The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Campaigning for Assembly poll ends Tribune News Service Nainital, January 28 The campaigning for the Assembly elections scheduled to be held on January 30 ended this afternoon. On the last day of canvassing today various candidates held public meetings and appealed to the electorate to support them. The day also saw road shows and motorcycle rallies in support of the candidates. Over the last one week, star campaigners from the BJP and the Congress visited the Kumaon region. The BJP had tasked film stars Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini, Shakti Kapoor and television actor Smriti Irani with campaigning for the party candidates in the state. BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley and Lal Krishna Advani, besides other national and state level leaders also addressed rallies in support of the candidates. The Congress, on the other hand, had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and other national leaders campaigning for its candidates. Former cricketer and present Lok Sabha member Mohammad Azharuddin campaigned for the party during the last two days. Film star of yesteryears Raj Babbar also campaigned for the Congress last week. Though other parties like the BSP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) did not have any film actor or other star campaigner visiting the state, their top leadership campaigned during the last phase of canvassing. BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan campaigned in the constituencies where their parties had high stakes. Both BSP and SP are desperately trying to find a foothold in the constituencies in the hill areas of the state. They have a considerable support in the Terai area, which they want to convert into electoral victories. Regional parties like the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) and the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) preferred a low profile campaign, concentrating on their strongholds. The top leadership of these parties appealed to the voters to elect their candidates to realise the dreams for which the state had been created. Some of the Independent candidates also had high profile campaigning. Most of them are rebels who are contesting as Independent candidates after being denied ticket by the parties.
	Tough battle for BJP in Bazpur this time Rajeev Khanna Tribune News Service Nainital, January 28 The Bazpur constituency that had come to be known as a bastion of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the past decade is witnessing a high-profile contest with Congress president Yashpal Arya entering the fray. On the last two occasions, the seat was won by the BJP. However, this time around it’s finding it difficult to won the seat for the third consecutive time. The Bazpur constituency has been declared reserved following the recent delimitation. The constituency is important on account of its peculiar socio-political profile. Apart from a large number of people belonging to the backward classes who reside here, the electorate also has a very high number of Sikh and Muslim voters. Besides being engaged in agriculture and related activities, a large number of the electorate is employed with the adjoining industrial hubs located at Kashipur and Rudrapur. The entry of Arya has made this seat high-profile. His being the Congress president has drawn the media’s attention to this constituency. Arya has been seeking votes from the people in the name of development. With the seat being declared reserved, the BJP has fielded Rajesh Kumar who is trying to woo the voters with the issues that are being played up by his party leadership. He is seeking votes in the name of a clean image of Chief Minister BC Khanduri. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Mahilal Gautam while aiming to consolidate the voter base of the Dalits and the minority communities. However, the dark horse that has emerged in the constituency is Congress rebel Raj Kumar. He decided to contest the elections as an Independent after the party high command refused to give him the party ticket and decided to field Arya from this seat. Raj Kumar is known to be having a strong base among the backward castes. He had demonstrated his strength at a rally at Haldwani prior to the declaration of party ticket. His contingent had been the largest at the event which was to be addressed by party president Sonia Gandhi who could not arrive on account of inclement weather. The constituency gets its name from the hero in the Sikh history, Baz Bahadur. The area was taken towards prosperity by the Punjabi migrants who came here after Partition. The constituency has the oldest sugar mill setup in the cooperative sector in the country. Constituency Watch Bazpur Candidates in Fray BJP: Rajesh Kumari Congress: Yashpal Arya BSP: Mahilal Gautam Independent: Raj Kumar
	Campaign trail HARIDWAR Cong to ensure equal growth of hill areas, plains, says Girija Vyas Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 28 Former Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Girija Vyas pooh-poohed the poll promise of the BJP to provide corruption-free governance in the state and said if the Congress was voted to power in Uttarakhand, it would ensure equal development of both hill areas and plains. The party would also give an accountable government to the people. Vyas, a former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, was here yesterday for campaigning for the party in the state. She said the five-year rule of the BJP government was marred by scams and factionalism. She questioned the decision of the BJP high command to replace BC Khanduri with Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as Chief Minister in the mid of the tenure and again reinstating him. “The BJP doesn’t care for the interests of the people of the state. It first replaced Khanduri midway and when corruption charges were levelled against Nishank, the party brought back Khanduri as Chief Minister. Had the BJP been sincere about corruption, it would have taken action against Nishank and Madan Kaushik for their involvement in the Mahakumbh fair fund scam,” said Vyas. She cited action taken against some Central ministers and party office-bearers like Suresh Kalmadi to support the sincerity of the Congress to fight corruption. She added that just by enacting the Lokayukta Bill in one state the BJP did not become corruption free. Vyas also criticised BSP supremo Mayawati for corruption in her government and her taking action against tainted ministers only when elections were approaching. She also held a meeting with party workers and leaders, including former chairperson of the state Women Commission Santosh Chauhan, city Congress chief OP Chauhan, Kissan wing chief Poonam Bhagat, Sanjay Paliwal and Indu Pandey, at the party office here. She took stock of the election preparedness of the 11 candidates of the party.
