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Not many women enter LS from Rajasthan
Opinion polls differ on ‘Feel Good’ It’s INLD vs BJP in Sonepat Smaller parties too count a lot in Punjab Ray’s ‘young boys’ go different ways 20 years go by, village still beholden to him DMK against Bill on barring Sonia as PM EVMs bring curtains on invalid votes
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ENCOUNTER:
Jammu Lok Sabha Seat S.P. Sharma Tribune News Service Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Roads and Buildings Minister in the coalition government, has been given the Congress ticket for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat following refusal of the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, to contest the election. He is optimistic although the daughters’ Bill seeking to deny state subject rights to women marrying outsiders is haunting the Congress campaigners. Mr Sharma claims that there was no issue against him with the opposition BJP and National Conference as he has gone in for balanced development of roads and bridges, particularly in the Jammu region. Mr Sharma, who represents the border constituency of Akhnoor in the Assembly, says that the BJP has failed to rehabilitate residents of about 60 villages who were forced to migrate to safer places about five years ago due to indiscriminate firing by Pakistani troops. No cash relief or ration were being provided to them for the past six months by the Centre. He said the most fertile lands of these migrants had turned into jungles and no senior leader of the BJP visited their camps. Residents of the 17 segments on the border between Kathua and Poonch were critical of the BJP, he claimed. He said because of his efforts, an amount of Rs 332 crore had been earmarked for construction of the Southern Bypass here. A Rs 29-crore underground road between the Jogi gate and radio station was proposed to be constructed to decongest traffic in Jammu city. The third bridge over the Tawi river to link the old city with the new localities across had been commissioned because of his efforts, Mr Sharma claimed. He said stress was being laid on laying a network of roads in the rural areas that have no road connectivity. He said the Congress-PDP coalition government was taking an interest in the development of the hilly areas of Poonch and Rajouri and the Cabinet has already sent a resolution to the Centre recommending Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari speaking people of these two districts.
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BJP nominee to take up Pak refugees’ cause Dr Nirmal Singh, a teacher at Jammu University, has plunged into the election arena from the Jammu Lok Sabha seat for the second time after having lost the previous by-election to National Conference candidate, Talib Hussain. Dr Nirmal Singh, who is President of the J&K unit of the BJP, has accused his Congress rival, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Roads and Buildings Minister, of trying to take credit for the works that were either being executed here by central agencies or the state government with financial aid from the Centre. He said although the bypass was being constructed with central aid, Mr Sharma was claiming it as his own achievement. The BJP-led NDA government was taking every care of the Jammu region and has included the local Dogri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The demand for recognition of Dogri had been hanging fire for long. The Centre has already announced a special relief package for border migrants. The centre has taken due care of medical services here by granting the first instalment of Rs 100 crore for upgradation of the medical college here to the level of the AIIMS. Dr Nirmal Singh said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 179 crore for providing drinking water in villages in the kandi areas. He said he would take up the demand for granting citizenship rights to West Pakistani refugees who migrated here in 1947. He would also raise the long-pending demands of the refugees who came here from Pakistan during Partition. He was critical of the Congress for having supported the Daughters’ Bill in the Assembly. Dr Nirmal Singh alleged that instead of watching the interests of the unemployed youth, a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, who is a senior Congress leader, had cleared a scheme for payment of a fixed deposit of Rs 1.50 lakh and a monthly stipend to each terrorist who surrenders. Moreover, the PDP—Congress—Panthers Party coalition has put a burden on the exchequer by making a jumbo Ministry.
