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EC deputes six observers
BSP violates code of conduct
Cong young brigade to woo voters
Mandal committees to play vital role |
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Nagrota Bagwan tops Kangra on photo
Poll meeting locations notified
Nadaunta Seat
Lok Paritaran to enter poll fray
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BJP mahila morcha alleges harassment
Hindu Mahasabha to contest poll
Automatic Affiliation Issue
500 stranded on Manali-Leh
highway
Water scarcity persists in Shimla
Ditto Solan
Industrialists sore over power cuts
Parishad confers awards
Kullu Trade Fair
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EC deputes six observers
New Delhi, October 23 The observers will reach the three reserved Assembly constituencies on October 27, the last date for the filing of nominations, sources said. The polling for the three Assembly segments would take place on November 14. The poll panel had advanced the election to 68-member Assembly in the hill state as there had been a demand that these three Assembly segments should also go to polls simultaneously with the rest of the state. The commission had fixed polling for these three segments, a day before the passes to these areas are officially closed in view of winter and snowfall. Following the announcement of the poll schedule, the Congress had petitioned the poll panel to reconsider its decision as the term of the Assembly expires only on March 9 next year. However, the commission said the poll announcement was totally in accordance with the law and “after the notification of a new House the old one ceases to exist”. The election code of conduct would be strictly followed and would be in force up to December 31 till the election process is over. |
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BSP violates code of conduct
Dharamsala, October 23 On the Chandigarh-Una-Kangra national highway, after crossing the Una town towards Kangra side, one could see slogans of the BSP written on bridges, road signs, rain shelters, bus stops and also on trees, besides, the private properties. The Kangra ADM Dr K.D. Lakhanpal said the district administration had asked the chief engineer of the PWD to issue a notice to the BSP on the issue and action would be taken against them if it was not corrected. Adding that the political party may even lose recognition on the report of the district administration, he said the respective subdivisional magistrates in the Kangra district have also been asked to issue separate notices to the local representatives of the BSP. The defacement of private/public property invites punishment for the violators. According to the provisions of the law, no one could deface the public property or the property of an individual by putting up posters, banners, slogans, etc without the written permission of the owner of the building, whether private or public. “The concerned party, association, body, candidate, person is liable to be prosecuted and proceeded against under the law and charged with causing willful damage to the property of others”, Dr Lakhanpal said. It is a cognizable offence punishable with an imprisonment for a term, which may extend to 6 months or with fine up to Rs 1,000 or both. Under the provision of Section 3 of the Act, the government is also competent to take such steps as may be necessary for erasing any writing, removing any defacement or any mark from any property. Meanwhile, there is a growing resentment among the probable candidates and leaders of other political parties against the BSP over the acts of writing slogans on private and public properties. Chandresh Kumari, the local MLA of Dharamsala, belonging to the ruling party has also lodged a verbal complaint before the ADC demanding action against the BSP. She alleged that it was also a violation of the directives of the Supreme Court and as such the district administration should take stern action against the BSP under the provisions of the Defacement of Property Act. |
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Cong young brigade to woo voters
Shimla, October 23 The Congress think tank is convinced that Rahul Gandhi, who will be campaigning in the state for the first time, will be an instant hit with the youth and emerge as a crowd puller and help tilt youth’s mind in favour of the party. He will be joined by the youth brigade comprising emerging leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot to present the young face of the party before the electorate. The party has set its eyes on young voters in the 18-25 year bracket. While Rahul will be the star campaigner, Sonia Gandhi, who has been campaigning for the party in every election since 1998, will address a series of rallies in the final phase of electioneering. The party is yet undecided whether or not to utilise the services of Priyanka Gandhi, who now has a Himachal connection. She recently acquired land near Shimla for building a house. The main focus of the party will be Gujarat where it is making an all-out effort to wrest power from the BJP, but Sonia Gandhi and other national-level leaders will be devoting sufficient time to the hill state. Delhi Chief Minster Sheila Dixit and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are among the main leaders who will campaign for the party. Pradesh Congress chief Viplove Thakur said the party was still in the process of finalising the list of main campaigner. Some more leaders from other states would also join the campaign. The central leaders will mostly campaign in the second phase during which 65 constituencies will go to the polls on December 19. |
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Mandal committees to play vital role
Hamirpur, October 23 Now, every aspirant for the BJP ticket would have to apply on a proper application form to respective the mandal committee of the party with a requisite fee of three thousands. No application for the party candidature will be entertained directly at the state or district level, though these committees will be fully involved in the ticket-allotment process. According to new norms, the mandal committee will not only provide a receipt on counterfoil attached with the application form, the recommendation of the mandal committee will be quite important in the ticket-allotment process. After the recommendation of the mandal committees, all applications will be submitted to the district committees, which will forward the same to the state committee. Ultimately, the party tickets will be allotted by the parliamentary board after thorough discussions in the election committee of the state. The BJP leadership has also decided not to consider the claims for the party ticket from candidates on the basis of caste and winning prospects of each candidate will be the sole criteria, party sources said. The party leadership has also urged the ticket aspirants not to take deputations to top leaders of the BJP and has urged the ticket seekers not to adopt such practise since this may in fact go against them. Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, while talking about these changes in the ticket-allotment process said “This entire exercise is being undertaken to decentralise the powers of ticket allotment and to make the mandal committees more effective.” “The recommendation of the mandal committees and district committees will play a crucial role in the final allotment of party tickets” he added. |
