Shimla, November 12
Electioneering for the three tribal segments going to the polls in the first phase of Assembly elections on November 14 came to a close today.

It was all through a low-key affair and no national leader campaigned for any party. While Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh spearheaded the campaign for the Congress, BJP vice-president Shanta Kumar and former Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal shouldered the responsibility for the BJP. The only prominent leader from outside the state to take part in the electioneering was Navjot Singh Sidhu who wound up the BJP campaign by addressing public meetings at Udaipur in Lahaul- Spiti and Reckong Peo in Kinnaur.

Virbhadra Singh addressed a series of election meetings at Sangla, Katgaon and Sapni in Kinnaur on the final day of electioneering. He spent a week campaigning in the three constituencies. The difficult mountainous terrain and vast area over which the electorate were scattered forced all leaders to use helicopters for campaigning.

There are 12 candidates in the fray for the three seats. The ruling Congress, the opposition BJP and the BSP, which has entered the fray for the first time, are contesting all three seats while the Lok Janshakti Party is contesting only the Kinnaur seat.

At present all three seats are held by the ruling Congress. It has fielded the sitting legislators from Bharmour and Kinnaur but changed the candidate from Lahaul-Spiti.

The main contest in Kinnaur is between Jagat Singh Negi of the Congress and Tejwant Negi who are facing each other on for the second time. This time the contest is four-cornered as Susheel Sagar (BSP) and Bhagat Singh (Lok Janshakti Party) are also in the fray.

In Bharmour old rivals Thakur Singh (INC) and Tulsi Ram(BJP) are clashing for the sixth consecutive time. While Thakur Singh won the electoral battle in 1985, 1993 and 2003, Tulsi Ram triumphed in 1990 and 1998. Besides Balbir Singh of the BSP, Chandu Lal and Munish Kumar (both Independents) are also in the field but the main contest is between the Congress and the BJP.

In Lahaul_Spiti the contest is triangular involving Phunchog Rai (INC), Ram Lal Markanda (BJP) and Bir Singh Rawal (BSP) though Shyam Chand (Independent) is also in the field. The sitting legislator Raghubir Singh, who hails from the Lahaul valley, was denied the ticket by the Congress which preferred Phunchog Rai, who is from the Spiti valley. The battle has taken an interesting turn as the BJP and BSP candidates are both from the Lahaul valley.

The total number of electorate in the three seats is 1,27,793. The maximum of 55,108 voters are in Bharmour, followed by Kinnaur (49,876) and Lahaul-Spiti (22,809).

Shimla, November 12
Wanting to make a dent in the Shimla parliamentary constituency, the traditional stronghold of the Congress, the BJP is this time making all-out efforts to improve its performance in the three districts of Solan, Sirmaur and Shimla where it has only three of the 17 Assembly seats under its control.

As compared to the rest of the state, the performance of the BJP in this traditional Congress bastion has never been too impressive. This time the party is keen that it is able to make an impact and woo the voters in these three districts. The strategy being adopted this time by the party is to look for new faces having greater acceptability within the party and amongst the general public.

There are only three MLAs, Harinarain Saini from Nalagarh, Rajiv Bindal from Solan and Sukh Ram Chaudhary from Poanta Sahib. While two are from Solan district, one is from Sirmaur. The party is practically unrepresented from Shimla district in the Assembly.

Senior BJP leaders have already held meetings with party workers right from the mandal level to ascertain their views on the best possible candidates who can be fielded. Former health minister J.P. Nadda has taken the feedback from all 17 Assembly segments falling under the Shimla parliamentary constituency and submitted his report to the party.

Taking statistics into account, the BJP is confident that if the vote percentage of the BJP in the 2004 parliamentary elections could go up by 7 per cent as compared to the 2003 Assembly poll, then there certainly was scope for improvement. “At certain places workers were not too happy with the candidates fielded by the party and that made all the difference,” admit senior leaders.

“I will meet party workers at Rampur tomorrow so that we can make an impact in the hometown of the Chief Minister and field strong candidates,” said Satya Pal Jain, in charge of party affairs in Himachal. He admitted that the BJP was very keen to improve its past performance in the Shimla parliamentary constituency and raise its tally from the present three.