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Not many women enter LS from Rajasthan In the 1957 poll not a single woman candidate was in the fray. It was only in the 1996 poll that the largest number of women — two each from the Congress and the BJP — entered the Lok Sabha from Rajasthan. Later a woman candidate won in the bye-election held from
Banswara. However, it is from Rajasthan only that a woman candidate, former Maharani of Jaipur Gayatri Devi, got her name entered in the Guinness Book of World Records by bagging 77.8 per cent of the votes polled in the 1962 poll. Ms Gayatri Devi also scored a hat-trick by winning three Lok Sabha elections. Even the present Chief Minister Ms Vasundhra Raje Scindia, has won five successive parliamentary elections from Jhalawar since 1989. Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Girija Vyas also won three Lok Sabha elections in 1991, 1996 and 1999. Nirmala Kumari (Congress) won the Chittoregarh seat twice for her party in 1980 and 1984. The former royals have also played a major role in opening the doors of political arena for the faires sex with Ms Gayatri Devi contesting on the Swatantra Party ticket in the 1962 poll when only six women contestents were in the fray. Maharani Krishna Kumari from Jodhpur joined the election fray in 1971 as an Independent with Ms Gayatri Devi. Both won at the hustings. The Congress succeeded in sending its first woman candidate to the Lower House in 1980 when Nirmala Kumari won Chittorgarh seat while four other women nominees from different seats lost, three of them security deposits too. The 1991 poll saw a number of women contestents rising to 14 of which three returned successful. Besides Ms Raje, BJP, nominee, former Maharani of Alwar Mahendra Kumari succeeded at the husting while Congress candidate Girija Vyas, too, made her entry into the Lok sabha from Udaipur. The largest number of 25 women candidates joined the election battle in the 1996 poll which returned the largest number of four women members to the Lok Sabha. In the last elections in 1999, only three women succeeded in entering the Lok Sabha from among 15 contestents from different constituencies. They were Ms Raje, Ms Vyas and Ms Jaskaur Meena (BJP). Although the picture for the current poll would be clear later, it is certain after partial announcement of the party ticket by two major parties — the BJP and the Congress — Udaipur would witness clash of women candidates. While the BJP has named it state mahila morcha chief Kiran Maheshwari, the Congress has again fielded Ms Girija Vyas, who has been renominated.
— PTI
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Opinion polls differ on ‘Feel Good’ New Delhi, March 29 While the opinion poll conducted by Zee TV in collaboration with Taleem has an opinion that the crores spent by BJP whizkids on the “Feel Good Campaign” have all gone waste, the NDTV-A.C. Nielson and the Sahara TV opinion polls say that the BJP’s new boys on the block have managed to hit the right chord with the people and the campaign is a big success. The difference of opinion over the issue brought out in the opinion polls not only again brings to fore the frivolity of such polls but puts a question mark on the basis on which they are conducted. Incidentally, at a time when the BJP is going all out to emphasise on its achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee through its “Feel Good” campaign and the opposition parties are trying hard to counter it, the opinion poll conducted by the Zee News channel points out that a whopping 73 per cent of the nation has not heard of the campaign at all. On the other hand, the NDTV opinion poll says that the government seems to have got its message across with 55 per cent of the nation saying that they feel good and just 26 per cent disagreeing. Similarly, Sahara Samay, which although is yet to go for an overall opinion poll, has carried out a survey only on the ‘feel good’ factor and the results are an overwhelming 70 per cent in favour of it having reached the people even in the villages. Zee TV officials said that on the question about the “Feel Good Campaign”, there was no response from 73 per cent of the people. They were unaware of it and wanted to know what exactly it was, officials at Zee News said. This pattern was more so in the villages and the BJP campaign remains restricted mainly to the urban areas. But all’s not lost though. The polls conducted by Zee TV and NDTV reflect the possibility of the BJP-led NDA coming back to power. While the NDTV poll gives the BJP between 190 and 200 seats, an improvement over its performance in the last round of elections, so is the case with the Zee News poll. It gives the BJP just above 200 seats with the NDA coming back to power with over 265 seats. The NDTV poll on the other hand gives the NDA alliance a huge majority with 287 to 307 seats, which would be a great improvement over its previous tally. However, these opinion polls have come in for a strong