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EC sets Dec 22 for repoll
Rebels set to queer Cong poll pitch
Resentment against bank strike
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Without salary for 6 months
Farmers protest outdated law
More Navodaya Vidyalayas needed: Kokje
Sports meet for physically challenged kids
Plea to review decision on Gangath
Butail richest with Rs 92-cr assets
108 sensitive polling stations in Bilaspur
Manifesto
LJP to focus on environment
SSSB Recruitments
Shakti Chand quits BSP
Give details of retrenched workers, Dhumal to CM
It’s Sonia for Cong, Advani for BJP
Dhumal promises transfer policy
Bringing Suresh Chandel on the scene
Order to delete dual votes
Poll observers
Virbhadra dared to give CM’s post to Dalit
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EC sets Dec 22 for repoll
Shimla, December 4 A spokesman of the Election Department said here today that the counting of votes polled in both phases would be held on December 28. Meanwhile, R. Balakrishnan, deputy election commissioner, stressed the need for strict implementation of the model code of conduct to ensure free and fair elections. Presiding over the review meeting of elections at Peterhof, here, he took a stock of the election preparedness for the election to 65 seats slated for December 19. Chief electoral officer Manisha Nanda was also present at the meeting. Balakrishnan said the commission was taking appropriate action to rectify the shortcomings highlighted by the media. He also emphasised the need to sensitise the voters regarding the use of EVMs, particularly in the remote areas. He stressed the need for a contingency plan in case of inclement weather conditions. He asked the poll observers to maintained strict vigil during the poll process. He also directed the officials to ensure videography of important public meetings. He also directed that copies of electoral rolls be supplied to the contesting candidates and polling parties, duly signed by the competent authority. He said that efforts should be made to delete dual voters to avoid dual voting. He also discussed the state deployment plan of security personnel and communication network to ensure the law and order situation in the state during the election process with the police officers. Nanda said all electors had been advised to check that their names were registered in electoral rolls of only that assembly constituency in which they were ordinarily a resident and that it was registered only at one place. A list of dual electors had been prepared and the copy of the same had been supplied to the presiding officers, so that proper check could be made during the polling. She said the process of issuing electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) to the left out electors was in progress. She said the percentage of EPIC holders, had gone upto 85.69. She said 5,934 polling stations had been set up in the state and out of these 640 polling stations had been declared as hyper sensitive and 1,083 as sensitive.
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Rebels set to queer Cong poll pitch
Shimla, December 4 Compared to the last assembly elections the rebel phenomenon is less pronounced this time but it could alter the electoral arithmetic in a number of constituencies which could prove decisive in a close battle. While the party persuaded some prominent leaders Kashmir Singh (Ghumarvin) and Adarsh Sood (Shimla) to withdraw from contest, as many as eight stood their ground and were still in the arena. They include Deputy Speaker Dharam Pal (Arki), Bamber Thakur (Bilaspur), Prem Kaushal (Mewa), Dhanvir Singh Thakur (Chopal), Jagdish Sepaiya (Thural), Sanjay Rattan (Jawalamukhi), Natha Singh (Dharampur) and Arvinder Kaur Dogra (Naduanta). When all efforts to make the rebels withdraw from the contest failed general secretary of the AICC R.K. Dhawan today expelled seven of them, including Deputy Speaker Dharam Pal, on the recommendation of the Pradesh Congress Committee chief. The eighth rebel Natha Singh was suspended and his case referred to the disciplinary committee for further action as he is a member of the AICC. Interestingly, two of the rebels were done in by candidates with links in the high command. While Prakash Karad, whose father was an employee at 10, SafdarJang, stumped the three-time winner from Arki Dharam Pal, Sanjay Rana, who also has connections in the AICC, outmanoeuvred Jagdish Sepaiya. Apart from the rebels the Congress will have to contend with the BSP which is contesting more than 60 seats.
