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Srinagar, April 26 Claiming that the National Conference will sweep the parliamentary poll in the Kashmir valley, party patron Farooq Abdullah today said he would make efforts to form a third front at the Centre in case of a hung verdict for the Lok Sabha.
Voters find novel way to please everyone
BJP flays govt for withdrawing sales tax exemption
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BJP vice-chief, 5 others suspended
3 withdraw from Ladakh contest
Faulty EVMs delay polling
Vital installations targeted show LeT maps
Panthers party leader’s guards held on rape charge
Ex-minister Sagar detained, released
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Farooq to form third front in case of hung LS
Srinagar, April 26 “We will make all efforts to form a third front at the Centre in consultation with other regional parties in case of a hung Parliament,” he told reporters after casting his vote at Burnhall school polling booth in the Sonawar area of Budgam-Srinagar constituency this morning. NC Chief Omar Abdullah and his wife Payal, accompanying the former Chief Minister, also cast their votes at the same booth. Claiming that he was already in touch with several parties, the senior Abdullah said: “I can play a key role in the formation of the third front but that will be discussed only after May 13 (counting of votes)”. On the prospects of his candidates, Abdullah expressed confidence that his party would win all seats in the valley and was also expecting to retain the Ladakh seat. “Godwilling, we will win. If (PDP president) Mehbooba Mufti wins it will be only by unfair means,” he added. However, Mr Abdullah was quick to add that if the PDP candidate from south Kashmir Anantnag parliamentary constituency “won the elections without resorting to unfair means, we will welcome it”. Accusing the ruling party of rigging the elections, he said his party had conveyed the concerns to the Election Commission. — PTI |
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Voters find novel way to please everyone
Ichigam (Kashmir), April 26 Abdul Hamid, a 28-year-old youth from this village, 18 km from Srinagar, was among the early birds to exercise his right to vote but was speaking a different tone after coming out of the polling station. As media teams covering the poll in the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency reached here, Hamid, alongwith several youths, started shouting anti-election and pro-freedom slogans. Asked why he had voted earlier, Hamid said, “this is the way we can keep both sides happy. Every second day we had someone or the other coming here, asking us to vote or not to vote.” He said residents of his village, like many other rural areas, were living in the shadow threats from either side of the political divide. “In the morning, we had the security forces telling us to come out and vote. They did not use threatening language,” he said. “And if there is heavy turnout in the area, I am sure the other kind of gun-wielding people will definitely visit the village,” Hamid said. He said the villagers had come to an understanding that they would vote in enough numbers to escape the wrath of both sides. When asked whom he voted for, Hamid was smart enough to say “I am not bound to answer this question but honestly I do not know.” Asked if he was not scared of making his views known in view of his claimed threats, he replied in negative saying that everybody would say the same here. “There are hundreds of my namesake in this area.” If tactical voting was modus operandi here, elsewhere there were clear demarcation between pro-election and anti-election supporters. Voters in Chadoora, Panzan, Kangan, Ganderbal and Chrar-e-Sharief areas voted in bulk but in the rest of the constituency — mostly the downtown city — they remained indoors, probably paying heed to the boycott call given by the separatists. Normal life was disrupted in the valley following the general strike call given by separatist organisations and supported by almost all militant outfits. Although the state government had declared a holiday today, shops and business establishments also remained closed, while transport system was paralysed in view of the strike call. The separatists had described the elections as futile exercise and asked the people to boycott the poll on the plea that the elections are no solution to the Kashmir issue. —
PTI |
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BJP flays govt for withdrawing sales tax exemption
Jammu, April 26 Mr Hari Om described the decision of the Congress-supported PDP-led coalition as discriminatory and an insult to sodiers, fighting terrorists in the state. He said the sales tax exemption was available to the defence personnel throughout the country, but in Jammu and Kashmir, where they were sacrificing authorities were unthankful to them. The coalition government was more interested in providing financial sops to surrendered terrorists who had massacred innocent persons. He said the decision showed that the coalition partners, including the Congress and the Panthers Party, had no regard for supreme sacrifices the defence personnel had made for the country. The BJP leader said discrimination against the soldiers had only added to woes of Army pensioners as well as serving defence personnel. He demanded that the exemption should be restored immediately as almost every household in Kathua and Udhampur districts had a soldier. Mr Hari Om said the Daughter’s Bill seeking to deny property rights to women marrying outside the state, and become a poll issue particularly in the Udhampur constituency. Residents of Kathua were particularly agitated over the Bill as many girls of the area were married in the neighbouring Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur areas of Punjab and Nurpur, Chamba and Kangra of Himachal Pradesh. Such women would lose their property and other rights in the state once the Bill was passed, he said. He claimed there was widespread anger against the Congress on these two issues. |
