and Mehma Sarja, among others. |
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Court nod for Congress candidate
Bathinda, May 9 A bench of Justice K.S. Garewal and Justice Daya Chaudhary, while accepting the writ petition filed today, said, “We feel in the present case a confusion has arisen solely due to poor governance for which the petitioner should not suffer. In the present case at least an exception has to be made because the petitioner is being deprived of her right to contest elections on
the basis of a complete lack of application of mind by the returning officer and
misappreciation of facts without carefully verifying and scrutinising the record. Therefore, we feel that present case is one of the exceptional cases and for which interim direction is required to be given.” Confirming the facts, the advocate who appeared in the case, Binderjit Singh, said, “A copy of the orders has been sent to DC Bathinda and now the candidate will be allowed to contest the elections.” |
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Cong fears rigging
Mansa, May 9 District Congress president and MLA Sardoolgarh, Ajitinder Singh Moffar, alleged that in the Sardoolgarh area, under which falls four Zila Parishad zones, namely Jhuneer, Raipur, Jhanda Kalan and Sardoolgarh, were being considered as sensitive zones because the ruling party may use unfair means. He demanded that the election commission and district administration should made adequate security arrangements to ensure fair voting. Congress leaders today visited Jhingar, Moujiyan, Makha, Banawali, Dulowal, Raipur, Ramditewala villages to garner support for its candidates. Moffar, Sukhwinder Sukhi, Gurmel Fatta, Amrik Singh Dhillon and Rajesh Garg addressed meetings.— OC |
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20 families leave Cong, join SAD
Ferozepur, May 9 Sekhon, while welcoming the families into the SAD fold, presented siropas to them. Prominent among those who changed loyalties from the Congress to SAD included, Karnail Singh, Amar Singh, Roar Singh, Gurmail Singh, Kashmir Singh and Malkit Singh Bhola. In another development, the BJP workers from Mudki and Chander zones pledged their support to the SAD rather then supporting their own candidate. The BJP workers included, Mahesh Kumar Garg, Prem Kumar Garg, Babbu Manchanda, Prem Kumar Manchanda, Satish Kumar and Soni. It is pertinent to mention here that at certain places in the Mudki zone, the BJP and SAD candidates are contesting against each other. Earlier, Sekhon went on a whirlwind tour of various villages including, Kot Karor, Hakumatsingh Wala, Wada Bhaika, Machi Bugra, Bholuwala, Lalle, Haraz, Bhangali, Kaliawala, Changalai, Mudki and Gill in support of the SAD candidates in fray for the Block Samitis and Zila Parishad polls scheduled to be held on Monday. |
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CPI (ML) leaving nothing to chance
Mansa, May 9 State secretary of the party Rajwinder Singh Rana, dstrict secretary Bhagwan Singh Sammaon, Gurjant Singh Mansa, Jasbir Kaur Natt, Gurnam Bhikhi, Balkaran Singh Balli, Jaspal Singh Kokhar and Sukhcharan Singh visited different villages, including Kulriyan, Khandal Kalan, Bahadur Pur, Bakshi Wala, Dalel Singh Wala, Sammaon, Bir Khurd, Bhaini, Bur Jarathi, Kharak Singh Wala, Tampur, Hirewala, Nangal and Nangal Kalan etc. They said that the Akali-BJP government was adopting anti-poor and anti-farmer policies in the state. They demanded that shamlat land should be distributed among the poor. The state government was also criticised for not providing jobs to the unemployed youth. — OC
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Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra
Abohar, May 9 The Congress workers pointed out that Buta Singh, who had to migrate politically from Punjab to Rajasthan along with the then Lok Sabha speaker Balram Jakhar due to rise in terrorism, was not new for the desert state. He had won from the Jalore constituency but failed to retain it later. He had been frequenting Sriganganagar for the last six months on important occasions and a section of the party had held closed door meetings with him during each visit. He had also not ruled out the possibility of contesting the next parliamentary elections from the region provided the Congress leadership found him fit for this. A rousing reception awaited the Yatra in Sriganganagar as the procession entered through village Sadhuwali.
