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Leaders take to door-to-door canvassing
Infighting may cost BJP dear
Main parties ‘bypass’ Muslims
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Cong, LUTF kick off poll campaign
Cong rebel withdraws nomination
We’ll undo political, social injustice: Mufti
Ex-MLAs of BJP, NC taken to task
Vohra reviews poll arrangements
‘Ensure fair polls’
Poll hits Mubarak Mandi restoration
Cong, PDP responsible for state’s problems: NC
40,228 service electors in state
Kashmiri pandits urged to take part in poll
Release cash, relief to migrants: HC
Samiti keeps options open
Tributes paid to first PVC awardee
Buses putting lives at risk
Names of voters deleted, allege Panthers
3 held with 4 kg of heroin
Plea to release allowance
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Leaders take to door-to-door canvassing
Jammu, November 3 Two factors seem to have forced these leaders to bank on door-to-door canvassing. The first being security concern. The contesting candidates fear that certain elements may engineer violence, as was the case in Anantnag district yesterday, where about 12 persons were injured. Secondly, fearing a low turnout in the rallies which might expose their winning potential, leaders are preferring door canvassing. State BJP unit president Ashok Khajuria said: “We have decided to lay an emphasis on door-to-door campaign. We have directed the party leaders and candidates to hold ward meetings in various towns and village-level meetings in the rural areas.” Khajuria, who is the BJP candidate in the Jammu east constituency, said: “I have met many people in various areas. I’ll be happy if I win 50 per cent of the votes.” In the 2002 elections, Khajuria had lost the election to Congress candidate Yogesh Sawhney by a margin of 3, 336 votes. PDP vice-president Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari said he and other party candidates had decided to develop a rapport with voters through personal contact. Molvi is contesting from Pattan. He said: “We realised that door canvassing was more effective for conveying our message to the voters than holding public rallies.” Panthers general secretary Harsh Dev Singh said: “I visit about 6 villages daily. We interact with people at the village and block-level.” Harsh Dev is seeking reelection from the Ramnagar constituency from where he was elected in 2002. Congress leader Raman Bhalla contesting from the Gandhi Nagar constituency said: “I have been holding meetings with voters in small areas. I adopted the same procedure in the 2002 elections which helped me win the seat by a margin of over 10,000 votes,” he added. Bhalla said Congress candidates in other constituencies, too, had been asked to give importance to door-to-door canvassing. He said this experiment helped candidates in reducing expenses on organising rallies. Khajuria said the BJP would organise big rallies only when party leaders from Delhi visited the state. The Congress also plans the same strategy. |
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Infighting may cost BJP dear
Jammu, November 3 ‘Disappointed’ over the allotment of party mandate, party’s senior vice-president and spokesman Prof Hari Om had two days ago resigned from the party and now the state Mahila Morcha of the party has also taken up a banner of revolt against the party leadership. The morcha came open against the decision of party leadership, which failed to stand by the promise of providing 33 per cent mandate to women. The mandate to the widow of Kuldeep Dogra has also become a bone of contention between the morcha leaders. The leaders are against the party’s decision to field the widow of Dogra, who died during the Amarnath land row, which according to the morcha member was against the wishes of thousands of women attached with the party. Shilpi Varma, the only woman candidate of the party from the Bishnah constituency, had never been a party member before the agitation. State executive member of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha Geeta Thakur alleged that during the recent meeting of executive members for deciding the candidature of various party leaders, a hot exchange of words between her and a senior leader of the BJP took place on the issue of giving mandate to woman candidates. She alleged the said leader managed to get mandate due to his influence and she faced humiliation and was asked to move out of the meeting. “I stressed that the party was campaigning for women reservation on every platform and the women members of national executive even promised during different meetings and rallies, but all these promises are totally false and misleading,” Thakur said. Thakur claimed that during the recent agitation, the women wing worked day and night to mobilise the women and the role of women in the agitation could not be ignored. She alleged the party had totally ignored the role of women and gave mandate to male candidates. “Moreover, in a face saving initiative, the party leadership fielded the widow of Kuldeep Verma, who had never been a party worker and was not even known to the voters of the Bishnah constituency,” she alleged. The BJP had won only one seat in the 2002 elections, but this time it feels it can do better in the Hindu-dominated pockets of Jammu region after the two-month land row. |
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Main parties ‘bypass’ Muslims