Like in the Theog Assembly segment the votes polled in favour of the BJP went up from 3,600 in the 2003 Assembly poll to 9,800 in the Lok Sabha elections within a year. Similarly, the BJP improved considerably in Chopal, Kumarsain and Jubal-Kotkhai.

This time the party is keen that fresh faces with more acceptability are fielded with the consent of party workers. This could mean that the BJP would do away with old leaders who have lost several times and give chance to new faces.

Solan, November 12
Larger rural populace notwithstanding, it is the urban voter that has always been the deciding factor in the Solan constituency. As candidates from urban areas have managed to emerge victorious on most of the occasions, this has become a crucial consideration for ticket allocation this time.

The fact that the Congress is likely to field a new candidate this time as its earlier nominee Krishna Mohini had lost three consecutive elections, the rural-urban base is likely to be a major criterion for ticket allocation. Twentythree contenders from both rural and urban areas of the constituency are in the fray for the ticket.

An analysis of the performance of contestants during previous elections showed that rural candidates ended up forfeiting their securities on more than one occasion.

Right from 1977, the constituency has seen seven MLAs and, except on one occasion in 1982 when the Congress didn’t field any official candidate, the seat was bagged by urban candidates.

Even sitting MLA Rajiv Bindal hails from Solan town. He won the seat on two successive occasions. Prior to his victory, the seat was held by two MLAs belonging to Solan.

So dismal was the performance of rural candidates that they ended up forfeiting their securities. Prominent among them were Sunder Singh Jaswal, who could poll barely 0.13 per cent votes in the 1993 assembly elections, while Haminder Thakur forfeited his security by gaining mere 1269 votes.

Having a voter population of around 71,000, the constituency is divided into two crucial parts comprising Solan (urban) and Solan (rural). Solan (urban) comprises the Solan MC area and 18 panchayats of Solan block. While the MC area has 28,000 voters, Solan block has 18 panchayats with 25,000 voters. Together they constitute for around 53,000 voters.

The 18 panchayats of Solan block are located in the surrounding areas of Solan and the voters here generally follow the urban voters. They prefer to vote for a candidate belonging to urban areas.

Dharamsala, November 12
The BSP has promised to make Dharamsala the winter capital and set up a Division Bench of the High Court if the party was voted to power.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, convener of the state unit, said the winter capital status to this town was a long-pending demand of the people of the lower hill areas of the state.

Lashing out at the ruling Congress and the BJP, he said both these parties during their respective tenures had adopted double standards towards people of the lower areas. “No one has seriously looked into the problems being faced by people”, he said.

The BSP was committed to running all the administrative affairs of the government from Dharamsala for at least four months from November to February as in the case of Jammu and Kashmir. In the rest of the year, a permanent additional chief secretary along with senior officers of other departments would be deputed in this town by bringing in legislation decentralising powers so that the files of routine works need not be taken to Shimla for clearance, he said.

Similarly, people of the lower areas and Chamba district had for long been demanding a permanent Bench of the High Court at Dharamsala, which would be considered on priority by the BSP after coming to power, Mankotia said.

Referring to the problems being faced by employees of the lower areas in the tribal belts of the state, he promised to bring in legislation for evolving a policy on transfers and postings of the government employees, which would aim at posting them near their homes.

Adding that there were thousands of educated youth and government employees hailing from the tribal belts who could better work near their homes, he said that the employees were the backbone of any government or the state and they would never be made to become victims of petty politics.

Mankotia also announced to set up a central university at Dharamsala, streamline financial management of the state, besides initiating legal action against corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, including the Chief Minister/family members, power brokers and land mafias.

Taking a dig at the Congress and the BJP, he said both these parties were worried over the social engineering formula adopted by the BSP as a result of which they were not able to decide their candidates fearing dissidence.

Mankotia said the BSP would release its first list of the candidates this week and would not look for dissidents to join them as feared by the Congress and BJP leadership. “We have hundreds of young faces waiting in the line to get the ticket”, he added.

Nurpur: Mankotia has alleged that the Virbhadra government had ruined the hill state by selling off its vital interests and indulging in corruption and nepotism. Addressing mediapersons at Bassa Waziran, near here, on Sunday evening after presiding over the martyrdom day function of Wazir Ram Singh Pathania, he said the BSP was contesting the elections on prime issues like unemployment, rising prices, corruption and regional imbalance. 

