SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI


THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
D E H R A D U N    E D I T I O N


BJP’s first list of 48 nominees out

Dehradun, January 3
Taking a lead over the Congress, the main opposition party in the state, the central election committee of the BJP declared the first list of the names of 48 candidates for the Assembly poll scheduled on January 30.

Chaos, groupism in party camp
Nainital, January 3
The names that figure in the first list of party candidates released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for contesting the forthcoming Assembly polls leads to two inferences. One, the party has clearly been on the defensive. Two, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and the group that he leads have been ignored and dumped.

Cong, BJP leaders clash
Kaushik, Ambrish booked for violating poll code
Haridwar, January 3
The verbal political battle between archrivals Congress and BJP took an ugly turn as both the parties, in the presence of their party leaders, clashed late last evening.
Poll officer takes serious view

Kaushik third time lucky
Haridwar, January 3
With the central election committee of the BJP announcing the much-awaited list of 48 candidates from Uttarakhand, the official party candidates from Haridwar district have expressed confidence of winning their respective seats. Nine candidates out of a total of 11 segments from Haridwar district figure on this first list.



EARLIER STORIES



Diwakar Bhatt Ticket to Bhatt, Rawat triggers rebellion
Mussoorie, December 3
The BJP’s announcement to field Diwakar Bhatt and Om Gopal Rawat from the Assembly segments of Devprayag and Narendar Nagar, respectively, has triggered a rebellion among the party cadres here.


Diwakar Bhatt

BJP fields 6 new faces in Almora
Pithoragarh, January 3
By introducing six new faces in the Almora parliamentary constituency, the BJP has dropped Champawat sitting MLA Beena Maharana and Gangolihat MLA Joga Ram Tamta on the first list of candidates released by the party high command on Monday night in New Delhi.

Barkha’s entry into BJP to hit probables’ prospects
Haridwar, January 3
While on one hand the state BJP leaders are quite elated over the induction of Haridwar Women Congress chief Barkha Rani into the party, on the the other it has created unrest among the probable party candidates.

UKD (P) elated over Bhatt’s coalition with BJP
Dehradun, January 3
There is an atmosphere of celebration in the office of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) ever since the party activists heard of the UKD (D) joining hands with  the BJP and fighting Assembly election on the BJPs’ symbol.

Efforts on to adjust Tiwari’s ‘favourites’ on Cong list
Dehradun, January 3
In a move, suspected to be orchestrated by some party bigwigs, including state general secretary Birender Singh, efforts were on to adjust some of the favourites of former Chief Minister ND Tewari in the Congress list of the Assembly candidates.

Suraj Mal BSP banking on pro-hill policy
Haridwar, January 3
With the BSP being the lone party which has finalised its official candidates months before, the party eyes to be the single largest party in the Uttarakhand Assembly by winning more than 36 seats.


Suraj Mal

Voters’ count in Pithoragarh increases
Pithoragarh, January 3
The number of voters in all four seats of Pithoragarh district has registered an increase, according to the latest voter list released by the district election office today.

Make proper security arrangements for strong rooms: Poll officer
Nainital, January 3
The election machinery in Champawat has ordered proper upkeep and security arrangements for the strong rooms.

Rain raises Garhwal farmers’ hopes
Mussoorie, January 3
The farmers in the Garhwal region have something to smile about after the fresh spell of rain lashed the Garhwal region yesterday.

 





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BJP’s first list of 48 nominees out
Khanduri to contest from Kotdwar, Nishank from Doiwala
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 3
Taking a lead over the Congress, the main opposition party in the state, the central election committee of the BJP declared the first list of the names of 48 candidates for the Assembly poll scheduled on January 30.

The list of candidates includes nine candidates from the SC community, one from the ST, one from the minority and three women candidates. Elections will be held for 70 Assembly seats in the state.

Giving rest to speculations, the BJP central parliamentary board has decided to field Chief Minister BC Khanduri from Kotdwar, former Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal from Doiwala while retaining the names of six Cabinet Ministers.