Jammu, November 3 Talking to The Tribune, president of the Jammu Muslims’ Coordination Committee (JMCC) Prof Zahoor-ud-Din said though all political parties had released their election manifestos, ironically, not even a single word had been mentioned about the Muslims of Jammu. “Be it employment, jobs in civil secretariat, judiciary, banks or police, the Muslim community has no representation”, he said. He said in education sector, the community, which by and large lagged behind in every aspect of life, had no reservation. These parties did not deem it fit to announce something for the promotion of Urdu-an official language of the state, he rued. Since 1947, no political party in the state bothered to improve the socio-economic condition of the Jammu Muslims, who oblivious of the fundamental rights, continued to live a tattered life, he said. Zahoor said before 1947, we had Akbar Islamia High School on the Eidgah road under the Waqf Board, which had been re-christened as Hari Singh Higher Secondary School. He said similarly several buildings of the board had been occupied arbitrarily. Since the community by and large was illiterate and semi-literate living far and wide across the state, the JMCC had decided to unite them to fight for common cause, he said. To a query, he said, though it would be a long drawn-out process, the JMCC would embark on an awareness drive and the Jammu Muslims would be educated to cast vote in the favour of candidates, who promised to end discrimination with the community. Echoing similar views, Munir Hussain, a resident of Talab Khatikan, said, paradoxically again politicians neck-deep in scandals are in the fray, while young Turks have been left out. With politicians changing their loyalties overnight and tickets in the lieu of money to contest elections, there are no takers for grievances of Muslims in Jammu, he added. |
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Omar Abdullah files papers from Ganderbal
Srinagar, November 3 The decision had to be later revoked due to popular agitation in the valley against land allotment. Some areas in Ganderbal observed a strike against political activities, and separatists coincided it with Omar's nomination-filing day. The police had to use force, including firing of tear gas shells, to quell a group of separatist protesters. Omar downplayed protests, saying that these areas were usual against his party's activities. "We will work to uplift the lot of common masses. We made some mistakes during our previous government and were punished by the people," he said. He said his father, Farooq Abdullah, who is the party's patron and chief ministerial candidate, would file nomination from one of the constituencies in Srinagar district. Ganderbal, where his grandfather and state's most popular leader, Sheikh Abdullah, was born and raised, has been a pocket borough of the Abdullah clan since 1977. The Abdullah clan suffered a major jolt in the 2002 elections when Qazi Afzal, a political novice, thrashed NC's then chief ministerial candidate Omar Abdullah, something that tanked any chance the NC had to form its government despite it emerging as the single largest party. |
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Cong, LUTF kick off poll campaign
Leh, November 3 The contesting candidates are former power minister and Congress candidate Nawang Rigzin Jora and sitting MP Thupstan Chhewang, from the LUTF. The DCC held a public rally at Distket in the Nobra Assembly constituency here today and publicised the achievements of the Congress and Nawang Jora, contesting candidate from the Leh constituency. The Congress leaders promised grant of ST status, LAHDC and two major power projects NHPC and Nimmo Basgo in Leh district and Chutuk project in Kargil district. Tsewang Rigzin, sitting councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) is the DCC’s contesting candidate from the Nobra constituency. Meanwhile, the LUTF also held a public rally in Nobra, while campaigning for its contesting candidate Tsetan Namgail from the Nobra Assembly constituency and publicised the achievements of the sitting MP Thupstan Chhewang. DCC general secretary Leh Tsering Norbu said: “To prepare the Congress workers for an election campaign in the Sham region, a block-level meeting was held at Khalsi.” He said: “A public rally will also be held on November 5 at the Polo Ground in Leh . Union water resource minister Saif-ud-Din Soz and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are expected to address the rally.” Meanwhile, LUTF vice-president Tsering Wangdu said: “We have already prepared a schedule for the election campaign in different regions of the district. In Changthang, the campaign will start from today and will be till November 5, while in the Shyam region, it will be from November 7 to 9 and in Nobra and central Ladakh, it will be after November 10.” |
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Cong rebel withdraws nomination
Poonch, November 3 One more candidate-Chaman Lal Verma, who had filed nomination for the elections from the Poonch Haveli constituency, also withdrew his candidature in the favour of Congress candidate Choudhary Bashir Ahmed Naz. However, the biggest threat to the Congress candidate, besides his arch rival and NC candidate Ajaz Jan, continues to come from former district president of the Congress for Poonch, Choudhary Muhammad Younus Chouhan, who is contesting as the Samajwadi party candidate and is likely to eat sizeable number of votes of the former. In Poonch district, 14 candidates (mostly independents) of the total of 50 candidates, who had filed their nominations for three seats of the district, withdrew nominations besides nomination forms of some of the candidates were rejected by the election authorities, leaving 36 candidates in fray. |
