Bathinda, April 14
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab, has done a U-turn from his earlier stance of not assigning poll duties to the staff working on contractual basis in different departments, especially the Education Department.

In a letter issued to the all the district election officers on April 12, the CEO Punjab has mentioned that the teachers on perpetual contract can be deployed on poll duty as removing their names at this juncture from the list of polling staff will create huge logistic problems for the election machinery.

With these orders, all the 260 to 300 contractual staff of Bathinda district that was exempted from poll duty after the first rehearsal on April 6 will now be back to pavilion. The contractual staff will again have to do the poll duty.

The orders have stirred the contractual teachers who feel that laxity on the part of the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, in not giving clear instructions at the onset of poll activities has cost them dear. While giving instructions for preparing the list of the polling staff, the respective department heads were not asked to exempt the contractual staff despite the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) orders to do it.

“The District Election Office has already identified 30 per cent extra staff that acts as reserve. The number of people like us (contractual teachers) deployed on poll duty was a mere 260 to 300, which could have been easily exempted,” said one of the teachers with a tinge of regret.

The CEO’s letter states that though the ECI does not allow contractual or Anganwadi workers to be deployed on poll duty, in the past five years, a large number of teachers have been employed on contract basis in Punjab. These teachers recruited have the same qualification as the regular ones and the batches of many teachers are to be regularised soon. The other teachers also continue on perpetual contract, which is extended on yearly basis.

These teachers have been deputed on election duty in the past and even now their names figure in the list of eligible employees to be deputed for poll duty. Since these teachers are large in number, their names could not be removed from the lists.

The CEO, Punjab, however, has specified that only those contractual teachers, who have been hired against the sanctioned posts with government approval, can be put on duty.

The teachers, whose contracts are perpetually extended on an annual basis, are also liable. Besides, the teachers working under the direct supervision of the principals, headmasters and the district education officers who are directly paid by the government are also liable for election duty.

No teacher or other employee hired through any other source would be put on election duty.

Bathinda, April 14
After his wife Veenu Badal spent several days in Bathinda city campaigning door-to-door and addressing nukkad meetings, the PPP-Congress-CPI joint candidate Manpreet Singh Badal began the door-to-door campaigning in the constituency. As he went through markets, meeting a cross-section of the people, he stated that the boycott of the SAD-BJP alliance candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal showed that not only the people of the constituency but also of the state were fed up with the government.

As he went and met people on roads, he also asserted that Harsimrat had a disconnect with the people and the claims being made by her and her husband, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, of extending VIP treatment to this constituency were not substantiated by reality since in some of the villages, even the basic facilities like potable water were not available and the RO plants were lying defunct.

He further added that the selective areas of the constituency had been developed while several backward areas had remained untouched despite being part of the so-called VIP constituency. He said even in the developed areas, people were angry due to the irrational taxation policies adopted by the government.

When asked about Congress leaders joining hands with the Akalis, he pointed out that even the Akali leaders were angry with their party for being ignored and because the party was giving preference to some members over the others.

Manpreet asserted that the SAD-BJP alliance had resorted to petty tricks like fielding his namesake and getting him allotted the kite symbol on which the PPP had contested the assembly elections.

Urging the people to weigh their options carefully before using their vote, he warned them not to give in to temptation as he expressed the apprehension that the SAD-BJP would try to buy votes as it had done during the last assembly elections.

Bathinda, April 14
Lost in the milieu of election fever, an ambiguous direction of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab, made the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) first remove the hoardings and posters of the SAD-BJP campaign and then re-install the same.

On April 12, the CEO, Punjab, directed the Commissioner of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation to remove the political ads. Taking a precautionary approach, the MCB officials too started removing the ads.

“On the morning of April 13, we started removing the political ads installed at even the designated places. However, we got a message by afternoon that only those advertisements have to be removed that deface public or private property. Hence, the removed material was re-installed,” said Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujwal. He added that the CEO allows installation of the ads at the designated places that the local bodies have auctioned legally.

It is pertinent to mention here that in the war of posters, the SAD-BJP have taken up every ‘legal’ nook and corner of the city, leaving their opponents high and dry. Even the election complaint cell receives a numbers of complaints everyday.

“The maximum number of complaints received at a centre is about these hoardings. We have prepared a full case and sent it for consideration of the CEO, Punjab, through the District Election Officer and we were categorically told that such advertisements are allowed on the places that have been legally auctioned,” added an officer of the election complaint cell.

Prime advertisement locations of Bathinda city, including poles, kiosks and bus shelters are covered with pictures of the BJP’s prime ministerial seat candidate Narendra Modi and the Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.

Interestingly, despite the city being coloured with SAD-BJP posters, the candidates of other parties are yet to react on the issue.

Talwandi Sabo (Bathinda), April 14
“Mele de tin kamm pakke, dhup, dhud te dhakke.” (A fair has three things to offer for sure — sunlight, dust and jostling). This is what exactly the Baisakhi Mela at Takht Damdama Sahib witnessed today where a sea of humanity turned up to pay obeisance at the Talwandi Sabo Gurdwara and to participate in the colourful festival.

Following restrictions imposed by the Election Commission on holding of political conferences at Takht Damdama Sahib, the festival turned out to be a purely religious affair this time. Roadside toy-sellers, eating joints, langar (community kitchen) and loud music playing religious verses amidst serpentine queues of vehicles piling up to gain entry in the city were seen the whole day.

Community kitchens were set up by village groups at numerous places on roads leading to Talwandi Sabo.

People turned up in large numbers since Sunday to pay obeisance at the gurdwara and to take bath in the sacred pond.

Apart from the traditional games at the roadside, eating joints also offered ‘bhang ki thandai’ to the people.

A man from Patiala putting up a ‘bhang ki thandai’ stall said they didn’t offer ‘bhang ki tikki’ or ‘thandai’ to everyone, but it was served only to those who persisted.

Free stalls of tea, sweets like jalebi, food and other eatables were seen on both sides of the roads, especially within the periphery of the holy city.

The visitors said just two police nakas were laid in the city today and that too for asking visitors to park their vehicles at the right parking sites.

“Earlier, we used to see stick-wielding and gun-toting policemen all around the city to keep aside the common people from the road to pave the way for VIP cavalcades. But this time, everything was relaxed and people moved at their own pace towards the gurdwara,” said Gurkirat Singh, who came with his family from Gurdaspur.

A government servant from New Delhi, wielding an electronic loudspeaker, was seen offering the mike to the visitors to recite hymns and prayers.

Even as the man refused to divulge his name, he said he was a mere volunteer who came from Delhi to offer visitors a chance to use the loudspeaker. “There are people who don’t get an opportunity to hold a mike their whole life. My aim is to instill a sense of confidence among them,” he said, adding that he targeted children and teenagers to hold the mike and speak with confidence.

Traditional sports and entertainment events were organised to enrich the experience of the devotees at the Baisakhi festival.

Dr Baljinder Singh Romana, putting up a free medical assistance camp for visitors, said the Medical Practitioners Association, block Nathana, was distributing free medicines to the devotees.

Romana said they had given medicines to nearly 10,000 people for headache, body ache, vomiting and nausea during the past 24 hours.

A large number of beggars, most of them hoodwinking devotees by lying on the roadside using fake injuries on their body parts, were seen getting generous alms.