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Nagrota Bagwan tops Kangra on photo I-card front
Dharamsala, October 23 In Jawalamukhi and Jaswan constituencies, the percentage is 81.07 and 80.52, respectively. Out of total 64,583 voters, 52,577 possess photo I-cards in Jawalamukhi, while in Jaswan 44,756 out of 55,587 have these. The least number of voters possessing photo I-cards are in the Sulah constituency which had been represented by former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar thrice. Here, only 70.35 per cent voters (39,342 out of 55,926) possess photo I-cards. In the Kangra constituency, 70.51 per cent voters (53,281 out of 75,563) possess these cards. In Nurpur, 78.12 per cent (67,475 out of 86,369); in Gangath, 77.27 per cent (56,019 out of 72,490); in Jawali, 78.64 per cent (59,129 out of 75,189); in Guler, 72.81 per cent (42,868 out of 58,872); in Paragpur, 75.02 per cent (46,539 out of 62,036); in Thural, 75.53 per cent (44,680 out of 59,394); in Rajgir, 75.08 per cent (43,345 out of 57,728); in Baijnath, 72.99 per cent (46,465 out of 63,661); in Palampur, 78.81 per cent (53,999 out of 68,521); in Shahpur, 79.47 per cent (54,959 out of 59,160); and in Dharamsala, 76.56 per cent (47,695 out of 62,294 voters) possess photo I-cards. As such, 8,12,492 (76.83 per cent) out of 10,75,505 voters in Kangra district possess these cards. Meanwhile, district magistrate of Kangra Ashwani Kapoor said the state government would soon provide video cameras to make photo I-cards of the remaining voters. In this regard, he has appealed to the electorate of the 16 Assembly constituencies of the district to come forward and help achieve the target of issuing photo I-cards to all the voters. |
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Poll meeting locations notified
Shimla, October 23 Deputy commissioner Tarun Kapoor has notified ice skating rink, Ambedkar Chowk, Gopal Mandir ground, Boileauganj, space opposite CTO on the road leading to Lower Bazar and Naaz restaurant for the purpose. Kapoor said the notified places would be available to all political parties impartially, subject to the condition that they informed about the venue, date and time of the proposed meeting three days in advance. He said separate permissions would have to be sought for the use of loudspeakers or any other such facilities. |
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Nadaunta Seat
Hamirpur: The district general secretary of the Congress committee, Anil Verma, has staked his claim for the party ticket for the coming Assembly election from the Nadaunta constituency.
Talking to mediapersons here, Verma said, in a representation sent to the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, copies of which had been issued to the media, Verma had urged the party chief to allot him the Congress ticket since he was not only an old-party worker but also belonged to the area which had not been allotted any ticket till now.
— TNS |
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Lok Paritaran to enter poll fray
Shimla, October 23 Secretary of the outfit Chandersekhar said applications had been invited from candidates online and the main criteria for allotment of the ticket would be educational qualification and no-criminal background. He said the objective of the party was to present an alternative before the people who were losing faith in the system due to the stranglehold of money power, corruption and criminals. The system had been hijacked by incompetent people mainly because the educated, honest and well-meaning people had been neglecting the all-important field politics.
— TNS |
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BJP mahila morcha alleges harassment
Nurpur, October 23 Addressing a meeting of Kangra BJP mahila morcha activists at
Jassur, morcha president Roopa Sharma alleged that during the Congress regime, women supporters of the BJP were harassed and injustice was meted out to them. She alleged that in anganwari recruitments, the Congress government had discriminated against the deserving candidates. She said after the sudden announcement of Assembly poll, the anti-people policies of the Congress had come to a halt. The meeting was also addressed by the state morcha general secretary Ritu Sethi and Kangra district morcha president Malvika
Pathania. |
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Hindu Mahasabha to contest poll
Dharamsala, October 23 Lashing out at the Congress and the BJP, he said these parties had never lived up to the expectations of the people. He said the time had come for the hill folk to have a second thought on both these parties. |
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Automatic Affiliation Issue
Shimla, October 23 While passing the order, the Division Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Mr Justice V.K. Ahuja, expressed displeasure over the indifferent attitude of the state which did not file its reply even after a lapse of three months. The court had been given eight weeks time for filing the reply, but the state failed to do so. The court passed the order on a petition filed by the Citizen Rights Protection Forum. The organisation alleged that it would not be safe to provide automatic affiliation to schools run by the state because the purpose of rules and regulations would be defeated as there were about 15,000 schools which were run by the state. Students in these schools needed the same infrastructure and facilities which the education board was trying to achieve as being given by the privately managed schools. The petitioner organisation further stated that the affiliations to the private schools were accorded after an inspection was carried by the committee constituted by the board. But from the past two decades, schools were being opened by the state without going into the details of infrastructure and opening of a new school and upgrading of a particular school was being done at the behest of the Chief Minister or the Education Minister. The announcement regarding upgrading of a school was being made on the spot without constructing the infrastructure of the school, the petitioner said. |