These names include Education Minister Matbar Singh Kandari (Rudraprayag), Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat (Raipur), Tourism Minister Madan Kaushik (Haridwar) Rural Development Minister Vijaya Barthwal (Yamkeshwar), Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant (Pithoragarh) and Social Welfare Minister Balwant Singh Bhoriyal (Kapkote).

Working on the sitting getting formula, the BJP has reposed faith in 15 MLAs. But Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Khazan Das who was eyeing the Rajpur seat has been denied the party ticket. He is a sitting MLA from Dhanolti that has now become a general seat.

Both Khanduri and Pokhriyal have been given new Assembly seats as the Dhumakot and Thalesain seats have come under the new delimitation changes. So also Ganesh Joshi from Mussoorie. He was forced to look for a new Assembly seat after his Rajpur seat became reserved.

However, party sources claim the first list has a clear stamp of senior leader and election campaign in charge BS Koshiyari and the RSS.

The list has left out former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s supporters high and dry and it is reliably learnt that Nishank was forced to postpone his journey last night from Delhi after calls from angry supporters conveyed their dismay at being left out.

Among those denied seats are Beena Maharana (Champawat), Anil Nautiyal (Karnprayag), SS Rawat (Kotdwar) and GL Shah (Pindar). The sitting MLA from Pindar had applied for party ticket from Tharali (SC) as the Pindar Assembly seat no longer exists under the new delimitation.

The new faces that have been introduced are Pushkar Singh Dhami from Khatima,

Harish Pujari Karanprayag, Ravinder Katarai from Rajpur Road, Chander Shekhar Bhattewal Jawalapur (SC), Deshraj Karnwal from Jhabrera (SC), Geeta Thakur Gangolihaat, Hema Joshi Champawat and Adesh Chauhan from Jaspur.

Among the prominent MLAs who have been denied ticket include Sher Singh Gadariya from Kapkote and Rajkumar from Sahaspur.

For the first time, the BJP also gave ticket to Kalim Ansari, a member of the minority community from Mangalore and three women candidates include Geeta Thakur from Gangolihat, Vijaya Barthwal from Yamkehswar and Hema Joshi from Champawat.

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Chaos, groupism in party camp
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 3
The names that figure in the first list of party candidates released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for contesting the forthcoming Assembly polls leads to two inferences. One, the party has clearly been on the defensive. Two, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and the group that he leads have been ignored and dumped.

The names that figure in the list have thrown up several questions, which the party leadership would find it difficult to answer, even to its own cadres and supporters.

Party workers at the grassroot level point out that with the coming up of multiple groups within the party with regard to Uttarakhand, there is a lot of friction. There are supporters of Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri and former CMs B.S. Koshiyari and Nishank. As a result, there is considerable clash of interest.

They further point out that the whole ‘façade’ of surveys ordered at intervals by national president Nitin Gadkari has further added to the chaos.

Party workers are convinced that those who had openly been defiant of the leadership have been the first to get the ticket.

A senior party worker in Nainital told The Tribune:”Can the party explain why it was unable to announce the ticket for a very senior leader like Bansidhar Bhagat in the first seat?” After all, he has been at the helm of affairs right from 1993 onwards. He had been the president of an undivided nainital district that included Udham Singh Nagar. The two districts today account for almost a dozen seats. “Who will explain his absence from the first list?”

Bhagat is learnt to be interested in contesting from Kaladhungi. Party workers have questioned the grounds on which the likes of Puran Phartayal and Hema Joshi have been given the ticket from Lohaghat and

Champawat constituencies, respectively. They have also raised a question mark on Geeta Thakur getting a ticket from Gangolihat.

There are also names of certain controversial candidates like Raj Kumar Thukral, Rajesh Shukla, Kiran Mandal and Hem Arya, who have been granted the tickets from Rudrapur, Kitcha, Sitarganj and Nainital

constituencies. “Do they have a clean image amidst the people, whose interests the party leadership claims to be promoting,” asked another BJP worker.

Party workers are also openly speaking against the induction of former chairperson of the Haldwani Municipal Board and Congress leader Renu Adhikari into the BJP. In fact her arrival at the BJP office on Monday evening saw most of the senior-rung leaders just vanishing from the premises.