criticism from the opposition parties, specially the Left parties who feel that the channels have jumped the gun. They feel that the polls were not showing the correct picture as the pre-poll alliances were still to come into force which could change the situation. So is the opinion of Sahara Samay news channel. Its officials said they had not conducted opinion polls yet and would be doing so in the first week of April by when the picture was expected to be clearer. They felt that their poll would have the correct picture as, they claimed, had been the case during the last round of Assembly elections. They claimed that their channel was the only one which had claimed that the Judeo scandal would have no effect on the poll results in Chhattisgarh, which turned out to be correct. One factor in the Zee news poll points out that a crucial over 25 per cent of the nation did not disclose its mind about the voting pattern which could prove to be a spoiler for any of the parties aspiring to gain power at the Centre. Incidentally, as has been the case with the other opinion polls till now, Prime Minister Vajpayee remains a towering personality above the others as a choice for the top job again in both the polls. In comparison to 28 per cent people choosing Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Vajpayee is the choice of almost 51 per cent in the Zee news poll and a choice of a whopping 72 per cent in the NDTV poll. The Zee TV poll says that only 31.1 per cent people have as yet decided to vote for the NDA while 24.6 per cent have Congress as the choice and the Third Front bags 18.8 per cent. This is where a crucial 25.5 per cent people have not disclosed their mind which could tilt the verdict in anybody’s favour. Forty-five per cent people feel that the NDA will come back to power while 25 per cent feel the Congress will pick the baton and again 24 per cent people could not respond to the question. As per the two results of the two opinion polls, the Congress party, despite its best efforts will not be able to do very well in the coming poll. Estimates at this early juncture indicate that the tally for the Congress would hover anywhere around 100 seats. While the Zee TV poll says that the Congress and its allies may bag over 195 seats, the NDTV poll says that the Congress and its allies will be between 143 and 163 seats. Incidentally, as has been the strategy of the BJP till now of not raking up the Hindutva card, it remains a non-issue with the people in both the opinion polls.
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It’s INLD vs BJP in Sonepat Chandigarh, March 29 However, Mr Sangwan, who, during his first term as an MP, had built bridges with the BJP leadership, managed to get its ticket in 1999 and retained the seat. Meanwhile, Mr Sangwan and Mr Om Prakash Chautala, the INLD supremo, became bitter enemies. Before the BJP snapped its ties with the INLD, there had been talk that Mr Chautala would try to persuade the BJP to change its candidate from Sonepat if it wanted to contest the elections in alliance with the INLD. Mr Sangwan was in the forefront of the campaign launched by the Haryana BJP for breaking ties with the INLD. No wonder Mr Chautala considers Mr Sangwan as the target number one. This seems to have weighed on Mr Chautala’s mind when she became the first person to be declared as the INLD’s nominee in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Krishna belongs to Bichpari village of Sonepat district. She is not only the daughter of a police officer, but also married to the Director-General of the Haryana Police, Dr M.S. Malik. by nominating Krishna, Mr Chautala virtually let a cat among pigeons. Mr Sangwan, the BJP and the other opposition parties immediately saw red and accused Krishna of misusing the official position of her husband. The INLD and the DGP denied the allegations. Incidentally, Mr Malik’s native village, Shamlu Kalan, also falls in the Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency. Essentially a housewife, Mrs Malik has been associated with the Khanpur Gurukul, a prestigious institution devoted to women education in the area, for the past few years. She herself had been a student of the Gurukul. In addition to the traditional vote bank of the INLD, she is depending upon the Malik voters, who have a sizeable presence in the constituency. There is a saying: “Adhey main malik, adhey main Khalak (The Maliks constitute half of the world)”. Mr Jangbir Singh Malik, the nominee of the Haryana Vikas Party, can upset the apple-cart of the INLD nominee because he also expects a share in the Malik votes. Mr Sangwan, on the other hand, depends upon the anti-incumbency factor against the ruling party. Over the past four years, he has projected himself as a victim of the Chief Minister. He says several of his family members in government service were victimised by Mr Chautala. He feels that the Chief Minister’s vendetta against him would make the Sonepat electorate sympathetic towards him.
