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3 DSPs shifted following poll-related complaints Chandigarh, April 24 Sources in the Home Department disclosed that Jalandhar's DSP Bahadur Singh was ordered to be posted at Patiala as DSP (GRP). The orders were passed following the Election Commission of India's recommendations, the sources added. Refusing to give details, the sources added that action against the DSP was initiated following receipt of poll-related complaints against him. The DSP could not be contacted for his comments. The sources further disclosed that DSP Gurmeet Singh, posted with 32nd battalion of the Punjab Armed Police (PAP), was directed to be shifted as DSP in a training centre, Bahadurgarh, near Patiala. The reason behind his shifting was not known, the sources said. He also could not be contacted for his version. The sources revealed that Bathinda's Deputy Superintendent of Police Kant Singh was ordered to be posted at Vigilance Bureau Headquarters. Action against him was reportedly recommended by the Election Commission following receipt of poll-related complaints by members of a political party. The complainants had reportedly expressed apprehension that the DSP would favour a rival party. Punjab's Additional Director-General of Police (Operations) Shashi Kant, in charge of the election cell, was not available for comments. |
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Sidhu starts campaign from schools Amritsar , April 24 Sidhu today started his election campaign from the local Ram Ashram School, where he interacted with tiny-tots for more than an hour. During the face-to-face session, Sidhu talked of his success story and secrets behind his success. “Remember always that success is a ladder and not an escalator…success cannot be achieved except by dint of hard work”, he told the students and teachers of the school. During his lengthy speech, Mr Sidhu narrated the events which made him a celebrity at a young age . He said he never liked playing cricket. However, he wielded the bat to realise his father’s dream, who wanted to see him as a great cricketer. He said one should never get disheartened by criticism. “One article written by a journalist about my dismal performance during ODIs changed my life. I took it as a challenge and started practising day and night in the backyard of my house by putting up halogen lights. Earlier, Mr Sidhu addressed students of DAV Public School here . He was warmly greeted and cheered by teachers and students of the school, who jostled with each other to get a close look of the firebrand cricketer-turned-commentator-cum-politician. He told the schoolchildren that the Prime Minister had the vision to make India a superpower in the world by the year 2020. To a question as o why he joined politics, considered to be a dirty game, his answer was that there was always a scope for good people in politics like Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The dirt is generated from one’s own mind and from within. Meanwhile, the use of schools for election campaign by the BJP has irked the ruling congress party in this border district. During an all-party meeting, held by election observers, Mr Yoginder Paul Dhingra urged the Election Commission to stop the “misuse” of school premises for political purposes. He alleged that such attempts by Mr Sidhu were a clear violation of the model code of conduct. |
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Discard ‘Manuwad’ and join BSP, says Mayawati Barnala, April 24 She was addressing an election rally in support of Mr Mangat Rai Bansal, party candidate from the Sangrur parliamentary constituency at the grain market here. Thousands participated in the rally. She also introduced Mr Mangat Rai Bansal and Prof Gurnam Singh, party candidates from the Sangrur and Bathinda parliamentary constituencies, respectively, to the gathering. She said the popularity graph of “Manuwadi” parties, like the Congress and the BJP, was on the decline. This was the main reason that these parties were now banking upon filmstars to pull crowds. JALALABAD: BSP president Mayawati addressed an election rally in favour of the BSP candidate from the Ferozepore parliamentary constituency, Dr Mohan Singh Phalianwala, here today. She said the Congress, in its 48-year-rule, had done nothing for the social and economic uplift of Dalits. It had not spared even Baba Sahib Ambedkar and had fielded a candidate against him at the Bombay Lok Sabha seat in 1952. She cautioned the Rai Sikh community of the border belt that if they did not vote in favour of Dr Phalianwala, a Rai Sikh, this time, she would give the ticket to other community in the coming times. KHANNA: BSP chief Mayawati addressed an election rally in support of party candidates from Ropar, Patiala and Ludhiana here. She said the BSP had come of age and was capable of handling the ‘guile’ of the Congress and the BJP. Meanwhile, state BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri cautioned government officials against showing favours towards the ruling party. The rally was also addressed by Mr Man Manhera, Mr Ravinder Singh Sohal, party nominees from Ropar and Ludhiana, and Mr Narinder Kashyap, party in charge, Punjab. |