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Cong, BJP leaders clash
Kaushik, Ambrish booked for violating poll code
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 3
The verbal political battle between archrivals Congress and BJP took an ugly turn as both the parties, in the presence of their party leaders, clashed late last evening.

Today the police registered a case against both the sides for violating the election code of conduct. A case under Section 188, IPC, has been registered against state Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik and former legislator Ambrish Kumar.

Both were involved in a major commotion while they were participating in a heated pubic debate organised by a private news channel in view of the upcoming Assembly elections, adjacent to Ganga river, in Alaknanda ghat.

From the very beginning of the debate, both the party supporters were involved in a verbal duel. They also hooted each other leader’s address.

Amidst all the chaos, one of the Congress youth activists reached the dais and questioned Madan Kaushik on his alleged role in the Maha Kumbh scam and in a case of murder of a woman.

This infuriated the BJP supporters and they, too, thronged the dais and engaged in physical violence.Both Kaushik and Ambrish had to face the heat as they got stuck in the ruckus with police personnel having a tough time to make their exit safe.

For more than 40 minutes the commotion carried on a until heavy police force arrived, and with a mild use of aggression, dispersed the rowdy supporters.

While Madan Kaushik blamed Ambrish Kumar for resorting to dirty politics, Kumar termed the whole episode as pre-planned to make sure the Kumbh mela in charge escaped from the volley of questions from him.

Notably, for the hosting of this debate, no prior permission from the district election office was taken by the concerned private news channel.

Returning officer of Haridwar Assembly segment Jyoti Yadav informed TNS that she had filed a report to Chief Election Commission in this regard, as neither there was prior information nor consent was sought from them in this regard.

This comes in violation of the election code of conduct norms as well as of Section 144, which is prevalent in the state since the polling date was announced by the CEC. City kotwali police registered a case in the evening on the report of the returning officer under IPC Section 188.

Poll officer takes serious view

Dehradun, January 3
Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi has taken a serious view of the incident in Haridwar in which workers belonging to the two main political parties - the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress - were involved in fighting and physical violence during a programme hosted by a television channel. Raturi has directed that prior permission of competent authorities would be required to be taken for organising any such programme.

The Chief Electoral Officer has sent letters to commissioners of Garhwal and the Kumaon divisions, besides also the district election officers and superintendents and senior superintendents of police, in which she has directed that if any large public meeting or programme having a large public gathering is organised, then the organisers will have to seek appropriate permission from the district election officer and the returning officer.

The police officials will ensure that there is provision of adequate police force for the peaceful conduct of the public meeting, she said. Strict action would be taken against the concerned officials by the Election Commission for any dereliction of duty or negligence, she added. — TNS

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Kaushik third time lucky
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 3
With the central election committee of the BJP announcing the much-awaited list of 48 candidates from Uttarakhand, the official party candidates from Haridwar district have expressed confidence of winning their respective seats. Nine candidates out of a total of 11 segments from Haridwar district figure on this first list.

From Haridwar (city) state Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik has got the party ticket for the third straight time. Talking to The Tribune at his residence, he said he was quite sure of repeating his electoral success for a third time.

Kaushik had won the last two Assembly elections defeating his arch rival Ambrish Kumar on both the occasions. He owed party high command for reposing faith in his ability and claimed that the current tally of two party legislators from the district would increase to at least eight in the coming elections.

From Haridwar (rural) Swami Yatishwaranand, who is the state Gau Raksha Commission vice-chairperson, will be vying for a seat in the legislature for the first time in his political career.

Being a two-time student union president of Gurukul Kangri University, Swami Yatishwaranad, at his Ved Mandir ashram, told The Tribune that his two-decade-old dedicated work towards society and his party fructified today.

He said he had always been adhering to secular credentials and had been involved with the Hindus, Muslims, Dalits or other communities cordially.

Hailing from a peasant family, Swami Yatishwaranand said he would take the causes of the farmers, labourers and the poor as the rural Haridwar segment comprised mostly of these sections only.

On the quarrying issue, he said a mid-way option was best suitable which catered to the environment and economy both.

District BJP general secretary Aadesh Chauhan has been allocated the ticket from newly created hot seat of Ranipur-BHEL as part of the party’s commitment to provide a few seats to the youth too.