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We’ll undo political, social injustice: Mufti
Srinagar, November 3 Addressing a public meeting at Anantnag today, Mufti said the peace process launched in 2003, had prompted significant confidence-building measures aimed at an amicable resolution of the Kashmir issue. “While the confidence-building initiatives were piloted by the leadership in Delhi and Islamabad, the peace process had made significant progress initially as it was facilitated and led from the front by the then PDP-led coalition government in the state,” Mufti said. The PDP patron said after the change of guard in 2005, there was a visible lack of enthusiasm and political will in carrying forward the process leading to its painful slowdown. Mufti said the recent opening of cross-LoC routes for trade had given a fresh momentum to the peace and confidence-building measures. “We must now have a political set up in place in the state that would not only prevent the process from dithering again, but also supplement it with more imaginative initiatives, both at the bilateral and internal-levels”, he said. Mufti said his party had shown in the past that it could facilitate the resolution process with a fresh resolve to shoulder the responsibility of taking the process to its logical conclusion. Referring to the decision to hold the Assembly elections, Mufti said his party had taken the elections as a challenge and put the issue in the people’s court. “Let the masses decide now”, he said. |
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Ex-MLAs of BJP, NC taken to task
Jammu, November 3 Addressing a rally at Nagrota today, state RKSP president Tanveer Hussain Babzada said the former legislators from Nagrota did nothing for the development of the vast, but under-developed constituency. Despite close to the winter capital, several villages in the constituency remained backward, he said, adding that Ajatshatru, who was elected in 1996 and was made a cabinet minister in the NC government, did nothing for people. He said being a scion of the Dogra princely family, he perhaps believed in keeping a distance from commoners and remained inaccessible to them. Babzada also lashed out at BJP’s former legislator Jugal Kishore Sharma and said he was elected in the 2002 elections with a narrow margin of 70 votes, but he too turned a blind eye towards his constituency. He was also involved in a criminal case. He said this time the people of Nagrota had a choice in the form of Verinder Sharma, who being a local and from common family, would be easily accessible to them. He urged the people to cast votes in the favour of the party candidate. |
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Vohra reviews poll arrangements
Srinagar, November 3 Vohra impressed upon the returning officers and the other staff designated for the conduct of elections to strictly adhere to the model code of conduct of the Election Commission (EC). Deputy commissioner Baseer Khan, who is also the district election officer, gave a presentation regarding poll-related arrangements made in the district. He said the seven Assembly constituencies of Baramulla, Pattan, Uri, Sopore, Gulmarg, Sangrama and Rafiabad had a total electorate of 5,18,964. The number of migrant voters is 7,689. Khan said as many as 743 polling stations were being set up in the district, scheduled for the fourth phase on December 7. Of these, 445 polling stations are sensitive and 298 hypersensitive. Khan also briefed the Governor about the preparation of EPICs, EVM training to the poll staff, transport, security, contingency and other required arrangements. Vohra also visited Ganderbal district yesterday. The district election officer, Ganderbal, Abdul Majeed Khandey, informed the Governor that 3,000 polling staff had been imparted EVM training at specially-held camps. He said the additional deputy commissioner, Ganderbal, has been designated as the nodal officer to oversee the arrangements with regard to the transportation, boarding and lodging etc of the entire polling staff. A control room had also been established in the DC’s office. Vohra was also informed that 90 per cent of the voters in the district would be provided election photo identity cards (EPICs) before the polls. Khandey said 179 polling stations had been established at 137 locations for which over 3,500 polling staff had been assigned. |
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‘Ensure fair polls’
Srinagar, November 3 He was reviewing poll arrangements at Bandipore after visiting the far-flung and border constituency of Gurez in north Kashmir. Three constituencies in the district, Gurez, Bandipore and Sonawari are going to the polls in the first phase on November 17. About the arrangements made for free and fair elections in the three constituencies, district election officer Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad said 161223 EPICs had been generated and polling material among returning officers. With a view to maintaining law and order, zonal and sectoral magistrates would be deployed in all three constituencies that have been divided in 15 zones and 30 sectors. As many as 237 polling stations have been set up in the district. Later, the CEO also met various political parties and contesting candidates. |
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Poll hits Mubarak Mandi restoration
Jammu: With the state already into the election mode, the restoration and preservation work to restore the Mubarak Mandi complex to its pristine glory has again
got stuck.