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Trust only thy kin as covering candidate Chandigarh, April 24 Candidates of the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), for example, named their blood relatives, including parents, spouses, brothers, sons and daughters as their covering candidates at the time of filing of their nomination papers. The only exceptions have been Amritsar and Hoshiarpur where no candidate had his blood relation as his or her covering candidate. This phenomenon, though new to contemporary politics, may mainly be because of the apprehension that the political party concerned may at the last moment declare the covering candidate to be the contestant by withdrawing the original nominee. The practice had been that it is the party high command which normally names both the candidate and the covering candidate for a particular seat. In case the nomination papers of the actual candidate are found incomplete or are rejected on technical grounds, the party should have a strong substitute appears to be the philosophy behind naming covering candidates. If one looks back at previous elections, there had been trusted and loyalist workers who would be happy even if they were named as covering candidates for one constituency or the other. Mr Daulat Ram Sharma, for example, who headed the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC) remained the party's covering candidate in as many as six Lok Sabha elections. He never contested any election. He remained the covering candidate for Mr Sat Pal, Mr Jagan Nath Kaushal and Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD — Sangrur), Capt Kanwaljit Singh (SAD — Patiala), Mr Arvind Khanna (Cong — Sangrur), Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal (SAD — Faridkot), Ms Karn Brar (Cong — Faridkot), Dr Rattan Singh (SAD — Tarn Taran), Mrs Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder (Cong — Gurdaspur), Rana Gurjit Singh (Cong — Jalandhar), Mr Naresh Gujral (SAD — Jalandhar) and Mr Shamsher Singh Dulo (Cong — Ropar) had named their spouses as their covering candidates. Mr Manish Tewari (Cong — Ludhiana) was the only candidate who had his mother, Dr Amrit Tewari, as the covering candidate. Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar (Cong — Ferozepore) named his brother, Mr Ripjit Singh Brar, as his covering candidate. Mrs Preneet Kaur (Cong — Patiala) and Mr Zora Singh Brar (SAD — Ferozepore) had their sons as their covering candidates, while Mrs Santosh Chaudhary (Cong — Phillaur) saw her daughter filing papers as the covering candidate. Normally, the nomination papers of the covering candidates are rejected for being the substitute candidates as a political party can authorise only one nominee on one seat. As such the nomination papers of all these blood relatives who had filed as covering candidates were rejected today by the Returning Officer concerned, thus leaving 150 candidates in the fray for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. In all 212 candidates had filed their nominations. April 26 is the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers. |
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Hearing in Badals’ assets case on April 29 Ropar, April 24 When the application moved by the counsel of Mr Badal that contempt proceedings should be initiated against Capt Amarinder Singh for misusing the above said case against the former during electioneering came up for hearing today the prosecution disowned the facts in it. The prosecution maintained that the application had nothing to do with the proceeding in the case. If Mr Badal had some grievance against the Congress it should either approach the Election Commission or issue notice to the Congress in this regard. The Special Judge, Ropar, Mr S.K. Goel, directed the prosecution to file their reply on the application in the form of an affidavit. In another application moved today by the defence counsel demanded more time for comparing the documents supplied to them by the Vigilance with the original ones. They maintained that since the documents had been supplied to them by the Vigilance and not by the court they had the right to compare them with the originals. The prosecution, however, contested the grant of permission to compare the documents on the assertion that it was just a delaying tactic. The public prosecutors maintained that already the defence had been given two-month time for inspecting the documents. The application challenging the filing of a supplementary challan by the Vigilance in the case also came up for hearing today. The defence maintained that once the challan had been filed then the Vigilance could not carry out further investigation without prior permission of the court. On this the prosecution maintained that it was mentioned in the main challan that the investigation in the case was going on and additional information would be supplied to the court in the form of supplementary challan. The application of Nirapjit Singh, another co-accused in the case, demanding the return of air tickets, passport and residential permit of his son also came up for hearing. The prosecution maintained that the items demanded by the accused were case properties and cannot be given back to the accused. The prosecution in the case demanded that all applications moved by the defence should be disposed of on a single date and at the earliest. The prosecution pressed for arguments on all applications on Monday but the defence demanded a later date. On this the judge fixed arguments on all main applications moved by the defence on April 29. Meanwhile, both Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Sukhbir Badal were granted exemption from personnel appearance for today’s proceedings. |