	BJP, Cong have lost faith of people: CPI Dehradun, January 28 Atul Kumar Anjaan, national secretary of the CPI, has said the BJP and the Congress have lost the faith of the people due to rampant corruption, mis-governance and exploitation of resources of the state. Anjaan, after campaigning for party candidates in Kedarnath, Badrinath and Gangotri in the Garhwal region, was addressing a press conference here today. The CPI leader alleged that in the past 11 years the BJP and Congress governments in the state had ignored the basic issues confronting the people. He said while the image of the Congress had been tarnished due to several scandals at the Centre, the BJP government in the state was facing corruption charges in the cases like the Citurgia land use change, allotment of hydro-electric projects, Mahakumbh fund scam and the misuse of the disaster relief fund. Anjaan said the present BJP government and the previous Congress government in the state tried to sell public resources to private persons through private-public partnership. He charged the earlier Congress government with giving away thousands of hectares of agricultural land to industrialists and religious trusts and organisations. He demanded a White Paper on all ‘shady’ land deals since the inception of the state. Anjaan said the CPI was not banking on the wrongdoings of other parties and seeking vote on its clean image and impeccable record of its participation in the people’s movement in the state. He hoped that the CPI would win some seats this time. — TNS
	Key constituency: Doiwala Nishank, Bisht tied in tough contest in Doiwala Neena Sharma Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 The Doiwala Assembly seat in Dehradun district is expected to witness an intensive contest between former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and former Cabinet minister and Congress candidate Hira Singh Bisht. The Doiwala seat, which is situated on way to Rishkesh and a few kilometres from Dehradun city, has been reorganised and two new seats of Raipur and Dharampur have been created out of it. Nishank’s Thalesain (Pauri) Assembly seat lost its relevance after delimitation and sitting MLA from Doiwala Trivender Singh Rawat too decided to fight from the newly carved out Raipur seat. Nishank had started nursing the constituency several months in advance but this could not be said about Congress nominee Hira Singh Bisht, who was given the ticket from the seat at the last minute. In fact Bisht was hoping to fight the elections from the Dehradun Cantt seat, but failed to muster enough support. Pitted against the former Chief Minister, Bisht, who was forced to start from the scratch, is said to have improved his position considerably. Bisht had lost the 2007 Assembly elections from Rajpura, which is now a reserved seat. Before delimitation the Doiwala seat was represented by BJP MLA and Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat. The voters’ familiarity with the BJP here is expected to benefit Nishank. Garhwali voters comprising 60 per cent have predominance in the constituency. But there is a section of voters in Doiwala who view Nishank as an outsider and question the BJP decision to field him from the seat in the backdrop of the corruption charges levelled against him during his tenure as Chief Minister. “His rule was marred by corruption charges and that had forced the BJP to remove him. I do not know why the party gave him the ticket from Doiwala,” said Mani Ram, a farmer. Besides Nishank, Bisht is also facing a stiff contest from SP Singh, a Congress rebel, who is fighting as an Independent candidate. Among several things, Nishank and Bisht have promised better health facilities in Doiwala. Voters: 1.7 lakh Garhwali: 60% Candidates in Fray BJP: Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank Cong: Hira Singh Bisht Independent: SP Singh Sitting MLA from Doiwala Trivender Singh Rawat is fighting from newly carved out Raipur seat
	Poll snippets Orders to check code violation With the campaign coming to an end on Saturday evening, the poll machinery has now gone in for strict vigil to ensure that there is no violation of the model code of conduct till the time polling starts. Strict orders have been issued to the personnel deployed at various places to keep a tab on distribution of liquor and cash along with other articles to lure voters in favour of a particular candidate. The officials have been asked to pay special attention in the areas where booths have been declared as sensitive and extra sensitive. Scramble for passes As the day of the polling gets nearer, a scramble can be witnessed at various offices for obtaining special passes for the day. A large number of marriages are to be solemnised on the day of the polling. Over the last three days, people have been trying desperately to obtain permissions for marriage processions from the designated officials. With Republic Day celebrations and poll preparations keeping them busy, the officials were difficult to find. Beeline for liquor vends The final day of the campaign also saw a huge turnout of tipplers at the liquor vends, which have been closed down till the evening of January 30. People had started making a beeline to the vends right from the afternoon to ensure that they got their quota of booze for the next two days. Even the media had given prominence to the announcement that the vends would be closed at 5 pm on Saturday.