Party activists were seen in large numbers thronging his Bahadrabad residence, where he started his election campaign this morning.

Aadesh said his dedicated association with the ABVP since 1987 and with the youth wing, the BJYM, got him the ticket from this segment.

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Ticket to Bhatt, Rawat triggers rebellion
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, December 3
The BJP’s announcement to field Diwakar Bhatt and Om Gopal Rawat from the Assembly segments of Devprayag and Narendar Nagar, respectively, has triggered a rebellion among the party cadres here.

In protest against the party fielding an outsider, Diwakar Bhatt, president of the Milk Federation Mahipal Butola has resigned from the party and will be contesting as an Independent candidate from Devprayag.

Officials from the Devprayag BJP Mandal have also tendered their resignation in support of Butola and are blaming senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari for this debacle. Party workers said they would be opposing Koshyari and his supporters’ entry to the Devprayag constituency.

UKD workers alleged that Bhatt and Rawat, who reached the present Assembly on the ticket of the UKD and on the plank of “Jal, jangal, zammeen” (water, forest and land rights) had betrayed their voters after choosing to contest on the BJP symbol from Devrayag and Narendar Nagar, respectively, this time.

They alleged that both leaders instead of fighting for the real concerns of people had opted to sit in the lap of the BJP just to enjoy the fruits of being in power. 

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BJP fields 6 new faces in Almora
Drops Champawat sitting MLA Beena and Gangolihat MLA Joga Ram
BD Kasniyal
Beena Mahrana
Beena Mahrana

Pithoragarh, January 3
By introducing six new faces in the Almora parliamentary constituency, the BJP has dropped Champawat sitting MLA Beena Maharana and Gangolihat MLA Joga Ram Tamta on the first list of candidates released by the party high command on Monday night in New Delhi.

Beena has been dropped as she wanted ticket from Lohaghat instead of her constituency of Champawat and Joga Ram Tamta refused to fight election.

While the names of Cabinet Minister Prakash Pant from Pithoragarh and BJP state chief Bishan Singh Chufal from Didihat has been cleared, Geeta Thakur has been given party ticket from Gangolihat in place of Joga Ram.

Geeta Thakur, who contested the seat in 2002 as an independent candidate after the Congress did not gave her ticket, joined the BJP and was made vice-chairperson of the Uttarakhand State Women Commission.

In Dharchula, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari loyalist Khushal Singh Pipalia has been given the party ticket leaving Kundan Singh Tolia, last time runner-up from the party.

In Champawat district, BJP sitting MLA Beena has been replaced by Hema Joshi, a senior party functionary for the past 25 years.

Hema (51) has been linked with the party since 1984 and state executive member since then. She has been president of the women cell of the party and has been district president of the party since 2004 in Champawat district. Hema Joshi is a Khanduri loyalist in the BJP inner circle.

In Lohaghat, last time runner-up Kishen Punetha has been dropped from the party list and a new face Puran Singh Fartiyal has been given ticket.

Fartiyal, Koshiyari nominee, has joined the party after leaving the UKD two years back has came into limelight after he started distributing woollen blankets and quilts to the poor from last year during the winter months, said a party leader.

In Almora district, block pramukh of Dwarahat Narendra Bisht has been given ticket. Bisht, a party loyalist, had been a BDC member before becoming block pramukh of Dwarahat.

BS Negi, BJP candidate from Jageshwar, has been two-time loser at the hands of sitting Congress MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal. Raghunath Singh Chauhan has been given ticket from Almora, Ajay Tamta has been repeated from Someshwar (R) and Uttarakhand minister Balwant Singh Bhauriyal has been given ticket from Kapkot despite opposition by ABVP members. Former Health Minister and state BJP general secretary Ajay Bhatt will contest from Ranikhet and Chandan Ram Dass from Bageshwar.

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Barkha’s entry into BJP to hit probables’ prospects
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 3
While on one hand the state BJP leaders are quite elated over the induction of Haridwar Women Congress chief Barkha Rani into the party, on the the other it has created unrest among the probable party candidates.