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Resentment against bank strike
Kangra, December 4 Hem Raj Chandel, general secretary of the District Kangra Pensioners HP Kalayan Sangh, today alleged the bank officials had taken customers for granted. He said two old widows from Lunj and Kuthwan had come to the bank to withdraw money yesterday, but they could not do so because of the strike. They had to beg for the bus fare to return home. He said those on strike should not be given salary for these days. Sheer Singh (93) of Ranital, Sarla Devi (70), a widow from Samloti, Ram Swroop (60), a physically challenged pensioner from Galian village were seen waiting outside the locked bank. They said they had also come yesterday but the manager did not tell them that the bank would also remain closed the next day. Ramesh Nanda of Kohala and Prakash Chand of Nanderd, both retired officers, also deplored the allegedly uncalled for closure of the bank. Advocate Deepak Awasthi said he had to deposit income tax, but could not do so since Saturday.
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Without salary for 6 months
Bilaspur, December 4 Addressing mediapersons here today, association state president Amar Singh Chandel and state senior-vice president Nand Kishore Thakur said a large number of these employees had not been paid their salaries since the past six months at a stretch and this was causing them financial difficulties. They said that paucity of budget was being quoted as the reason for the non-payment of these salaries. They urged the state director, primary education, to release proper budget for the same and ensure disbursement of these salaries at the earliest. The state association also objected to deduction of salaries of holidays of the part-time department employees.
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Farmers protest outdated law
Nurpur, December 4 Under the banner of the Regional Farmers and Mazdoor Sabha the farmers have been representing their case with the present government for over four years but nothing has been done. According to Sukhdev Singh, president of the sabha, a law known as “Khudrao Darkhtan Malkiyat Sarkar” enacted during British rule before 1945 is prevalent only in Kangra district depriving farmers of their right to utilise their own land for cultivation as they had no right to remove trees grown spontaneously on it. According to the prevailing British law, the farmers have the ownership rights on their land but no right on such grown trees. |
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More Navodaya Vidyalayas needed: Kokje
Sundernagar, December 4 He was speaking at the concluding function of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti cultural meet-2007 at Pandoh in Mandi district yesterday evening. He said Navodaya Vidyalayas were opened throughout the country to bring uniformity in thoughts, quality education and to provide an opportunity to outstanding students to excel in their studies. Mukesh Saxena, deputy commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (Regional Office), Chandigarh, welcomed the Governor. Students of Navodaya Vidyalaya, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab presented cultural programme on the occasion. Assistant Commissioner, Regional Office, Chandigarh, Navodaya Vidyalaya, P.S. Rana proposed the vote of thanks.
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Sports meet for physically challenged kids
Bilaspur, December 4
It was organised by the district Nehru Yuva Kendra in collaboration with social organisation Chetna on World Disabled Day. In the 50-m race, Bharti, Reena and Minakshi were first, second and third respectively.
District youth coordinator Som Dut Zard said here today that among boys in the 100-m race Rajender, Vikram and Anil and in the 50-m race Nishant, Anil and Susheel were first, second and third respectively. Among juniors in the shot-put Nishant, Suneel and Ajay and among seniors Vikram Anil and Rajender were first, second and third respectively. In softball, Rinku, Anil, Ravinder were first, second and third respectively. In the musical chair for girls, Nazma was first, Monika second and Shivani was third and among boys Ashish Kumar, Nitish Kumar and Abhinish Kumar was first, second and third respectively. Chief Judicial Magistrate Dr Baldev Singh Thakur, who was the chief guest at the concluding function, gave away prizes to the winners. The function was also addressed by Zard and Chetna president J K Nadda among others. |
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Plea to review decision on Gangath
Shimla, December 4 The party has pointed out that the returning officer first accepted the nomination of Bodh Raj but two days later he reviewed the decision and rejected the same. This was not in accordance with the set procedure and the law.
It urged the commission to review the decision of the retuning officer or countermand poll in the Gangath segment.