Shimla, November 12
The BSP today said the party with its formula of social engineering would provide the much needed third viable alternative to the people of Himachal who were fed up with both the BJP and the Congress.

Addressing a press conference here today, Convener of the BSP state election committee Col Harish Chauhan said the BSP was not only considerate towards the issues concerning the Dalits but was sensitive towards the problems of the poor-upper class as well.

“The Congress has already lost its credibility with corruption in appointments and transfers and its poor fiscal management, which has landed the state in a debt trap of Rs 23,000 crore,” he said. He said the people of the state were fed up with the Congress regime and had made up their mind to vote the party out of power.

He said the BJP which had claimed to a party with a difference had failed to come up to the expectations of the people.

“What is worst is the fact that the BJP is a party known for its provocative propaganda, which is not only divisive and destructive but a threat to the unity and integrity of the nation,” he remarked.

Col Chauhan said the Congress as well as the BJP were victims of nepotism, plagued by bankruptcy of ideas for the progress of the country. “The BSP is a welcome change for the people who are fed up with both the Congress as well as the BJP, who have taken the people for a ride,” he said.

Col Chauhan said the Congress regime had failed to do much for the state capital where people were facing a permanent water shortage problem.

Shimla, November 12
The BJP today sought an apology from Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for insulting the people of India and its Constitution by making uncharitable remarks against the Election Commission of India.

Addressing a press conference here today, Satya Pal Jain, in charge of the BJP affairs in Himachal said it did not behove a man of the stature of Chief Minister to use such un-parliamentary remarks against a constitutional authority. He was referring to the alleged remarks made by Virbhadra that the Election Commission of India was working at the behest of BJP leader L.K. Advani.

“I demand that the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the union law minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj should clarify the stand of their party on such derogatory statements by their Chief Minister,” he demanded. He said making such remarks against a democratic and constitutional authority amounts to insulting the people of the country.

He said there have been times when the BJP too had been unhappy with certain decisions of the Election Commission of India but that did not mean that one went to such an extent to crticise a constitutional authority. “I am compelled to say that he is not fit to occupy such a high position if he uses this kind of un-parliamentary language against the Election Commission of India,” he said.

Jain said the BJP had taken notice of the pressure being exerted on officers who were trying to enforce the code of conduct to ensure free and fair polls. “I appeal to the officers not to succumb to their pressure as the days of the Congress regime are numbered as the BJP will be voted to power in Himachal,” he said.

In reply to a question if the party would consider the name of former Lok Sabha MP Suresh Chandel for the party ticket from Hamirpur, he said it was unlikely but then the final decision lay with the election committee. He said that the BJP would win the three tribal seats with a comfortable margin and the morale of the party workers was very high.

Shimla, November 12
While the electorate of the tribal areas will have a role in the formation of the government in the state, they will be going to the polls without even a look at the election manifestoes of various political parties in the fray.

Indeed the election strategy of parties has gone haywire due to the advancement of elections as a result of which they have failed to release their manifestoes before the first phase of the Assembly election on November 14. There are numerous issues specific to the tribal areas like damage to environment by hydroelectric projects, grant of nautor land and ban on allotment of timber under TD rights on which it was essential to for the voters to know the stand of parties and their future plans. In the absence of manifestoes the election is taking place without debate on vital issues.

The National Himalaya Niti Abhiyan Samiti, a forum of NGOs working on environmental issues, has expressed concern over the situation and termed it as an unhealthy precedent. It has urged the Election Commission to make it mandatory for all parties and contestants to issue their election manifestoes before the start of nominations and the candidates should submit a copy of it to the returning officer at the time of filing the nomination papers.

Going a step further the samiti said the election manifesto should be made a legal document so that it could be implemented thorough courts after the party came to power. Such a step would discourage the political parties from making false promises and making populist announcements.

The All-India Minorities and Social Welfare Council has also termed the decision to hold early poll in the tribal areas as flawed and hasty. President of the council Rajeshwar Negi says that it shows the lack of concern on the part of the Election Commission regarding exercise of franchise by the tribal electorate as almost 50 per cent of the total voters would have migrated to lower parts of the state for trading, various fairs and pilgrimage. He said the commission should make a provision for proxy voting to enable the migrants to exercise their franchise.