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BJP vice-chief, 5 others suspended
Jammu, April 26 The group led by Mr Sharma has denied the charge. “We had done no-thing to weaken the chances of party candidate, Dr Nirmal Singh”, he said. The dissidents said since Mr Sharma had been sent to Srinagar for organising the compaign, he and his supporters had no hand in the anti-party campaign in Jammu. Mr Sharma said: “I spent nearly 10 days in Srinagar and when I returned, I visited the Kashmiri migrant camp alongwith the party candidate from the Srinagar seat, Mr Iftikhar Sadiq. Hence, the charge of having indulged in anti-party activities in Jammu is baseless.” BJP leaders said besides using Congress jeeps for mustering support for the Congress candidate in Jammu the dissidents had caused friction by telling Brahmin voters that being a Rajput, Dr Nirmal Singh, had sidelined senior Brahmin leaders in the BJP. Loyalists in the BJP had seized posters, said to have been issued by the Brahmin Pratinidhi Sabha headed by Mr Sharma’s brother. The posters had appealed to Brahmin voters to vote for Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Congress candidate, because he was a Brahmin. Mr Sharma said an 11-member committee had been constituted which would explain “our innocence before the party high command and also prepare a white paper on the omissions and commissions of the BJP president Dr Nirmal Singh.” Party sources, however, said the rift between Mr Sharma and Dr Nirmal Singh was not recent. Since Mr Sharma was much senior to Dr Nirmal Singh, the installation of the latter as the state BJP president had been a source of irritation to many BJP leaders. |
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3 withdraw from Ladakh contest
Jammu, April 26 The Ladakh and Udhampur parliamentary constituencies go to the polls on May 10. A total of 20 candidates have filed their nominations from the Udhampur constituency. No one has withdrawn his candidature. The candidates who withdrew their nominations from the Ladakh constituency are Mohammad Amir, Tsering Dorjay and Isa Ali while those left in the fray are Independent candidate Thupstan Chewang, the BJP’s Sonam Paljor, the NC’s Hassan Khan and Independent Wazir Mohammad Ali. —
UNI |
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Faulty EVMs delay polling
Srinagar, April 26 People had come much before the start of polling at a booth at Ganderbal where the EVM had developed a snag, hampering their schedule. They cast their votes after the machine was replaced. Reports of faulty EVMs were also received from other areas, including Buchwara, Waterhal, Patkanhama, Zadibal and Maribat. All machines were replaced and the polling resumed normally. —
UNI |
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Vital installations targeted show LeT maps
Jammu, April 26 The LeT’s intentions were to create widespread violence in the Jammu region, Army sources said, giving copies of the maps. The sources said the recoveries also shed light on detailed planning and coordination that had gone into carrying out the recent suicide attacks in the region. All sketches pertained to places and landmarks in Jammu, the police headquarters, State Bank of India, Army Transit Camp and Tawi Bridge, besides a diary containing a record of attacks carried out by militants here in the recent past. The sources said the security forces had made these seizures in the past over two-month-long operations in the thickly-forested mountains of Mandi. The operations were launched as the Army had been receiving intelligence inputs that militants had carved hideouts in the area. During the operations, the Army also eliminated seven militants in encounters. These militants had earlier carried out suicide attacks in the Jammu region. For instance, they carried out an attack on Anand Hotel in the heart of Poonch town last year and a police post outside the SBI branch at Poonch. The Anand Hotel incident claimed the life of Deputy Superintendent of Police Manjit Singh. The sources said the same group of militants had been planning to target Jammu city during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. As the maps were drawn neatly and precisely, it seemed as if these were the handiwork of some trained military mind, the sources said. The study of the sketches revealed that the militant commanders, before making a strike, carefully surveyed their targets and used sketches to brief their cadres, the sources added. —
UNI |
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Panthers party leader’s guards held on rape charge
Jammu, April 26 The incident occurred when party Udhampur district president Mool Raj went to the village in Ramnagar tehsil to visit his relatives last night. The accused, who accompanied Mr Raj and were waiting for him outside the village, forcibly took the woman in the vehicle and raped her. As the woman raised the alarm, some villagers gathered there and nabbed the three accused. They were handed over to the police. They have been identified as personal security officers Mashinder Singh, Bhushan Kumar and driver Suresh Kumar. The victim has been sent for a medical examination in Udhampur district hospital. Residents took out a rally today against the party, accusing it of shielding the culprits. District Police Chief P.R. Manhas assured the demonstrators that appropriate action would be taken against the accused. —
PTI |
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Ex-minister Sagar detained, released
Srinagar, April 26 The police also impounded several vehicles with ‘’mobile voters.’’ An official spokesman said Mr Sagar was arrested at Rainawari for obstructing the poll process. He was later released on bail. However, an NC spokesman said Mr Sagar had been arrested when a large number of people raised slogans in favour of the NC candidate near a polling booth. Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the vehicles impounded by the police were being used by the NC to take “mobile voters” from one booth to another. —
UNI |
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