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Getting xerox copies police style Ropar, April 24 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on April 22 had directed the Punjab Vigilance to supply all documents attached with the challan against the former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. There were 10,000 documents attached with the challan. It would have been a huge task for a person to get the documents Xeroxed. However, the Punjab Police distributed the documents among various police stations of the district. On orders from senior police officers, the onus of getting the documents xeroxed fell on the SHO’s who further passed the documents to constables. The constables further distributed these among shopkeepers running photo copy shops. Though the documents were xeroxed on time and supplied to the authorities, the burden of getting them xeroxed fell on the shopkeepers. Some shopkeepers, who bore the financial burden of getting the documents
xeroxed, told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that they thought it their contribution in the case against Mr Badal. |
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I’m contesting on my achievements: Preneet
Patiala: It is difficult to
imagine Ms Preneet Kaur, as a member of an erstwhile royal family. She
has no royal airs and puts visitors at ease by her enthusiastic welcome
by walking up to them. Only her palatial residence, built by Maharaja
Yadwindra Singh and known as Moti Bagh Palace, is an indication of her
royal origins. Ms Preneet Kaur has to live with the royal tag though it
starts wearing off when she comes out of her residence. Her vehicle of
choice for campaigning is a Toyota Qualis. One or two Congress leaders
accompany her alongwith a trusted family friend, who has come all the
way from Canada to serve as a personal assistant during her poll
campaign. Once outside the palace doors, the Congress candidate is
immediately swarmed by people who want her to call up the appropriate
authorities for one work or another. She cites the election code but
also makes an odd phone call where it is possible before setting out in
the field. Ms Preneet Kaur is usually out by 8 am unless she gets late
due to some other work. She is usually attired in a simple cotton print
suit and prefers to cover her head with a ‘chunni’ while campaigning. A
hand bag and a pair of Gucci sun glasses is the only luxury she allows
herself. However, she is careful not to wear the sun glasses during
campaigning. The Congress candidate has grown in confidence since the
previous election. When she is asked by TNS as to why she is standing
for reelection again when she had stated that she was “only helping” her
husband last time around, she says this time she was contesting on the
basis of her achievements. “Ever since the Congress government has been
formed in the state, a lot has been done to develop the constituency”,
she says, adding that she herself has made available her discretionary
funds into the building of the much-needed bridges in the constituency
besides other works. At the first stop at Pabri village in the Rajpura
Assembly segment, the candidate goes up to the stage after exchanging
warm greetings with the people, especially women, who have assembled
under a small tent. After speeches by a few Congress leaders, who launch
an attack on the “non-performance” of the previous SAD government, Ms
Preneet Kaur takes up the mike. She is a slow starter and her thoughts
are not very cohesively. She, however, gets her ideas across by
talking about the development done in the constituency, the projects
taken up in Patiala and, particularly, the Rs 148 crore Ghaggar project
which she claims has come about due to her efforts. The Congress
candidate points out that the Akalis had failed to do anything to tackle
the problem of constant flooding during the Monsoon season in the
Ghaggar and other seasonal rivulets. She says she took other MPs with
her to ensure the clearance of the project by the Central Water
Commission. Besides, Ms Preneet Kaur tries to stress the fact that the
“panth’’ is not anyone’s property. Leaders explain this point to the
voters by stressing that the Patiala royal house was blessed by the Sikh
gurus. However, what the Congress candidate lacks in oratory, she tries
to make up through a personal contact programme. She usually talks to
women, pays obeisance at the village gurdwara and is humble in her
approach. This and the attempt to mix with the hoi polloi without
letting it appear so, does her credit. For instance, even though she had
carried her food with her during the campaign trail, she did not partake
of it. Later she had food arranged by a party worker at a ‘dhaba’ and
even said the half-cooked rice and the rubbery cottage cheese were
excellent. |