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Smaller parties too count a lot in Punjab Chandigarh, March 29 A flashback to the 13th Lok Sabha 1999 elections reveals that in Punjab besides the five national parties — the BSP, BJP, CPI, CPM and Congress —, there were two national parties that were ‘ad hoc’ — the Janata Dal Secular and Janata Dal (United), and five state parties — the SAD, All-India Forward Block, Nationalist Congress Party, Republican Party of India and Rashtriya Janata Dal. There were also eight registered but unrecognised parties. These included the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, an outfit of Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and the SAD (Amritsar) led by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann. The others included the All-India Gareeb Congress, Ajey Bharat Party, BSP (Ambedkar), Bahujan Kranti Dal (Jai), Bhartiya Mohabat Party (All-India) and Democratic Bahujan Samaj Morcha. This time too there are the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine, BSP, CPI and CPM and a host of splinter Akali factions. However, Mr Tohra has merged his outfit with the SAD-Badal. Together, these 20 parties had put up 62 candidates and there were 58 Independents, as well, in 1999. The Congress won eight out of 11 seats it had contested and polled 38.44 per cent votes. The BJP won just one seat out of three and its poll percentage was 9.16. The SAD won just two seats out of nine and secured 28.59 per cent votes. The BSP had lost all three seats and polled 3.84 per cent votes. Mr Simranjit Singh Mann was the lone winner of his party that had contested just one seat. The Tohra outfit lost all seven seats and polled 4.64 per cent votes. Therefore, the presence of these ‘small’ parties cannot be ignored, as these too do take away some percentage of votes. How will these parties perform now? Today, the Congress is a house divided with intense in-fighting, conflicts and contradictions. It is yet to announce its candidates for the Taran Taran, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Faridkot and Ferozepore constituencies. The candidates already announced are Ms Preneet Kaur (Patiala), Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo (Ropar), Ms Santosh Chaudhary (Phillaur), Mr R. L. Bhatia (Amritsar) and Ms Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder (Gurdaspur). So far, the high command has not respected the first choice of candidates suggested by the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. The CPM leader, Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, is reportedly calling the shots in the Congress camp in New Delhi. He wants a ‘weak’ candidate for Ludhiana so that Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia may win and also party ticket for Mr Pargat Singh using the same analogy so that Mr Naresh Gujral of the SAD may win in Jalandhar. He has already announced his candidate for Hosphiarpur, much to the chagrin of the Congress. The presence of BSP candidates will further erode the Congress vote bank. There is danger to Ms Preneet Kaur in Patiala due to the ‘non-performance’ of the Congress and inaccessibility of the Chief Minister and the flop show of the anti-corruption drive. Several parts of her constituency fall in the area of dissidents, who are likely to make things difficult for her to settle scores with her husband. Challenging her is SAD’s Capt Kanwaljit Singh. Contesting against Ms Bhinder is the sitting MP, Mr Vinod Khanna, of the BJP in Gurdaspur. The BJP has not announced its candidate for Amritsar. There the sitting MP, Mr Bhatia, is having an edge at present. Tarn Taran is primarily an Akali seat. For Jalandhar, though Rana Gurjit Singh, sitting MLA from Kapurthala, is flexing his muscles, Congress MLAs from Jalandhar are unwilling to accept him. In Phillaur, Congressmen are unhappy with Ms Santosh Chaudhary, whose ‘arrogance’ may give her a setback. The Congress has not yet decided on the Hoshiarpur seat, while the BJP has fielded its state president, Mr Avinash Rai Khanna. Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo is defending his Ropar seat against Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra, SAD, while for Ludhiana, Mr Surinder Singla, sitting MLA from Bathinda, is favoured both by businessmen and the Chief Minister. For the Bathinda seat, the widow of Bhan Singh Bahura is the CPI candidate and the Congress will not contest that seat. The Ferozepore and Faridkot seats are again brain-teasers for the Congress high command. There are several contenders. A former MP from Faridkot, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar, wants to shift to Ferozepore, where from Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal is contesting. Even Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, sitting Congress MLA from Guru Harsahai, is keen to contest from Ferozepore. If Mr Brar is shifted, then former Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar’s daughter-in-law Karan Brar may contest from Faridkot. Sangrur is another ticklish seat. While the Captain wants Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal to contest, she is reluctant to do so. There is also infighting in the SAD, as the family of Mr Surjit Singh Barnala is opposed to SAD’s Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. Also in the fray is Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, who may even again win.
