H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Congress scores impressive victory
Shimla, May 13
The Congress scored an impressive victory in the Lok Sabha poll wresting three of the four seats in the state. The BJP survived a clean sweep by the Congress as one of its candidates, Mr Suresh Chandel, managed to scrape through by a slender margin in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Pratibha wins from Mandi Chandel wins for third time Snag in EVM stalls counting Poll violence: 8 held

Tabulated results of Punjab, Haryana, HP and J&K

Mandate in favour of state govt: CM
Shimla, May 13
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, hailed the election results as a victory of the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the policies and programmes of the Congress.

Poll Analysis
Virbhadra’s position strengthens
Shimla, May 13
The resounding victory of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Elections has put Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, in a domineering position.

Gastroenteritis claims one life
Palampur, May 13
Gastroenteritis has claimed one life in the Palampur sub-division. As many as 67 persons are reported to be seriously ill and receiving medical aid in different hospitals and private clinics.

Panel to review court, tribunal matters
Shimla, May 13
The Himachal Pradesh Government has constituted a court cases committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to review the court and the tribunal matters.

Congress scores impressive victory
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 13
The Congress scored an impressive victory in the Lok Sabha poll wresting three of the four seats in the state.

The BJP survived a clean sweep by the Congress as one of its candidates, Mr Suresh Chandel, managed to scrape through by a slender margin in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency. He defeated Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industries Minister, by 2202 votes.

Pratibha wins from Mandi
Our Correspondent

Mandi, May 13
Mrs Pratibha Singh of the Congress was declared elected from the Mandi Parliamentary constituency. She defeated her nearest rival Maheshwar Singh (BJP) by a 66,566 votes.

Mrs Pratibha Singh got a lead in 14 of the 17 Assembly segments. The BJP could secure a lead of 1577 votes in the Balh segment, 2030 in Jogindernagar and 6167 votes in Dharampur. The BJP candidate did not get lead even in the three Assembly segments of his home district - Kulu, Banjar and Ani.

Mrs Pratibha Singh got the largest lead of 25,063 votes in Rampur where she secured 32,055 votes against 6,992 votes polled by Mr Maheshwar Singh.

There were five candidates in the fray.

Mrs Pratibha Singh secured 3,57,623 votes as against 2,91,057 votes secured by Mr Maheshwar Singh.

Chandel wins for third time
Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, May 13
Mr Suresh Chandel of the BJP today created history of sorts when he made it to the Lok Sabha for the third consecutive time, dispelling the myth that no one could win this seat for the third time in succession.

In a nail-biting contest, Mr Chandel defeated his nearest rival, Mr Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress, by a margin of 1,625 votes

In the 1999 elections Mr Chandel had defeated Mr Thakur by a margin of 1,29,247 votes. The other seven candidates lost their security deposits

The atmosphere was tense in and outside the counting hall since morning when the counting started.

Mr Chandel, gave the credit for his victory to the people of the area and party workers.

Mr I.D. Dhiman, a senior BJP leader, thanked the people for having faith in the BJP and said people-oriented policies of the party had led to this victory

There was jubilation inside and outside the counting hall when the news of Mr Chandel winning the elections reached there. His supporters raised slogans in the favour of the BJP, Mr Chandel and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

A report from Samirpur, the native village of Mr Dhumal, stated that people danced in joy and distributed laddoos when, Mr Dhumal broke the news of Mr Chandel winning the elections

Talking to this reporter, Mr Dhumal said the elections this time were tough. He thanked the people of the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency for having faith in the BJP.

Snag in EVM stalls counting
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, May 13
The electronic voting machine (EVM) of the Barnolli polling station of the Guler assembly segment developed a snag which stalled the counting of votes. According to official information, 206 votes were polled in this station. The EVM was deposited with the District Electoral Office, Dharamsala.

Meanwhile, the Congress won in three out of the four Assembly segments of the Nurpur sub-division (Old). The counting took place here this morning. The Congress candidate, Mr Chander Kumar, led in the Guler, Jawali and Nurpur Assembly segments with margins of 5,764, 3,848, and 1,278 votes, respectively. In the Gangath Assembly constituency, the BJP candidate led with 961 votes.

In all nine polling booths of Nurpur town, the Congress gained a slender margin of 120 votes only.

Poll violence: 8 held
Our Correspondent

Palampur, May 13
The Baijnath police today arrested eight persons in connection with a clash between two rival groups on the eve of elections on May 10. According to the police, Mr Naresh Kumar, a Congress worker, was beaten up in Phatar village by BJP workers and he was admitted to the Civil Hospital in Baijnath.

Mandate in favour of state govt: CM
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 13
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, hailed the election results as a victory of the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the policies and programmes of the Congress.

He said by voting overwhelmingly for the Congress across the country, the people had expressed their faith in the party.