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15 left in Jalandhar, Phillaur after scrutiny Jalandhar, April 24 Although the nomination papers of the official candidates of main political parties were found in order, names of their covering candidates have automatically been dropped from the list, an official press release said. The names of the dropped covering candidates for Jalandhar seat include Ms Anjali Gujral, wife of SAD nominee Mr Naresh Gujral, Ms Ranbans Kaur, wife of Congress nominee Rana Gurjit Singh and Mr Jia Lal, covering candidate for BSP candidate Devi Dass Nahar. In Phillaur, the nomination of Mr Inder Iqbal Singh, son of SAD nominee Charanjit Singh Atwal, Ms Namita Choudhary, daughter of Congress nominee Santosh Choudhary and Mr Ram Lal, covering candidate for BSP candidate Pawan Tinoo, were dropped. As the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers was April 26, the final list of the candidates would be displayed on April 26 evening, Mr Ashok Gupta, District Returning Officer, said. |
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108 booths very sensitive in Amritsar Amritsar, April 24 Three personnel have been deputed for each booth with double the strength for “sensitive” booths and an additional NGO for the “very sensitive” ones . As many as 43, 3, 26 booths have been declared “hyper-sensitive” in Amritsar , Majitha and Tarn Taran while 26, 105 and 83 have been declared “sensitive”. Two companies of paramilitary forces have been requisitioned in addition to other personnel deputed for security, said Returning Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Raminder Singh. As many as, 1994 polling stations had been set up . Elections to the Khalsa College management, too, had been postponed. A candidate from Tarn Taran was also reprimanded for addressing a gathering in a gurdwara there as a place of worship could not be used for political activity . As many as 22 complaints have been received against various candidates out of which 10 have been forwarded to the Election Commission. Meanwhile, a Rs 2,000 fine has been imposed on BSP district president for violation of the Code of Conduct for defacing public walls. A notice had already been issued for removal of posters. |
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BJP seeks rejection of Rana’s nomination Jalandhar, April 24 Raising objections in a complaint to District Returning Officer Ashok Gupta, district BJP chief Shiv Dayal Chugh alleged that apart from being a registered voter at Kapurthala, Mr Rana Gurjit Singh was also a registered voter as a resident of house No. 14 of Defence Colony, Jalandhar. “He has also filed different details about his age,” said Mr Chugh. He demanded that the papers of Mr Rana be rejected on this ground. Mr Rana Gurjit Singh was not available for comments. However, his aide Vicky Sandhu said being a registered voter at two places was not a violation of any law. |
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Papers of six candidates rejected Amritsar, April 24 Six other candidates’ papers were also rejected. These included Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, a former minister, Dr Raj Kumar an MLA, Mr Ram Chand were rejected from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency who were covering candidates for the BJP, Congress and BSP candidates, respectively. The final number of candidates in the fray for this seat now is 13. Papers of three other covering candidates for the Tarn Taran Lok Sabha seat were also rejected. These included Avtar Kaur, Swarn Kaur and Sukhbir Singh, covering candidates for SAD, BSP and Congress. respectively. |
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SAD (A) candidate’s nomination papers rejected Hoshiarpur, April 24 The Election Commission of India had already disqualified him from contesting elections up to January 7, 2006, for not filing his statement of expenditure for the last assembly elections that he contested from Koom Kalan. Mr Raghunath Singh, covering candidate of Mr Darshan Singh
Mattu, (CPM), and Mr Bhagwan Singh Chohan, covering candidate of Mr Charanjit Singh Channi (BSP), had withdrawn their nominations. There are eight candidates in the fray now. |
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Papers of 7 candidates rejected Faridkot, April 24 They include Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife and covering candidate of Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD nominee, Mr Kanwaljit Singh Brar, husband and covering candidate of Mrs Karan Brar of the Congress, Mr Pritam Singh RPI, Mrs Hardav Kaur, Mr Bishan Dass, Mr Gurpreet Singh and Seeba Khan, all independents. As many as 17 contestants had filed their nomination yesterday. Symbols will be allotted on April 26. Meanwhile, presiding over a meeting of assistant returning officers and other supervisory staff the district returning officer asked them to ensure the implementation of the model code of conduct. |
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Ravi Inder’s party to support SAD(A) nominee
Bathinda, April 24 Mr Gurdip Singh, general secretary, Akali Dal, in a press note issued here today, said that though the Akali Dal was having sharp political differences with Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, his party had decided to support Mr Sarbjit Singh, as he (Mr Sarbjit Singh) was a panthic candidate. He added that this decision had been taken after taking views of the party’s rank and file into consideration.
