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Polling by & large peaceful
75 per cent turnout in Indri
Complaints of bogus voting in Gohana
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Students damage roadways bus
2 shot dead while asleep in Bhiwani village
Criminal escapes from police custody
Photographer cremated amid tight security
Petition against selection process
Frequency allotted to varsity radio station
2 power units begin generation
Security up at rly stations
Ex-principal of Jat College dead
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Polling by & large peaceful
Hisar, May 22 Polling was suspended in booth number 70 in Telanwali village at 2.40 pm following a dispute between Congress and HJC supporters over alleged polling of 36 bogus votes. Congress candidate Ranjit Singh and Bhajan Lal rushed to the spot. INLD nominee Sampat Singh followed them later. Unconfirmed reports said a commando attached to Bhajan Lal had to intervene when Congress supporters made an attempt to break the former Chief Minister’s security cordon. Senior officers, including the poll observer, rushed to the spot, but polling could not be resumed till 5 pm when casting of votes came to and end. A repoll has been ordered in this booth. Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal (HJC) is pitted against Sampat Singh (INLD), Ranjit Singh (Congress), Swami Raghvanand (BJP) and Parbhat Singh (CPM). Bhajan Lal’s expulsion from the assembly had caused the bypoll. The INLD, the Congress and the BJP candidates could not cast votes for themselves as they are not registered as voters in this segment. Bhajan Lal was the first to cast his vote as his polling booth. He left for the polling station from his residence in Model Town at Adampur after collecting his voter ID card, voter slip and ration card. His wife Jasma Devi offered him a piece of gur before he left. This is considered a good omen in this area. Polling was brisk right from the morning. By noon long queues could be seen outside every polling station. The queues continued till the end of polling. All candidates went to almost every village to supervise polling and goad their supporters to cast their votes. In Siswal village, a 101-year-old woman was escorted to the polling station by her great granddaughters-in-law. She walked to the polling station and cast her vote.
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75 per cent turnout in Indri
Indri (Karnal), May 22 According to official reports, nearly 75 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in this rural assembly segment. Despite heavy rain this morning, voters showed enthusiasm and turned up in large numbers. The fate of 13 contestants will be decided on May 25, the counting day. Paramilitary forces and the police were deployed to check any untoward incident. Movement of private vehicles had been banned in the constituency for security reasons. However, bus services and other essential services remained unaffected. Meanwhile, terming the transfer as a routine affair, election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi clarified that it was done to “rectify an omission committed erroneously” by the commission. He told The Tribune that following certain complaints during the Lok Sabha poll in 2005, Malik was removed from the post of Hisar deputy commissioner. He clarified that as per EC rules, any officer earlier removed from election duty could not be assigned the same. “As soon as the commission was apprised of the issue, it immediately swung into action,” he added. He admitted that certain complaints alleging favouritism were received by the commission against Malik, but added that the “official anomaly” was the immediate reason for his removal. Meanwhile, senior INLD leader and chairman of the disciplinary committee Sher Singh Badshami today charged Malik with favouring Congress leaders. He alleged that the deputy commissioner had refused to give permission to the INLD to organise a rally in the grain market. Also, permission to use the mandi area for landing the helicopter of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was denied by the deputy commissioner. Earlier this month, Chautala had also charged Malik with being pro-Congress. Incidentally, Mailk was the deputy principal secretary in the Chautala government. In 2005 when Malik was removed as the Hisar deputy commissioner, the INLD had reportedly opposed the move and termed him an upright officer.
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Complaints of bogus voting in Gohana
Sonepat, May 22 Congress candidate Jagbir Singh Malik was one of the first ones to cast vote at booth No. 6 in Gohana town at 8.10 am. As advised by astrologers, HJC candidate Dharam Pal Singh Malik cast his vote at 12 noon at a booth in his native village Bidhal. BJP candidate Pradeep Sangwan and his father and MP Kishan Singh Sangwan cast their votes at booth No. 8 in Gohana town. INLD candidate K.C. Bangar is not a voter in this constituency. After receiving complaints of bogus polling in a booth in Bhainswal Kalan, the native village of Jagbir Singh Malik, Bangar reached the booth and staged a protest. According to Jagbir Singh Malik, INLD MLA Ram Phal Chidana unauthorisedly entered a reserved booth in Khanpur Kalan village.
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Students damage roadways bus
Jind, May 22 They were agitated over the checking of tickets of passengers of buses by a flying squad of the department earlier, in which some of the persons of the village were reportedly caught without ticket. The protesters fled away from the scene after the police reached there. Though case was registered, no arrest was made till the filing of the report. The incident took place around noon when the bus, which was coming from Amritsar, was stopped near the village by the irate students. They started pelting stones on it after asking the passengers to leave the bus. They claimed that it was a result of the alleged misbehaviour and uncooperative attitude of the staff of buses that did not halt buses for students and pass holders. They alleged that the staff normally harassed them by unwanted checking and false cases. However, the authorities said the checking was a part of the routine duty and the act of violence today had no valid reason.
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2 shot dead while asleep in Bhiwani village
Bhiwani, May 22 The police reached the spot and took the bodies for post-mortem to the civil hospital, Bhiwani. A case has been registered. Daya Ram (50) and his brother’s wife Dhota Devi (50) were sleeping in their residence in the village last night when at about 11 pm, six persons - a liquor contractor and his accomplices — armed with weapons, arrived in a vehicle and fired indiscriminately on them and fled. Tension prevailed in the village after the incident. Harish, alias Kalia, who owns a liquor shop in the village, had recently asked Daya Ram to sell his liquor, but the latter reportedly refused to do so, following which Harish threatened him “with dire consequences”. Harish allegedly went to Daya Ram’s house last night along with his accomplices and shot him and his brother’s wife dead. The police has registered a case against Harish and his three accomplices on a complaint of Ashok, son of Dhota Devi.