Sundernagar, November 12
BJP and Congress politicians from the Sundernagar Assembly segment have an agenda in common as both are supporting the installation of a cement plant at Sundernagar. Although the proposed site of the cement plant is situated in the Nachan Assembly Segment, the leaders of the Nachan Assembly segment are keeping away from the cement plant issue.

Earlier when the BJP government made declaration for setting up of a cement plant at Sundernagar in the year 1990, at that time, the Congress was opposing the installation of the plant there. Afterwards the BJP government was toppled .

When the Congress came into power in 1993 it took a U-turn and signed an MoU with M/s Harish Chander Limited for the setting up of a cement plant at Nalani (Near Sundernagar).However, Union minister for communication Sukh Ram was the only Congressman who was opposing the setting up of the Plant.

In 1998 the Congress was voted out of power and the BJP formed the government in the state. The newly formed Govt moved case for the environment clearance to the Central Government but the proposal was rejected by the Ministry of Environment and Forest as the mining and the project area was near the Bandli Wildlife sanctuary . The BJP leaders then changed the proposed site of the plant to the Chambi- Khatrawari area, which was thickly populated and was very near to Sundernagar town. The case was once again moved for environment clearance.

In 2003, the Congress again came in power and the present site was cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest without any fresh public hearing. As per the minutes of the meeting which was chaired by the then chief secretary S.S Parmar on March 2, 2005, a fresh public hearing was to be conducted but no such public hearing was conducted in the year 2005,and the site was cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest keeping aside all the environmental norms.

The shifting of the factory site to the Chambi-Kharwari area raised hue and cry among the residents of the area. In the mean while the case was forwarded for acquisition of land and was still pending with the government but once again the issue has come into limelight due to elections.

Representatives of the BJP and the Congress from the Sundernagar Assembly segment are favouring the installation of the plant at Sundernagar.

The most interesting fact is that not even an inch of land would be used for setting up of the plant in the Chambi- Khatrwari area, the whole mining and plant site area falls in the Nachan Assembly segment.

Leaders of the Nachan Assembly segment from both parties are keeping the issue away from their poll campaign.

Solan, November 12
Four persons were killed and 14 others, including four women, were injured when a private bus in which they were travelling overturned near Delli on the Kalka-Shimla highway near Parwanoo tody at around 9.15 am.

The deceased were Narender (30), resident of Domehar village of Arki sub division, Hemnat, alias Happy (23), hailing from Banog village, Netar Singh (21) of Banasar and Bhupender (17) of Datyar village. Three persons were killed on the spot while Bhupender succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College, Sector 32, Chandigarh.

Those injured seriously include Babu Ram, Chander Kant and Rekha, a school student, who were earlier admitted to ESI Hospital, Parwanoo, but was later referred to Government Medical College, Chandigarh. The other injured persons Gopinath, Sheetal, Ved Raj, Madan, Vidya Devi, Pooja, Krishan Gurang, Ashish, Amar Singh and Rajani were admitted to ESI Hospital, Parwanoo.

Preliminary investigations made by the police revealed that the mishap took place when the driver of the bus which was on its way to Parwanoo from Solan lost control while negotiating a curve near the Delli barrier. Though the driver tried to control the speeding bus but it overturned.

About 40 passengers were travelling in bus no (HP 64-4041). A police party led by Parwanoo SHO K.D.Khan reached the spot and began relief operations. Parwanoo Deputy S.P. Bhagat Singh Thakur and Assistant Commissioner Himanshu Chaudhary also visited the spot later. The police with the help of local people pulled out injured persons and the bodies which were buried under the bus.

The Assistant Commissioner distributed Rs 10,000 each to the next of kin of the dead and Rs 5,000 to each injured persons as an immediate relief. The police has registered a case against the driver of the bus.

New Delhi, November 12
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Himachal Pradesh Government on a petition filed by an association of taxi operators challenging state’s policy on making installation of meters in taxis in major tourist towns compulsory.

However, the Bench, headed by Mr Justice H.K. Sema, declined to pass any interim order staying the notification of the state implementing th scheme after the state high court gave approval to the scheme.

The court said it was issuing notices on the petition by the Dharamsala Taxi Operators Association merely because in an identical petition, a notice was issued earlier. “You are lucky that a notice had been issued in the earlier petition,” the court told their counsel, rejecting his plea for interim stay.