Union minister for tourism Ambika Soni was to launch the Rs 53-crore project on July 5, but could not do so due to the Amarnath land row. Official sources said after documentation of the project, the work too had been started but it slowed down due to varied reasons, elections being the major factor. Out of Rs 53 crore, the union government had to provide Rs 48 crore while the state government had to contribute Rs 5 crore, they added. “Now it appears that the work may get the requisite impetus only after the elections are over”, the sources said. They said the Indian National Trust for Art, Culture and Heritage (INTACH) in a recent review meeting in New Delhi put forth an estimate of Rs 150 crore for the next five years for further improvements at the complex. The complex, a symbol of Duggar heritage, had been declared a heritage monument under the Jammu and Kashmir Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1977. Talking to The Tribune, member of the Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society (MMHS) Zahoor-ud-Din said though central funds had reached and Governor N.N. Vohra (MMHS chairman) too had assured no dearth of funds, such a big project would take some time for completion. Besides, the shifting of monkeys from the complex to the Nandni forest area would not help much as they would return and damage the complex, he said, adding that the government should come out with a permanent remedy. |
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Cong, PDP responsible for state’s problems: NC
Jammu, November 3 Addressing a party meeting in the Rajpur Domana Assembly constituency here today, senior NC leader and former MLC Brij Mohan Sharma, said: “The Congress, PDP and BJP are solely responsible for the
mis-governance and administrative anarchy through which the state went during six years of the coalition rule.” He alleged that the coalition partners instead of working for the “welfare and well-being” of the people remained busy with their personal issues. “Their promise of providing jobs to unemployed youth remained confined only to papers. Now they stand exposed before the masses as their claims have fallen flat,” Sharma said. He said the NC’s main priority was to address the issue of unemployment and it was committed to uplifting the poor and
downtrodden. |
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40,228 service electors in state
Srinagar, November 3 Srinagar district has the lowest number of 14 service electors. Out of the overall service electorate of 40,228, as many as 33,233 are men and 6,995 women voters. Constituency-wise, Idgah, Khanyar and Sonawar have no registered service electors. The Pattan, Gurez, Home Shalibug, Dooru, Kokernag, Bijbehara, Pahalgam, Kargil, Zanskar and Nowshera Assembly constituencies don't have any women service electors. In Jammu division, other districts having substantial registration of service voters include the newly created district of Samba with 4,099. Kathua district has 3,584 registered service electors while Rajouri district has 2,861. Poonch district has 1,716 service electors while Doda has 1,220 In Kashmir province, Kupwara district leads with 942 service electors, followed by 748 in Baramulla district Among the newlycreated districts in Kashmir division, Bandipora leads with 420 service electors, followed by 65 in Ganderbal district, 68 in Kulgam, 20 in Shopian, 132 in Anantnag, 168 in Pulwama and 73 in
Budgam. |
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Kashmiri pandits urged to take part in poll
Jammu, November 3 In a statement issued here today, forum chairman S.K. Koul said that it was being observed that some organisations were trying to deprive the displaced community of political empowerment. "The organisations directly or indirectly toe the Hurriyat line and are hereby warned not to cause hindrance in participation by community candidates in the elections,” Koul said. |
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Release cash, relief to migrants: HC
Jammu, November 3 The consequences of migration had brought hardships on the people. The state being a welfare state, took immediate steps to provide assistance to the people. The most effective step taken by the state government was to provide cash and relief assistance to the people who had migrated and were not gainfully employed in government service. The purpose of providing cash and relief assistance was to ensure people could sustain. Ration cards came to be issued in favour of Sham Sunder & Ors., which entitled them for grant of cash relief. The state by way of policy decision decided to employ one member of each family in the Police Department and as a consequence, the dependents who had been gainfully employed, were held not to constitute a family for the purpose of cash and relief assistance. The state government stopped the payment of cash relief to the petitioners on the pretext that one member of their family had been gainfully employed, which forced them to challenge the said policy decision in writ jurisdiction. Mr Justice Sunil Hali observed: “Employment can not be related to the assistance being provided to a family by the respondents. State may take any policy decision to alleviate the suffering of the migrants, but it can not lose sight of fact that a person who stands employed would necessarily have a legal obligation to maintain his family while he is registered as migrant. I, accordingly, hold that a family would mean husband, wife and dependent children. It would not include a person who has been gainfully employed and is not dependent. He will not be, however, entitled to receive any cash assistance and he would stand deleted from the family and relief to said family shall be given on existing strength.”