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Criminal escapes from police custody
Gurgaon, May 22 An accused in 58 cases of murder, robberies and snatchings among others, he was brought here from the Unnao jail, UP, yesterday around 3.30 pm for hearing in a case registered against him in 2007 regarding illegal use of mobile phone when he was lodged in the Bhondsi jail here. Officials said instead of lodging the accused in the lock-up, a six-member police team from Kanpur, led by sub-inspector Sher Singh, took him to a private guest house in Sector 45 here. After about two hours of stay in the guest house, the accused made good his escape on the pretext of going to the loo. It is baffling as to how the police took such an accused to the guest house. The laxity on the part of the police to keep an eye on him also has come under scanner. Given the sensitive nature of the case, the local police has launched a manhunt to nab the accused. DCP (east) Satheesh Balan said all guilty policemen as well as the owner of the guest house had been arrested. A case has been registered at the Sector 45 police station.
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Photographer cremated amid tight security
Kaithal, May 22 The district administration heaved a sigh of relief following the peaceful cremation of the photographer, who was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne youths yesterday, amidst tight security. A large number of people attended the funeral procession of Sanjay. Shops remained closed in response to the call given by local trade organisations to express their resentment over the incident. Meanwhile, SSP Anil Kumar Rao, who was camping at Kalayat, said a number of teams had been constituted and possible hideouts of the suspects were being raided. He further said he was personally monitoring the investigation and a breakthrough was expected soon. The SSP appealed to the public to maintain peace and not to resort to agitation or road blockade as it diverted the police attention and delayed the investigation. SIRSA: Members of the Apex Photographer Welfare Society, Haryana, closed their shops and held a protest in front of the office of the deputy commissioner demanding arrest of the accused, who had shot dead a photographer of Kaithal, on Thursday. They also submitted a memorandum to the district administration to be forwarded to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for taking strict action against the culprits.
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Petition against selection process
Chandigarh, May22 Impleading the high court as a party, a Gurgaon-based candidate Keshav Kaushik has sought directions for declaring the selection of Rajesh
Malhotra, Deepak Aggarwal, Chandra Shekhar and Desh Raj Chalia as wholly arbitrary, illegal, unwarranted, bad in the eyes of law. In his petition against 18 respondents, the petitioner has added he had performed fairly well in the written test, the interview and the viva-voce test, but his name nowhere figured in the selection list. On the other hand, three assistant district attorneys, one public prosecutor and one assistant advocate-general were selected and their names recommended for appointment though they are full-time salaried employees of the Union of India and state
governments. Quoting the provisions of Article 233 (2) of the Constitution, he said “A person not already in the service of the Union or of the state shall only be eligible to be appointed a district judge, if he has been for not less than seven years as an advocate or pleader and is recommended by the high court for the appointment.” The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Friday.
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Frequency allotted to varsity radio station
Sirsa, May 22 K.C Bhardwaj, vice-chancellor, CDLU, said that it would be the first community radio station in the state. It would be established in the department of journalism and mass communication of the university. The WPC communicated its decision to grant a licence for the establishment of a wirleless telegraph station with a frequency of 90.4 Mhz to the department of journalism recently. It would broadcast its programmes at 90.4 Mhz on the FM band. The vice-chancellor hoped the new venture would go a long way in training the students of mass communication. The CRS would also prove beneficial to all departments of the university and cater to the needs of residents of the district. Virender Singh Chauhan, chairperson of the department, said the department had applied for the CRS in October, 2007. |
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2 power units begin generation
Yamunanagar, May 22 The first unit started production from today while the second one had begun generation yesterday. An official of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited said the two units were functioning properly. The first unit of 300 MW restarted power generation from today after it was shut down in April. The first unit was shut down after it generated power for three weeks. The second unit started commercial production yesterday. Meanwhile, the power consumption in the district has fallen significantly, thanks to the rain and pleasant weather. |
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Near-blind girl gets 90%
Gurgaon, May 22 A student of DAV Public School, Gurgaon, this near-blind girl, who suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a visual disorder that leads to complete blindness, has been consistently doing her parents and school proud. She had scored 92.6 per cent marks in class X examinations in 2006. A bright student, Soma wrote all papers herself. All she needs is somebody to read out the question paper and a well-lit place to sit. She does not believe in having a writer’s assistance for the fear of spelling mistakes. “I never took my impairment as a deterrent,” said the gutsy girl, who aspires to become a writer, but also wants to crack the civil services examination. Soma can neither see the blackboard nor cross the road on her own. Though the family tried ayurvedic treatment, her father Shuvendu Patnaik found out there was no possibility in medical science. |
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Security up at rly stations
Karnal, May 22 She said an FIR had been registered and investigations were on. She said such threat letters were common, yet the force was taking the matter seriously. |
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Ex-principal of Jat College dead
Rohtak, May 22 Dahiya had served the college for nearly 25 years, of which he remained principal for seven years. He was 78 and is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter. One of his sons, Dr S.P.S.Dahiya, is serving as professor and head of the English department at Maharshi Dayanand University here. |
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Around 72 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in the byelection to the Adampur assembly constituency today.
Indri (Karnal), May 22