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Butail richest with Rs 92-cr assets
Palampur, December 4 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who had declared his immoveable and moveable wealth of Rs 70 crore, comes second to Butail. Congress MLA from Palampur Butail has declared the worth of moveable and immoveable wealth of his family at Rs 92 crore. While Butail owns immoveable wealth of Rs 58, 53,89,400, his wife owns immoveable wealth worth Rs 33,26,64,600. Besides, he owns three motorcars valuing Rs 5.5 lakh. Butail has further stated that the total bank balance with him and his wife is over Rs 97,000. Butail has further stated that he also had bank liabilities to the tune of Rs 32,43,161. It may be recalled that Butail is the owner of a tea estate in the Kangra Valley. He has been active in Congress politics since 1980, having won all assembly elections on the Congress ticket except in 1990, when Shanta Kumar defeated him. He also served twice as a Cabinet minister in the state. Before 1980, his elder brother Kunj Behari Lal Butail had been representing Palampur in the Assembly. He retired from politics in 1980 and handed over the political baton to his younger brother.
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108 sensitive polling stations in Bilaspur
Bilaspur, December 4 This information was provided by deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Devesh Kumar here today. According to Devesh Kumar, 1,34,610 male voters have been registered in the district. The Ghumarwin segment has the largest number of women voters (36,631) in the district and there are 35,875 male voters. Apart from this, there are 1,633 service voters, including 476 women.
In the Kot-Kehloor segment, there are 65,764 voters, including 31,556 women and 348 service voters (93 women). In Bilaspur (Sadar), there are 64,466 voters, including 31,512 women, and 729 service voters (217 women). In the Geharwin reserved segment, there are 66,003 voters, including 32,036 women, and 1,311 service voters (370 women). With a view to prevent entry of undesirable elements from outside the state into Bilaspur district, 12 barricades would be put up at various places, he said. Two companies and five sections of the ITBP would be deployed in the district on various duties. |
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Manifesto
Shimla, December 4 Releasing the party manifesto, Aziz Pasha, Rajya Sabha member and member of the central committee of the party, said the state should go in for smaller projects. Besides meeting the power needs, these projects would also help in the economic growth of the respective areas. The party is contesting eight seats in the state. Though it has entered into a tie-up with the CPM, it is having a contest with it in the Arki constituency of Solan district. The party has promised to raise the issue of riparian rights and fight for unemployment allowance equal to the minimum pay. The party is also in favour of a “judicious” transfer policy for government |
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LJP to focus on environment
Hamirpur, December 4 LJP’s district president Prakash Bhardwaj and party spokesman Shiv Pal Sharma said the party manifesto would also include issues of female infanticide, raising minimum wages to Rs 120 per day, policy to create employment avenues, herbal university, setting up heavy industries, policy to deal with natural calamities and protection from wild animals. The party candidates from all five constituencies of Hamirpur were also present in the press conference. |
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SSSB Recruitments
Nahan, December 4 He
asked Dhumal to take moral responsibility for the recruitment scam that took place in the office of the Subordinate Service Selection Board (SSSB), Hamirpur. Furious over increasing personal attack on him by BJP leaders, Virbhadra levelled several charges of corruption against the BJP leaders and said all ills were committed during the previous BJP regime. He said the BJPleaders who were facing corruption charges from ‘Delhi to Shimla’ had got no moral right to level corruption charges against any one. |
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Shakti Chand quits BSP
Kangra, December 4 He is the state president of the All-India Defence Persons Association and state president of the National Consumer Awareness Group headed by Ram
Jethmalani. He said Mankotia backed out from his promise, so he decided to leave the BSP and decided to support BJP candidate from Nagrota Bagwan Mangal Choudary. He said his purpose was to defeat G.S. Bali, Cong candidate and former transport minister. His support to the BJP would help him in achieving the mission, he
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Give details of retrenched workers, Dhumal to CM
Hamirpur, December 4 Talking to mediapersons here, he said, “The CM should come out with details of 35,000 retrenched workers as alleged by him or he should retire from politics.” He said, “Though the CM is talking about maintaining decency in the election campaign, there is a difference between what he preaches and what he practises. Nobody will be misled by him now.” Talking about the hard disc issue, he clarified, “I have made forensic report of a government laboratory public which clearly says that no portion the deleted data on the hard disc related to recommendations about HPSSB selections.” He said, “Even S.M. Katwal has been targeted to victimise him politically.” “Why the CD related to the CM has not been sent to a government laboratory even after seven months. The CM should clarify whether one of the three voices in the CD is his or not?” He also asked the CM to clarify why the work on the Hamirpur bypass could not start despite allocation of Rs 6 crore by the then transport minister B.C. Khanduri and why work on various hospital and school buildings could not be started.