As Barkha Rani is vying for ticket from the Jwalapur (reserved) segment, her induction into the BJP has instilled unrest among the party leaders vying for ticket from this constituency.

What is more worrying is that party sources claim that her inclusion into the BJP along with Renu Adhikari, former municipal chairperson of Haldwani, has based on ticket assurance and so that it may have an impact on the activeness of the probable candidates who had been campaigning for the party with an eye on ticket for months.

Notably, Barkha Rani was Haridwar Zila Panchayat chairperson in 2003 and had joined the Congress three years prior to that. She was later appointed as district chief of the Women Congress and had also contested from the Mangalore Assembly segment in 2007, when the Congress had denied her ticket.

Her husband Vijay Pal, a zila panchayat member, had also left the Congress along with her wife.

She was seeking ticket from the Bhagwanpur segment as the Mangalore seat has been abolished in delimitation.

Talking to The Tribune, Vijay Pal termed their decision of leaving the Congress as timely and a step taken due to ‘indifferent treatment’ meted out to them by the Congress leaders.

“Despite working for the party for a decade, becoming Zila Panchayat chief and also enrolling new women members in every block what Barkha got is just apathy from fellow party leaders as well as big state leaders,” said Pal.

Probable candidates from the Jwalapur seat from the Congress include former Bhagwanpur legislator Chandra Sekhar Bhattewal who had won the seat in 2002 but lost in the next Assembly elections.

He had been the front runner till yesterday, prior to Barkha Rani’s inclusion, but now is pressing hard with party state chief Yashpal Arya and Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat to make sure he gets party ticket.

State rank minister Suresh Rathore, vice-chairman of the SC-ST Commission, though talking to The Tribune didn’t say that his candidature was affected in any way due to Barkha’s induction into the BJP. However, he accepted that if the party gave ticket to loyal party activists it would give a good message among the voters.

“We have been loyal party workers, what ever the party high command decides will be acceptable to us. For the past five years I have been working with party workers in Jwalapur with dedication. We welcome Barkha in the BJP, but as far as ticket allocation is concerned I will present my case effectively to the high command,” said Sanjay Triwal, chief of the district SC-ST wing of the BJP and a potential ticket aspirant.

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UKD (P) elated over Bhatt’s coalition with BJP
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 3
There is an atmosphere of celebration in the office of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) ever since the party activists heard of the UKD (D) joining hands with 
the BJP and fighting Assembly election on the BJPs’ symbol.

In a joint press conference with the UKD, the BJP announced of fielding UKD (D) president and state minister Diwakar Bhatt from Dev Prayag and UKD MLA Om Gopal Rawat from Narender Nagar seat in the Assembly election.

President of Election Steering Committee of the UKD (D) BD Raturi clarified that the party would retain its identity by using its flag and announcing its election manifesto separately where the issue of making Gairsain the state capital would remain topmost.

“Since the Election Commission of India gave a new party symbol to us only two days ago, it became difficult for us to publicise in this short span. Even the BJP was apprehensive about it and did not want to take risk; so it was decided to fight on the BJP’s symbol itself,” he stated.

He said they had asked for the Pirane Kaliyar and Khatima seat for about they were informed by BJP president Nitin Gadkari. He had asked them conducting a survey and testing of the wining chances of the UKD before committing those seats. The other seat, Lal Kuan, which the UKD (D) had also claimed, had already been announced by the BJP.

UKD (D) spokesperson Satish Semwal said all members of the Election Steering Committee would campaign for the BJP and the same yardstick would apply to the BJP which he said would also support in funding them for election. The 21 seats which the UKD (D) had announced before stood cancelled after the alliance, he said.

President of the UKD (P) Trivender Panwar has got an excellent opportunity to get back to Diwakar Bhatt in the new scheme. He said, “By striking an alliance with the BJP, Bhatt has proved it again that he was playing puppet in the hands of the BJP when he refused to resign after our party withdrew support to it. Then the BJP conspired in freezing the UKD’s party symbol. The very next day, it made Bhatt fight on its symbol. Bhatt too had been playing fiddle with the party. First he broke it to share camaraderie with the Congress and this time, BJP.”