— TNS |
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Denied ticket, Tur goes
anti-Badal Amritsar, April 24 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Tur said Mr Badal had defied the edicts of Akal Takht and violated Sikh maryada on several occasions. He said Mr Badal was backing his son to get him inducted as a minister at the Centre. |
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Redefine the term
Dalit, says union Phagwara, April 24 Mr Nirmal Singh, state unit general secretary, Mr Narinder Sharma, district unit general secretary and Mr Amarjit Singh Phagwara, block president, of the federation, respectively, said the assets declared by candidates while filing their nominations as per the EC direction exposed their real faces. How those owning properties worth crores could be called Dalits, they asked. |
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RRD to contest one seat only Faridkot, April 24 He disclosed that the decision had been taken following a discussion with state Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who he said had promised to pay special attention to solve problems of former soldiers on priority. |
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All nominations found in order Ropar, April 24 The Deputy Commissioner-cum-returning officer for the Ropar constituency said the scrutiny was conducted in the presence of the election observers. With this, 12 candidates are in the fray for the Ropar Lok Sabha seat. |
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150 left in fray in
Punjab Chandigarh, April 24 The maximum number of candidates are contesting from Ludhiana, followed by Ferozepore and Patiala. While 19 contestants will try their luck from Ludhiana, 17 are in the fray from Ferozepore. Fifteen candidates from Patiala will be contesting the polls. |
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They stay thirsty even on the banks of Bhakra dam Bhakra: About 350 villages on the banks of Gobind Sagar are reeling under an acute drinking water shortage. All the villages are of the Bhakra oustees and do not have a proper drinking water supply scheme even after 40 years of the commissioning of the dam that solved the drinking and irrigation water problems of the plains and ushered in Green Revolution in North India. In the absence a proper water supply scheme the villagers depend on the “baulis” for drinking. When the heatwave intensifies in May and June and water in “baulis” dries up, drinking water is supplied to these villages through tankers. This year with the heatwave intensifying early the “baulis” in the hills have already dried up. Now the villagers have to depend on the water supplied by the Public Health Department of Himachal Pradesh that comes only once or twice a week in each village. Since the tenders for supplying drinking water through tankers are yet to be finalised by the government this year, in the coming days the drinking water problem of the area in likely to intensify. Some of the panchayats have already moved resolutions urging the Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur to start the drinking water supply through tankers at the earliest to the villages. The drinking water problem of the villages is likely to become a major issue in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The residents, while talking to this correspondent, said that they were waiting for the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections to come and campaign in their area so that they could vent their ire on them for not being able to supply them drinking water. The water supply in the area has been a bone of contention between the Bhakra-Beas Management Board (BBMB) and the state government. Sources in the BBMB explained that after the construction of the dam the BBMB used to supply drinking water to some of the villages of the area. The government, however, objected to the BBMB supply. It instead asked the BBMB to deposit with it the money required for a drinking water supply scheme. The BBMB deposited the required amount. However, the drinking water failed to come. However, the villagers lost the supply provided by the BBMB. The government has been trying various drinking water schemes for the area on paper. Now once again the Chief Minister has laid the foundation stone of a Bhakra-Makri scheme for supplying drinking water to the area. The work on the Rs 1.5-crore scheme is yet to start. |