It was also a mandate in favour of the state government headed by him and its performance over the past one year. Besides speeding up development his government had also initiated various programmes for the welfare of the people.

He congratulated the people on their inflicting a crushing defeat on the NDA and negating the malicious propaganda of the BJP.

Mrs Vidya Stokes, Pradesh Congress Committee chief, said the strategy of the BJP to target Mrs Gandhi backfired as the people rejected the tirade against her.

Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, state BJP chief, said the people had gone by the tradition of voting for the party in power in the state.

Poll Analysis
Virbhadra’s position strengthens
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 13
The resounding victory of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Elections has put Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, in a domineering position.

The outcome of the poll has also given a lie to the BJP’s claim that the popularity graph of Mr Virbhadra Singh had nosedived over the past one year and silenced his detractors within the party. Apart from a host of factors which contributed to the party’s success, it was the tireless campaigning by the Chief Minister, which enabled it to wrest three of the total four seats from the NDA.

A shrewd politician, Mr Virbhadra Singh played his cards well all through. Sensing that the contest will be a tough one, he lost no time in mending fences with his one-time bete noir Mr Sukh Ram, the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) supremo, was instrumental not only in ousting the Congress from power in 1998 but also ensuring the defeat of Mrs Pratibha Singh, the wife of the Chief Minister, from the Mandi Parliamentary seat. His decision to merge the HVC into the Congress paid off and Pratibha rather comfortably won what appeared to be a tough battle.

The stakes were high for Mr Virbhadra Singh as there was a lot of opposition to the candidature of Mrs Pratibha Singh from within the party. The BJP did everything, including organising an election rally of its powerhouse A.B. Vajpayee, on the concluding day of campaigning at Mandi. However, Mr Virbhadra Singh proved that the decision to field his wife from Mandi was right.

Her victory is all the more commendable as she entered the electoral arena at the eleventh hour after Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, refused to contest.

Mr Virbhadra Singh had earlier played a masterstroke by weaning Dr D.R. Shandil, who won as an HVC candidate from Shimla in 1999. The BJP had an eye on Dr Shandil but the Chief Minister outsmarted the party. The strategy not only ensured the party’s victory in Shimla but also reduced the bargaining power of Mr Sukh Ram.

For the BJP, the defeat of its stalwart, Mr Shanta Kumar, is a big setback as Kangra is not only the biggest district of the state but has also been traditionally its stronghold. However, the base of the party had been weakened considerably ever since Mr Shanta Kumar was marginalised within the party. The high command made matters worse by dropping Mr Shanta Kumar from the Union Ministry after the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections. The announcement of Mr L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister, during campaigning that he will be again made a minister did not convince the people.

The party’s decision to take back the dissidents, who had organised themselves under the “Mittar Milan” helped it win the Hamirpur seat by a slender margin. The party gained over 15,000 votes more from the Hamirpur and Nadaun segments, which it lost during the Assembly elections. Mr P. K. Dhumal, former Chief Minister, held sway over his home district.

The BJP secured a lead in 22 out of the total 68 Assembly segments, an improvement of four over its current tally of 18 in the Vidhan Sabha, including Mr Naveen Dhiman and Mr Mohinder Singh, who have been made associate member of the BJP legislature party.

Gastroenteritis claims one life
Our Correspondent

Palampur, May 13
Gastroenteritis has claimed one life in the Palampur sub-division. As many as 67 persons are reported to be seriously ill and receiving medical aid in different hospitals and private clinics.

Official sources said here today that Raman Kumar of Melcher village died last evening. He was suffering from gastroenteritis for the past four days. It is also reported that so far 100 persons have been affected by the disease and out of them only 67 are getting medical aid.

Though the state government had deputed a medical team three days ago, that visited affected villages and examined 277 persons, but the epidemic had not yet been controlled.

Mr K.C. Chaman, SDM, Palampur, said a campaign for the chlorination of water sources had been launched in all affected villages.

Meanwhile, the sources confirmed that contaminated drinking water was the reason behind the spread of the disease. People living in lower areas of the Palampur had been drinking contaminated water of Bhiral Khud and Kirpal Chand Kuhal. The streams, which pass through Palampur town, are highly polluted as entire municipal waste is thrown into these.

Panel to review court, tribunal matters

Shimla, May 13
The Himachal Pradesh Government has constituted a court cases committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to review the court and the tribunal matters.

The Advocate General, the Principal Secretary (Home), the Administrative Secretary concerned and the Principal Secretary (Personnel) will be the members of the committee. The Additional or the Joint Secretary of the department concerned will be the member secretary. The committee will monitor the court cases and see whether these are being pursued properly and whether the orders in these cases are being implemented and appeals are being filed within stipulated time. — TNS