He said their party would still surge ahead despite all odds. Shailash Guleri, senior leader, UKD (P), said, “We are happy that the dilemma over the two UKD names and symbols, which can confuse voters, is now over with the UKD (D) sitting in the camp of the BJP. The voters will now recognise who the real UKD is.”

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Efforts on to adjust Tiwari’s ‘favourites’ on Cong list
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 3
In a move, suspected to be orchestrated by some party bigwigs, including state general secretary Birender Singh, efforts were on to adjust some of the favourites of former Chief Minister ND Tewari in the Congress list of the Assembly candidates.

After Tiwari supporters threatened to put up some candidate in the coming Assembly elections under the banner of the Nirantar Vikas Samiti, Birender Singh, who is considered close to Tiwari, rushed to his residence at FRI in Dehradun and held discussions with him.

Although Tiwari did not divulge about the nature of talks, it was clear that both discussed about the 
party candidates.

It is common knowledge that veteran party leader ND Tiwari, who has been discredited in the party after his sex scandals came to light in Hyderbad Raj Bhawan in 2009, has been trying hard to get party nomination for his former private assistant, Aryaendra Sharma, and his own nephew Manish Tiwari with the support of Birender Singh, who is the in charge of the Congress Party affairs of the state.

Both the candidates are facing a stiff opposition from other senior party leaders, including Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, a known political rival of Tiwari.

Interestingly, since Birender Singh became general secretary in charge of the state, Aryaendra, who was unseen after the Hyderabad Raj Bhawan episode, resurfaced again in the garb of a political leader wearing white khadi. Senior state Congress leaders were astonished to find Aryaendra in company of Birender Singh. His presence was resented by Congress leaders and there were vociferous protests in the party forums but Birender Singh continued to nurture him.

With the Congress Parliamentary Board meeting on January 5 to finalise the names of the party candidates, there was a lot of opposition to the name of Aryaendra Sharma and Manish Tiwari.

Aryaendra wants party ticket from Sahaspur in Dehradun district and Manish Tiwari wants it from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district.

On January 2, ND Tiwari announced that he had formed the Nirantar Vikas Samiti, a non-political organisation. Speaking in riddles, Tiwari denied that he had formed a political party but said members of the samiti were free to fight polls. Taking cognisance of the move, Birender Singh with Aryaendra in toe met Tiwari last night and probably discussed about their candidatures.

Congress leaders believe that the move was allegedly orchestrated by Birender Singh to pressurise the party high command to bow down to the wishes of Tiwari showing danger of split of votes for the Congress if Tiwari puts up his own candidates.

“Birender Singh is an old colleague who was with us in the Congress,” said ND Tiwari. Interestingly, some of the contenders of party tickets, including famous eunuch Rajni Rawat, who had earlier contested elections for the post of Mayor of Dehradun in 2008, also went to the residence of Tiwari.

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BSP banking on pro-hill policy
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 3
With the BSP being the lone party which has finalised its official candidates months before, the party eyes to be the single largest party in the Uttarakhand Assembly by winning more than 36 seats.

A major chunk of this win, the party election planners hope, will be from 11 hilly districts, where the party had been found wanting owing to a weak traditional vote bank. With regard to their claim, the party election planners cite three vital reasons: Social engineering concept of party supremo Mayawati adopted in the selection of candidates, pro-hill district approach and disillusionment of the public from the respective state governments of the BJP and the Congress.

In conversation with The Tribune, Uttarakhand BSP chief Suraj Mal said this time the elephant (party symbol) will not only ravage the plain electoral fields of the BJP and the Congress, but also totally destroy them in the hilly districts too.

The party candidates have covered a major portion in their respective segments and the response they are getting in the hilly districts of Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Chamoli, Nainital, Almora and even far-flung Pithoragarh, Champawat is immense, he added.

“On realising that if the BSP has to come to power in Uttarakhand, we have to make inroads into the hilly districts, as the core of this state lies there only. Specific instructions were given to us by Mayawati, which we adhered to more than four years ago. The other parties will see fruit of our labour in March after the election results,” said Suraj Mal, who is also the election in charge of the hilly districts.