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Delay in Land Pact Implementation
Jammu, November 3 Talking to The Tribune, samiti convener Lila Karan Sharma said: "Our core demand of restoration of 800 kanals of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board at Baltal has been met and only the peripheral issues like withdrawal of cases registered against our supporters and compensation to the trading community are yet to be addressed." He admitted that there was delay on the part of the government, but hoped that it would abide by the agreement. According to him, as the election process had been set rolling in the state, the administration may have some compulsions and a little delay was understandable. "We have signed an agreement with the state administration and as of now we don't see any negative attitude of the latter vis-à-vis its implementation," he added. However, he denied that the samiti has softened its stand over the issue. Sharma said in case the government backtracked from addressing the remaining issues the samiti would explore other alternatives like taking legal recourse or resuming the agitation, which had only been suspended. "We will soon hold a meeting of our core committee to decide our future strategy. We also plan to take up the matter with the Governor as soon as the state administration starts functioning from the winter capital," he said. When asked whether the samiti would receive the same support from political parties and traders, he said all political and traders' outfits which supported its agitation were equally responsible to the public. "They have moral as well as legal responsibility to cooperate with us in ensuring the implementation of the agreement in letter and in spirit," he stated. However, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a key constituent of the samiti, seemed non-committal about its support in the case of resumption of the agitation. Chamber president Ram Sahai said: "At present the samiti is making efforts for the implementation of the agreement and therefore it would be premature to comment on the other possibilities." As per the agreement, the government was supposed to withdraw cases of non-serious nature lodged against the land protesters and also to compensate traders for the losses suffered during the agitation in the Jammu region.
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Tributes paid to first PVC awardee
Srinagar, November 3 A solemn wreath-laying ceremony was conducted at Budgam as a mark of respect to the soldiers who laid down their lives during the operation. H.H. Tayabji, Adviser to the Governor, paid tributes to martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Memorial, Budgam. Also present on this occasion ware Maj-Gen Kishan Singh, GOC, Victor Force, Brig Ajay Kumar, SM, Commander, 12 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, and other seniors civil and police officials. The ceremony was followed by a cultural programme presented by children of Budgam district at Shikh-Ul-Alam Hall, Budgam. The entire event was witnessed by a large number of civil people who came out in hordes, the Army said. |
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Buses putting lives at risk
Jammu, November 3 Eyeing profit, these vehicles carry passengers more than their capacity and give commuters an unsafe and uncomfortable journey. The situaion worsens during peak hours when mini-buses carry passengers on the roof as well. “Matadors come packed from Bakshi Nagar and we all have to stand up on a packed bus for about 30 minutes from Bohri Chungi to Gomanasa everyday,” said student Rohit
Chaudhary. The road, especially from Paloura to Gomanasa, is not in a good condition. Besides being narrow, there are ditches on the road.
R.C. Sharma, road transport officer, said a team had been formed to check bus drivers violating laws. Sharma said: “We have imposed fines ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 on drivers violating the law during this week.” |
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Names of voters deleted, allege Panthers
Jammu, November 3 Jagdev Singh, coordination secretary, said the voters were not even intimated before this. Pointing finger at the elections process, he said though nomination for the second phase had commenced, voter lists in Hindi and English were not available in the office of the chief electoral officer. The Panthers urged the chief election commissioner to ensure immediate provision of voter lists in both languages and names of missing voters in the list. Singh expressed concern over the repeated attacks on leaders and candidates of various parties and termed it criminal negligence and apathy of the administration to provide security to these leaders. |
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3 held with 4 kg of heroin
Poonch, November 3 Police sources said on a tip-off, the Rajouri police laid a nakka near Sallani bridge and arrested the trio. The heroin is believed to be worth Rs 4 crore in international market. The arrested have been identified as Bashir Ahmed (SPO), son of Muhammad Sabar of Kulgam, Muhammad Yaqoob, son of Muhammad Sultan of Shopian (both from Kashmir) and Muhammad Saber, son of Rehmat of Gurdanbala, in Rajouri. A case has been registered. |
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Plea to release allowance
Jammu, November 3 This was observed here today at a meeting of the federation held under the chairmanship of Jagmohan Sadhotra. He said its speedy release be ensured at the earliest. He said the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) from 1999 to 2007 was released through the assistance of court. Meanwhile, they appreciated the move of the government for the conversion of the COLA into DA. |
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