The court had earlier agreed to hear their petition only because notice had been issued on an earlier petition on an identical issue.

The association has challenged the scheme mainly because there were certain difficulties faced by long-route taxi operators when they go to other towns and had to park their taxis beyond 40 km limit, which was practically not possible.

A recent notification issued by the state government had made it mandatory for all taxis operating in 40 km radius of towns to have meters, failing which challaning would be done.

They said though the high court in its order had given time to the taxi operators to get meters installed by December, 2008, the state authorities had started issuing challans to those who had not complied with the government notification.

Hamirpur, November 12
Former chief Minister and Hamirpur MP Prem Kumar Dhumal has denied the charge of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that he was threatening employees like an ASI.

Addressing a BJP workers meeting at Lajiana Gadoh under the Nadaunta Assembly constituency today Dhumal said “I have always been a sympathiser of government employees but certain employees are working in favour of the Congress openly by acting as a Congress agent, who will definitely be dealt with for violating the model code of conduct.”

He said “I have already defeated the Congress in the Hamirpur election and now I am committed to root out the Congress from the state.”

Criticising Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for his ‘utterances against the Election Commission of India, the BJP leader said “It is strange that a person who has been the Chief Minister for 16 years is now asking for 2 months time from the Election Commission to show the good work of the government to the public.” He said “He just wants to cling to the chair on this pretext.”

Dhumal claimed “The BJP wave is sweeping the state from Kinnaur to Sirmaur and the Chief Minister and his MP wife are now facing stiff opposition in their once strong hold, the tribal belt.”

He said “More than 250 workers of the Congress have joined the BJP in Kinnaur and Pratibha Singh was not allowed to speak in Kinnaur”.

Shimla, November 12
The BJP today complained to the deputy commissioner regarding registering of voters from the Kasumpti Assembly segment in Shimla seat in violation of the directives of the Election Commission.

In a complaint to the DC, who is the returning officer, BJP leader and member of the state working committee Ganesh Dutt has demanded that a probe be ordered into such cases. He said all applications of new voters submitted this month should be scrutinised so that voters have their names only at one place in the electoral rolls.

Without naming any party, he said a political outfit was engaged in the task of getting names of voters from the Kasumpti Assembly seat registered in Shimla area, so that it could benefit from such votes.

Shimla, November 12
The National Himalaya Niti Abhiyan Samiti, a forum of NGOs working on environmental issues, today released a people’s manifesto with the hope that major political parties will include some of the issues in their respective manifestoes.

Releasing the document President Kulbhushan Upmanyu and convener Guman Singh said that the purpose was to create awareness about the environmental concerns and present an alternative model for environmentally sustainable development of hills. The document had been prepared taking into consideration the views of all those involved in various agitations against hydroelectric and industrial projects and various NGOs.

The document calls for a complete moratorium on new cement plants, which harm environment, and and a new law for acquisition of land to replace the draconian Land Acquisition Act (1894). Besides compensation for the acquired land the owners would be made stakeholders in the projects for their long-term benefit.

Good agriculture land should not be acquired for SEZs and big dam projects be avoided at all costs. The policy of raising indiscriminate loans to run the government should be discarded and instead the top-heavy administrative set-up should be pruned.

The entire Himalayan region should be declared an eco-sensitive zone and a Himalaya development policy be framed to ensure sustainable development of the hills. Besides, a Himalayan Environment Development Fund should be created for rehabilitation of the degraded areas.

Alternative modern methods of construction should adopted for development of roads and tunnel-boring machines be used for boring tunnels in place of the conventional explosives. To reduce traffic congestion and vehicular pollution rail tracks should be laid along all five major rivers criss-crossing the state. Thermal plants should not be allowed at all. 

Bharmour, November 12
The candidates of the Congress, the BJP and the BSP, besides two Independents, who had been canvassing door to door to muster support till the last day of campaigning today, have separately appealed to “Gaddis” not to move to the plains till November 14, the date of polling.

‘Gaddis’ usually move to the plains of Kangra, Mandi during the winter with their livestock because the entire vegetation in the area gets covered with snow during this season. They return in March-April every year. Their migration is likely to affect the vote percentage and hence these appeals.