Bhagwan Singh Tamta, candidate from the Pauri segment, said the response from the public was overwhelming and the four-year penetrative work in the hilly villages was showing, as now there is a BSP worker in almost every hill village.

Keeping in mind the tough terrain in some of the hilly districts, the party election planners have asked their workers to hold small meetings.

Earlier, we were believed to be a pro-plain party only which was a misconception, it was just that we focused on the plain regions of Uddham Singh Nagar, Haridwar more but now we will provide the people of this state the governance which the previous governments had miserably failed to provide to the people of the state, claimed Suraj Mal.

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Voters’ count in Pithoragarh increases
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 3
The number of voters in all four seats of Pithoragarh district has registered an increase, according to the latest voter list released by the district election office today.

“Earlier, there were a total of 3,14,099 voters in 2007, which has now increased to 3,22,315 --- 8,216 more than that of the last voter list,” according a communiqué released by the election office today.

According to the communiqué, the maximum number of voters is in the Gangolihat seat (84,835) followed by the Pithoragarh seat where the number of voters according to the revised tally is 82,888.

“The Didihat Assembly seat has 69,251 voters and the Dharchula Assembly seat has 70,035 voters,” according to the communiqué.

The number of female voters is more than that of male in the three Assembly seats of Dharchula, Didihat and Pithoragarh, However, the number of male voters is higher in the Gangolihat seat. According to the election office, all voters in the district have been allotted the voter identity cards.

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Make proper security arrangements for strong rooms: Poll officer
Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 3
The election machinery in Champawat has ordered proper upkeep and security arrangements for the strong rooms.

At a meeting with his subordinates held at Champawat this afternoon, the district election officer (DEO), Ashish Joshi, said proper sanitation be maintained at polling stations and strong rooms besides arrangements for power etc.

Proper barricading has been ordered for the route from the strong rooms to the counting centres with separate entrances for the election staff and the candidates and their assistants for the counting of votes.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been asked to help in clearing the roads leading to the snow-bound polling stations so that the staff for conducting the polling could reach there as per the schedule.

SSB personnel have been asked to provide snow kits to the personnel where required. The DEO has also ordered that the international border with Nepal would be sealed 48 hours prior to the commencement of the polling exercise and the routine movement between the two countries would be stopped.

The officials of the SSB, the ITBP and the Customs Department have been asked to immediately report to the returning officers of the police if they find anyone in possession of narcotics.

Similarly, anyone possessing a huge amount of cash must be reported to the Income Tax authorities. Instructions have also been given for making medical kits available for the officials and security personnel to be deputed in the higher altitude areas for conducting the elections.

Meawhile, in a related development, the DEO, Udham Singh Nagar district, has decided to decentralise the functioning of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMCs).

The returning officers have been empowered to verify the advertisements being published in their respective areas. This has been done keeping in mind the problems arising on account of bringing every published advertisement to the district headquarters at Rudrapur.

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Rain raises Garhwal farmers’ hopes
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, January 3
The farmers in the Garhwal region have something to smile about after the fresh spell of rain lashed the Garhwal region yesterday.

The farmers who had been facing a drought-like situation since September yesterday heaved a sigh of relief with heavy/moderate rain was experienced in many places of Garhwal district.

Jagat Singh Kandari, a farmer from Thatyur, said as the area was mostly rain-fed and after sowing rabi crops like mustard and wheat in November and December they were eagerly waiting for rain to irrigate their fields so that the germination process could begin at the right time and this rain would be of immense help.

Mahavir Singh Rawat, another farmer, said this had come as a boon for the fields and if the rainfall continues in this month then a good yield of wheat and mustard could be expected in April.

The apple growers of Dhanolti are also a pleased lot and with the prospect of snowfall increasing they believe that if the spell continues in similar fashion good growth of apple could be expected this year in comparison to last year.

The officials of the Agriculture Department have also welcomed the fresh spell of rain and were of the view that the non-irrigated area would benefit immensely from the rainfall yesterday.

On the other hand the fresh spelll of rain has dampened the spirit of the probable candidates who would be canvassing from the Assembly segments that fall in the region. With more rain and snow likely to occur in the near future, the candidates are shuddering even at the thought of convincing the voters in the biting cold in snowbound areas.

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