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Give more water to Abohar: CM
Abohar, May 9 The farmers preferred to air their grievances through SAD (B) MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana, Youth Akali Dal secretary Rajinder Singh Brar and BJP Mahila Morcha activist Vijay Laxmi Bhadoo. The SAD (B) leaders told Badal that thousands of farmers in this region were denied water due to repair work in the Rajasthan feeder canal for more than three weeks, and then contaminated water was released. As people protested against this, irrigation authorities resolved to run canals and sub-canals at half their level. The tail-end villages were not getting even a drop of water, they rued. The farmers feared they wouldn’t be able to sow cotton due to poor flow of water in the regional canals. The situation would ruin the farming community and they may vote against the ruling alliance candidates in the upcoming Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad elections. The CM immediately contacted the irrigation department secretary on his cell phone and directed him to arrange more canal water for
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Navodaya
Vidyalaya, Mahianwala Kalan (Zira)
Ferozepur, May 9 These students identified as Gurjit Singh and Harkishan were among 123 students, who fled the school hostel on Wednesday night.Although 121 students were traced next morning from a gurudwara in village Jamitpur Deru, around 37 km from the school, after a priest spotted them in wee hours of the morning. Meanwhile, the school authorities held discussions with the students who had fled hostel and listened to their problems. The parents of these students also met the school authorities today.It is pertinent to mention here that taking cognisance of the matter, deputy commissioner Megh Raj, who is the chairman of the governing body of the school, had constituted an inquiry headed by ADC Jaskiran Singh to ascertain the reasons behind the extreme step taken by the students. ADC Jaskiran Singh who is enquiring into the incident is likely to submit his report in coming 2-3 days.
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Electioneering intensifies
Abohar, May 9 Former sarpanches — Rupinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Nathu Ram, Mohinder Kamboj, Darshan Singh, Mangat Ram, Hardyal Singh, Pritam Singh, Khalsa Singh and district congress vice-president Jasmer Dhanaria also addressed the meetings. Most of the candidates including, Bhagwanti Dhanaria, Jasveer Kaur, Sharda Devi, Jaipal Singh Siyag, Ram Partap Kirodiwal and Naib Singh intensified their campaign as only 48 hours are left. Former BJP MLA Ram Kumar Goyal with office-bearers of the SAD were campaigning jointly for the alliance candidates. — OC |
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Construction of new Judicial Complex
Fazilka, May 9 The Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice V.K. Jain was to visit Fazilka on May 11 to lay the foundation stone of the proposed complex in the existing court complex housing the judicial and revenue court and part of adjoining land of the veterinary hospital. The Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), which has constructed the mini-secretariat after alleged “forcible” acquisition of land of the old Islamia School on Abohar Road, is also claiming possession of the court complex. The claim by PUDA arises on the basis of a meeting of the high-power committee held under the chairmanship of then Chief Secretary, Punjab Jai Singh Gill, on resource mobilisation vide its resolution dated May 30, 2005 under clause 17.03 (III), which states that the five acres of land of the SDM office and 4.5 acres of Tehsil complex shall be transferred to PUDA under Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Land (OUVGL) scheme for commercial exploitation to meet the cost of construction of a new sub-division complex including acquisition of land. On the other hand, the Punjab and Haryana High Court maintained that the existing court complex for which the PUDA laid its claim for possession belong to the court. Hence, they started a plan for the construction of a new judicial court complex at the existing site and adjoining vacant sites. The Registrar, Punjab and Haryana High Court, vide a letter dated April 5, 2007, initiated the process for construction. Thereafter, the feasibility of the site was also approved by the Chief Architect. Following this, the site plan for a double storey judicial court complex was also prepared. The estimated cost for this purpose was worked out to be around Rs 6.5 crores. The entire scheme ran into rough weather as according to sources, the higher authorities of PUDA approached the Inspecting Judge of High Court regarding possession of the existing court complex site. After this development, the Chief Justice has reportedly “dropped” his plan to lay the foundation stone of the proposed new complex. Lawyers of Fazilka feel that they had been left high and dry and stand deprived of the plan of having a new complex with chambers. Lawyers were also hoping that their long standing demand for the court of an additional district judge at Fazilka would be accepted.
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Youths attack girl
Bathinda, May 9 |
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