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500 stranded on Manali-Leh
highway
Manali, October 23 The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the highway, claimed that the blockade would be cleared within one or two hours. But passengers were stranded in the Lahaul valley for the past 20 hours. The passengers who were stranded on the highway said on phone that there was no assistance from the district administration as not even a single policeman was their to help in expediting the clearance work on the highway. The women patient, Asha Kumari, from Ria village in Pangi, who was rushed from the spot after she was seriously mauled by a bear yesterday was being taken in an ambulance but their vehicle got stuck on the highway. There is no habitation or rest house at Koksar and passengers are stranded on the highway since last night, rued O.P. Sharma, a passenger. Though the BRO has put in their efforts to clear the blocked highway, there is just one bulldozer, compressor and few BRO men to do the job, revealed passengers. DC Lahaul-Spiti A.S. Rathaur said the matter had not been brought to the notice of the district administration so far. “We will make transshipment arrangements if the blockade is not opened tonight and would depute rescue teams to help transport the patient to a nearby rest house at Sissu or Koksar”, he added. |
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Water scarcity persists in Shimla
Shimla, October 23 As against a daily water requirement of 38 MLD, the MC was able to supply only around 28 MLD. The MC authorities said they could only supply the water and pumping was the job of the Irrigation Department. As the MC is struggling to improve the water supply, a power cut in Gumma and Chaid area on October 25, will further hit the supply. “With practically no pumping at Gumma, which is our main station, on October 25 due to power cut, the supply is bound to be hit for at least two days,” said Narender Kataria. He said efforts were being made to repair the damaged water pipeline near the cremation ground in Sanjauli, but it was likely to take at least five more days. Water supply had earlier remained affected from the Churhat scheme for a very long period when the pipe was damaged near Dhalli. “While the MC is blaming the IPH, the IPH says it has little to do with water supply,” he said. The fact was that the people were facing acute shortage and were getting water after several days contrary to the claims of the MC that it was being given on alternate days, he added.
— TNS |
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Ditto Solan
Solan, October 23 The scheme which failed to function as its transformer gave way nearly two months ago, has been awaiting repair. Initially the Electricity Department pleaded that the transformer which had been installed in the Ladah khad, could not be installed in the same place as it created difficulty in repair and maintenance. This was despite the fact that the officials of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department felt that it would have facilitated in drawing water from the khad. This dispute delayed the installation of the transformer and the scheme could not be made functional for weeks together. People who were earlier received water on alternate days now were rendered waterless for days together. Later an arrangement was made with an adjacent water scheme and people started getting water after three days. XEN, IPH, Dharmender Gill assured that the scheme would soon be re-started. He said though they had requested the Electricity Department to install the transformer in its earlier position. He said as against the required voltage of 400 volts, less than 300 volts was available, and this was also reduced to 80 volts when the pipes faced load. He said they had taken up the matter with the department a number of times but to no avail.
— OC |
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Industrialists sore over power cuts
Una, October 23 Some industrialists said electricity officials of Una had informed them that from yesterday the department had decided to introduce power cut and they would be provided electricity for two days with a gap of one day power cut. The industrialists of Mehatpur said this would effect their production and they would have to pay wages of workers without any work. They said the system which the Electricity Department had introduced would provide them electricity for only 20 days in a month and some of the units might have to close down as it would not be possible to pay wages to workers without any work. Una HPSEB executive engineer said due to the shortage of electricity in the state, this system had been introduced. He said instead of introducing electricity cut every day for three/ four hours and putting industrial units to loss every day this system had been introduced to put a cut of one day and provide electricity for
two days. Similar is the condition in the Tahliwal industrial area, where the power cut has been introduced. |
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Parishad confers awards
Chamba, October 23 Deepak Puri, senior cardiologist of Fortis hospital, Mohali, was given “Himotkarsh Himachal Shri” award. Naresh Bedi, a Chamba-born industrialist of Mumbai, was also awarded “Himotkarsh Himachal Shri” honour for his exceptional achievements at the national and international level. Similar awards were conferred on Kamal Prasad Sharma for literature, Devender Handa for music, Kanwar Ashavani Singh for sports and S.L. Salhotra (posthumously) for exemplary social work. Cash awards worth Rs 37,500 were given to seven meritorious students by Ratni Devi Bedi as Mangat Ram Bedi Memorial Annual Awards. Meanwhile, a two-day free heart check-up camp was also organised. |
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Kullu Trade Fair
Kullu, October 23 During old days, the trade fair at Kullu Dussehra was the main trading ground for Tibet (Yarkand), Lahaul & Spiti and Kullu. Most of the trading was done under the barter system. A cattle fair is also organised. Transactions of more than Rs 200-crore were assessed by the Department of Excise and Taxation and the local body here during the week-long festival. |
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