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It’s Sonia for Cong, Advani for BJP
Shimla, December 4 The BJP is going all out to impress the electorate as the top brass of the BJP including L.K. Advani and party chief, Rajnath Singh will address five election rallies in the state tomorrow. Even though the BJP had launched its election campaign at the November 18 rally at Mandi, but it is from tomorrow that their canvassing will pick up in a big way. While Advani will address a rally at Kullu, party chief Rajnath Singh will be at Solan. Sushma Swaraj will campaign in favour of party candidate at Nurpur, Muril Manohar Joshi at Poanta and Venkiah Naidu at Hamirpur. On the other hand, the Congress is only banking on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, who they are hoping will be able to sway youth votes in favour of the party. Sonia is learnt to have agreed to spare only two days for Himachal, while it is still not certain whether Rahul will campaign in the hill state or not. As such the entire responsibility of the Congress campaign is on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who will be campaigning all over the state. Majority of the other Congress leaders are confined to their own constituencies, as the going is tough for many of them, keeping in view the anti-incumbency factor. This is for the second time within a month that BJP chief Rajnath Singh will be in Himachal as he was present at the BJP Mandi rally. As such, the BJP is not taking any chances to ensure that the party returns to power in the hill state. “The party has even taken the risk of announcing its chief ministerial candidate, while in the Congress there is utter confusion over the leadership issue, which is harming their poll prospects,” said a senior BJP leader. Though in charge of Congress affairs in Himachal, R.K. Dhawan has been overseeing the campaigning, but the Congress campaign does not seem to have taken off in a big way.
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Dhumal promises transfer policy
Palampur, December 4 Dhumal said the BJP government would form a transparent transfer policy with a view to saving employees from victimisation at the hands of politicians. The BJP leader said though the Congress had committed to making a transfer policy for government employees in its election manifesto in 2003, it had done nothing in the past five years. The Kaul Singh committee constituted by the Congress government in this regard had proved a “cruel joke” with employees in the state. His government, Dhumal said, would take the first and formative step in this direction.
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Bringing Suresh Chandel on the scene
Shimla, December 4 Addressing a press conference here he said Chandel was expelled from Parliament after he was caught on camera accepting a bribe in the “cash-for-question” scam. The BJP leaders, including in charge of Himachal affairs S.P. Jain had all along been disowning him and maintaining that he would not be asked to campaign. However, now he had been various assigned duties and become an important player in the election management attending meetings with senior leaders. The U-turn only betrayed nervousness of the BJP facing an uphill task in the electoral arena. It was ironical that the party still had no qualms in raking up the issue of corruption. Referring to the issue of discrimination against Kangra being raised by the party Rathore said BJP leaders were shedding crocodile leaders as the state’s largest district had suffered the most under the Dhumal regime. The situation came to such a pass that four ministers and three legislators revolted against Dhumal in protest against the raw deal handed out to Kangra. The party, therefore, had no moral right to raise such an issue.
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Order to delete dual votes
Mandi, December 4 He
was reviewing poll arrangements for the second phase of assembly elections in Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts. Balakrishanan said that polling staff should be given proper training about the use of
EVMs. He also reviewed the law and order position in respective districts. |
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Poll observers
Kangra, December 4 A.R. Sukumar had been appointed for normal complaints while Lucas Peter would deal with complaints regarding election expenditure. Palrasu said Sukumar could be contacted on phone No. 9418094153 and L. Peter |
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Virbhadra dared to give CM’s post to Dalit
Shimla, December 4 State BJP secretary H.N. Kashyap dared Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to declare that if Congress was returned to power this time they would give the top post to a Dalit. “The Congress has befooled the people of the country, especially Dalits, for 45 years by making false promises but this time they will ensure its defeat,” he said. He said the statement of the Chief Minister was a sign of desperation as he knew well that the Congress would not be able to win the elections either this time or in 2013. “A person who has
himself not been projected as the Chief Minister is promising to make a Dalit the Chief Minister in 2013,” he said taking a dig at
Virbhadra Singh. |
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