Jalandhar, March 6
Though the chairman of the Election Code Enforcement Committee has directed the political parties and candidates to get their names clearly published in election-related advertisements to be given by them in newspapers, no instruction has been given with regard to the “surrogate” advertisements.

It has been seen in the past that some of the candidates seek publicity for themselves or their parties through advertisements published in the form of news items. They buy space for this purpose in news columns. However, the money spent on buying the space in news columns is never accounted for in the election expenditure. The Human Empowerment League of Punjab (HELP), a Nawanshahr-based NGO, had recently taken up this issue with the chief electoral officer, Punjab, requesting him to take the necessary steps in this regard.

Committee chairman Parveen Kumar, who held a meeting with the representatives of various political parties to seek their cooperation to enforce the code, said the political parties would have to seek permission 48 hours in advance from the subdivisional magistrate concerned to hold an election rally or election procession.

In case two political parties apply for holding the rally at a same venue, then the decision would be taken by applying the first-come-first-serve formula. For publicity through loudspeakers, permission would have to be sought from the SDM concerned by depositing the requisite fee, said Parveen Kumar.

He asked the parties to avoid holding rallies at religious places and to seek votes there. They should also avoid burning effigies of rival party candidates. No election-related poster would be put up at any government building, place and even on electricity poles, etc. Accounts would have to be submitted on a daily basis to the officers concerned. He said there was no ban on getting religious posters and hoardings installed but these should ban photographs of political leaders.

Jalandhar, March 6
The barely 16-kanal space of the KL Saigal Memorial Complex on Bhagwan Mahavir Marg here seems stifled owing to the presence of as many as four foundation stones laid by politicians. Considering the pre-election graph of political parties, it seems this place has become a consistent hub for political parties to seek mileage from just before elections.

The improvement trust had otherwise given the land to the KL Saigal Memorial Trust on lease for promotion of music. Barring two huge life-sized portraits of the legendary singer-cum-actor from his films “Chandi Das” and “Tansen” put up in the acoustically built-up auditorium, there is no other attraction in the complex which, as of today, appears to have become an instrument in a political scramble.

While there were two stones laid by former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral and former local bodies minister Jagjit Singh, two new stones have been laid in the complex in the last one and a half months by local bodies, industries and commerce minister Manoranjan Kalia.

Kalia laid one stone on February 28, two days before the imposition of the code of conduct in view of the parliamentary elections, perhaps in a bid to woo hundreds of fans of the legendary singer and scores of trustees and top local industrialists associated with the memorial.

The new stone marks the inauguration of construction work for a cultural activity centre for training youngsters in music. The work is being executed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh which would come from MP Naresh Gujral’s discretionary funds, the small letters in the stone read.

The stone laid on January 18 denotes the symbolic dedication of an auditorium, which already had come up four months back, to the public for organising various music functions.

The huge stone engraved in the wall has, in fact, marred the beauty of the upcoming complex as it is so big that the minister’s name in bold letters can be easily read even by a passerby on the road.

During his tenure, Jagjit Singh had also laid the foundation stone of two green rooms near the backstage of the auditorium on December 23, 2006. His intentions at that time were also clear, for he too had laid the stone just a few days prior to the announcement of the assembly elections.

The first stone in the complex was laid by I.K. Gujral in 1997 and was placed in the centre of the complex after he unveiled the bust of the iconic singer of Hindi films of 1930s and 40s. Inderjit Luthra, caretaker of the complex, however, defended the laying of stones by politicians.

Various projects have been going on simultaneously for the upkeep of the complex. “Whosoever donates money has to be honoured with a stone-laying ceremony. The complex will soon take the shape of a landmark building in the area,” he claimed.