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Ray’s ‘young boys’ go different ways Kolkata, March 29 But when they grew up, they turned to three different directions. Mukherjee has left the Congress to join Ms Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Das Munshi prefers national politics but his main focus has been on the “Indian soccer politics”. He is heading the Indian Football Federation as part of its international body. He as well as Mukherjee (now Kolkata Mayor) are fighting the coming Lok Sabha elections from Raiganj and Kolkata NW, respectively. But Mitra has been in the party’s mainstream. Like in the past, he is playing a vital role from the backstage. In this election, Mitra’s job is to ensure at least six Congress seats from Bengal from its present three. He says the Congress may get more seats , if not 10, if the electorate are allowed to exercise franchise freely. In the party’s heyday in the seventies (Congress in power in the state) and the eighties (Mrs Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narashima Rao in the prime minister’s chair), Mitra did not get any coveted post either in the government or the party, except once when he became the party president in Bengal by defeating Mamata Banerjee in the election in 1982. But Mukherjee was inducted in the Siddhartha Ray ministry in 1972 with an important portfolios and as deputy to the Chief Minister. Das Munshi was also picked up by Mrs Indira Gandhi as Youth Congress president. He later had to vacate the seat for Sanjay Gandhi. Somen, however, remained in the state Congress, concentrating on working with the people in the grassroots and building his own brigade. The Bengal Congress has been divided into two groups — one led by Ghani Khan Chaudhury of Malda (an important minister in Mrs Gandhi’s Cabinet) and another by Pranab Mukherjee (virtually the second man in Mrs Gandhi’s Cabinet). Mitra, Abdul Mannan, Pradip Bhattacharyya, Atis Sinha and some other “young leaders” have been closeted with Ghani Khan Chaudhury, while Das Munshi, Mukherjee and several other politicians belong to Pranab’s camp. When Ms Mamata Banerjee was in the party, she used to take virtually the middle role, distancing herself from both the groups. Though most of these leaders have shifted several times from one group to another, Mitra has stuck to Ghani Khan Chaudhury. He has been an MLA from Sealdah since 1972 and not aspired to go to Parliament or be involved in the national politics. Somen is optimistic about his party’s prospects in the Lok Sabha poll. He is confident that the Congress will win six to 10 seats. Somen has been travelling from one district to another, campaigning for party candidates. He feels that the Congress is gaining and the Trinamool losing this time.
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20 years go by, village still beholden to him Budaun, March 29 We spotted a group of people, old and young and middle-aged, apparently having a lot of fun in the verandah of a house, on the highway, in the village that shares its name with a famous landmark of the city nawabs and
nazakat. It was the name of the village and the sense of fun in the air that aroused our curiosity. The group did not disappear but dispersed on seeing us approach. The pack of card in young Ravi’s hands provided some clue about the reason for the initial hesitation in making us feel welcome. He shuffled the pack of cards rather nervously and invited us to join the group in what he described as ‘‘time pass”. “No, we don’t play for money,” he said apologetically without being asked about his interest in cards. The offer of a game of whatever was postponed until after we had had a little chat on the only subject, apart from cricket, that is being followed with keen interest by politicians and ordinary folks in the
country. Hazratganj is a small village with a total population of not more than 1800. Although it has a Muslim-sounding name, it does not have a single Muslim family. Badaun itself has a fairly large Muslim population and the names of most of its tehsils and villages betray its association with Muslim rulers and saints. Hazratganj is essentially a Dalit-dominated village with a fair sprinkling of
OBCs, Brahmins and Thakurs, in that order. Ravi, the chief spokesman of the group, is a ‘tenth failed’ Brahmin. He has about four bighas of land and only himself to look after. That explained the relaxed look on his mischievously youthful face. The rest of the group was equally relaxed. The villagers had to think hard to invent a grievance. They were happy with the basic facilities that had been made available to them. Who was responsible for the extraordinary sense of contentment among them with what they had? Shri Krishna Goyal, they said in unison. Is he contesting the Lok Sabha election? No, he was a Congressman and as a minister had helped Hazratganj become a self-sufficient village. That was 20 years ago. Amazing. And the villagers are still beholden to him and no one else for their state of happiness. Is there any one from among the present lot of politicians they had equal respect for? They just grinned. And that said a lot. When you discuss the present political situation, they betray an evolved sense of humour.They point out that the Jats and Palis between them had enough votes to help Mr Saleem Iqbal