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Stay in corruption cases not permitted: HC Chandigarh, April 24 In a ruling, Mr Justice Garewal observed: “The law requires that all corruption cases should be decided expeditiously. Stay of proceedings in cases under the Act is not permitted. Nevertheless, the accused are known to employ all kinds of subterfuge to delay the trial. It is in the interest of justice, as well as in the interest of the right of ordinary people to know the truth about the way public men have been conducting the affairs of the state, that the trials should be expeditiously concluded”. The judgement is significant as scores of petitions filed by former ministers, along with sitting and ex-MLAs, besides other accused in corruption cases, are likely to be affected by the orders. In his detailed order, the Judge also dismissed a petition filed by Punjab’s former Agriculture Minister Gurdev Singh Badal challenging an order passed by Ludhiana’s Special Judge whereby he had directed the framing of charges, The Judge had found that there were sufficient grounds to presume that the accused had committed offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Claiming to have been implicated, the petitioner had claimed that the case against him was a false one. |
Eatery inspected Phagwara April 24 |
Tiwana is
chief of Bar body Fatehgarh Sahib, April 24 He defeated Mr Ashwani Joshi of the
Tiwana-Saini faction. Last year, Mr Amarjeet Singh Cheema of the Salana-Cheema
group had defeated the Tiwana-Saini faction candidate by one vote. |
DTO’s directive to bus owners Amritsar, April 24 Action would be taken against the buses found plying from the GT road. |
Gang of vehicle thieves busted Amritsar, April 24 The accused are identified as Raj Kumar, of Rattan Singh Chowk , Sikandar Singh, Jaswant Singh, and Arvinder Singh of Fateh Garh Churian Road and Shamsher Singh of Gumtala Colony here. A case under Sections 379, 411, 148, 149 of the IPC and 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act has been registered at the Jandiala police station . Mr R P S Bajwa, SSP, Majitha, in a press conference said the Jandiala police, after getting a specific information laid a special naka near Chapa Ram Singh village and signalled a Maruti car to stop. However, instead of stopping the car, they tried to flee and lost control over the car which turned turtle. The accused were nabbed by the police party headed by Hardev Singh SHO. On preliminary investigations, it was revealed that they were going to loot a petrol pump at Mattewal Village. They also confessed having involvement in a number of looting incidents in Amritsar, Majitha and some nearby areas. The police seized two. 12 bore single barrel gun, six cartridges and a Maruti car numbering PB-02D-M-3600, which was stolen from Ranjit Avenue here. On
interrogation the police also recovered two Maruti cars, one scooter and two motorcycles. |
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7 booked for assaulting Youth Congress chief Jalandhar, April 24 According to the police, a case under Sections 323, 324, 341, 148 and 144 of the IPC has been registered against Ganji, Raj, Bunti, Munna, Billa, Manoj, Madan and some unidentified persons on the complaint of Mr Sethi, who was admitted to the local Civil Hospital after receiving injuries in the attack. None of the accused has been arrested so far. |
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Commission agent robbed of Rs 3.55 lakh Samana, April 24 |
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Punjab police on trail
of Mumbai-based duo Mohali, April 24 According to the
police, one of these businessmen received a telephone call from the duo
who requested the complainant not to approach the police. The two
allegedly also promised him to pay back the money they had taken from
him. The police said the two told the complainant that they were in
Rajasthan. The duo had told the businessmen that they would organise a
show, Aa dekhen zara Kis mein kitna hai dum, at Parade Ground,
Chandigarh. It was to be organised under the banner of Mumbai-based AFZ
Multimedia Productions. The businessmen have now complained to the SP,
Mohali, seeking investigation into the case. |
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