Sherwani, the sitting Lok Sabha Member, to win the election with relative ease. It goes without saying that the Muslim votes play a major role in his hold over the adopted constituency. He comes from the family of an Allahabad-based industrialist. Pali is not a commonly known caste. Palis are goat herds. To help us understand, Ravi said, “Jagdambika Pal, the one-day Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He is a
Pali.” They do not give much of a chance of springing a surprise to Mr Brijpal Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sinod Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party. What about the Congress? They all have a good laugh. One of them with a naughty glint says that
“Azharuddin.” Who is he? Who else but the wristy cricketer from Hyderabad and a former captain of the Indian cricket team? “But the Congress does not want to get involved in political-fixing of the poll.” The Hazratganjis sure have a wicked sense of humour. We later checked up with Mr Sherwani on his mobile about the source of the Azharuddin story. He had evidently come to offer a chaddar at the shrine of a local peer and the someone decided to spread the rumour that he had come to contest the election on Congress. There was no question of meeting Mr Sherwani for an “exclusive”, because he was in Delhi and was planning to make a short visit to Badaun around April 3. He was on his way to Lucknow for consultation with Mr Mulayam Singh. That is how confident the sitting Lok Sabha member is about his re-election. For those of us who may get fed up with an overdose of politics, a short spell among the fun-loving folks of Hazratganj may turn out to be the tonic for reviving their spirits.
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DMK against Bill on barring Sonia as PM
Chennai, March 29 “I think such legislation is unnecessary and the DMK will not support it,” Mr Karunanidhi said at the party headquarters on his return from the first leg of campaigning for the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), which he is leading with the Congress, the two Left parties, the MDMK, the PMK and the IUML. Answering questions on the debate over Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s eligibility to become Prime Minister and the NDA agenda for governance having mooted such legislation, the DMK supremo said to bring in such legislation to prevent one person (Ms Sonia Gandhi) from becoming Prime Minister was meaningless. “I wonder why Ms Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin was not raked up when Mr Rajiv Gandhi married her,” Mr Karunanidhi observed.
— UNI
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EVMs bring curtains on invalid votes
Nagpur, March 29 EVMs will also thus deprive the fancy-free voters from writing slogans, poems, indecent remark on ballot papers now. During the previous Lok Sabha poll in 1999, as many as 3,59,907 invalid votes were polled in Vidarbha in 11 constituencies. This figure seems to be too high and sufficient for a candidate to enter Parliament. The Chimur constituency where Namdeorao Diwate of BJP won in 1999 had the largest slice of invalid votes to the tune of 39,140, followed by Chandrapur with 38,782 invalid votes. Naresh Pugalia of the Congress won by a thin margin of 2,837 votes. Washim occupies the third highest number of invalid votes with a figure of 38,556 while Buldhana, the only reserved constituency in Vidarbha had recorded 38,476 invalid votes. The Ramtek seat saw 33,850 invalid votes where the margin of victory was 11,689. Shiv Sena nominee Subodh Mohite had defeated Congress' Banwarilal Purohit at Ramtek. The Nagpur-Kamptee constituency, the second capital of Maharashtra, recorded a lowest 19,367 invalid votes, possibly because of the high rate of literacy. According to official statistics about 4.4.per cent invalid votes, highest in the country were polled in Maharashtra in 1999.
— PTI
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BSP drops candidate Allahabad, March 29
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Laloo, Paswan to campaign jointly JMM list for Orissa
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Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Roads and Buildings Minister in the coalition government, has been given the Congress ticket for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat following refusal of the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, to contest the election.
Dr Nirmal Singh, a teacher at Jammu University, has plunged into the election arena from the Jammu Lok Sabha seat for the second time after having lost the previous by-election to National Conference candidate, Talib Hussain.
Jaipur, March 29
