Chandigarh, March 9
The Election Commission seems to be the only one favouring free and fair elections if the response from political parties in Haryana is any indication.

The commission’s directive to appoint block-level agents and officers to “sanitise” the voters’ lists prepared for the election has elicited a lukewarm response from political parties.

While no party has been able to appoint agents and officers at all 12,835 booths across the state, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) with a strong worker network leads the charts and the Congress party is placed second in the list.

However, none of the other parties, including the BJP, has been able to show more than a handful of appointments while a few others have not opened their accounts.

This comes despite the fact that the Election Commission extended the last date of making these appointments on account of a slight delay in preparation of the draft electoral list.

Against an earlier deadline of January 10, political parties were given time till
January 22.

However, despite the extension, they were unable to have “their men in place”
to weed out fake votes, votes of people who have died as also to add names of
leftover voters.

Chief Electoral Officer Sajjan Singh said a meeting of BLAs and BLOs was being organised on March 17 when the photo-electoral rolls of their respective booths would be made available to them for checking.

“We are also making new votes of people who have been left out. The process of making votes will continue till the last date of filing of nominations. However, claims for making of all such votes have to come a week prior to the last date,” he stated.

Maintaining that the directive of the commission seeking appointment of agents at booth levels by political parties was merely to ensure that the lists are error free and devoid of discrepancies, he said the election office would also consider cases where deletions were required after a thorough examination once a claim was made.

Meanwhile, parties justified their lack of response to the directive by stating that the commission, at the last minute, changed track.

Sources in the Congress said the election office asked for photographs of agents, which was not possible given the tight schedule.

BJP sources maintained that they deliberately went slow on appointing agents and officers because they did not want to “expose” their workers and that there was ambiguity about whether or not new votes would be made.

Chandigarh, March 9
The Jhinda faction of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (ad hoc) has convened a meeting of the community in Kurukshetra on March 29 to discuss what strategy it should adopt for the Lok Sabha elections.

It may be recalled that the HSGPC that has been demanding the creation of a body independent from the Amritsar-based SGPC to manage the Sikh Gurdwaras in the state, had recently split with one faction being led by its president Jagdish Singh Jhinda and the other by its general-secretary Didar Singh Nalvi.

It is an irony that the two have parted company after they succeeded in making an issue out of what was been called by many as a non-issue in 2000, when Nalvi and Jhinda had first joined hands to form the HSGPC.

At that time the INLD of Om Prakash Chautala was in power in the state.

Since the Chautalas have very strong family ties with Akali supremo Parkash Singh Badal, their opposition to the HSGPC had been a foregone conclusion. In spite of that the Jhinda-Nalvi duo continued their movement.

They registered the HSGPC in 2003, a year ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2004.

Before that the Sikhs in the state, particularly the peasantry by and large had been supporting the Punjab Akalis and in turn the INLD.

There are about 19 lakh Sikhs in the state with significant presence in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Sirsa.

Due to the separate gurdwara committee movements, brain behind which had been Nalvi, a sizeable section of the Sikhs in these areas got disillusioned with the Akalis and the INLD.

The Congress had been quick to seize the opportunity. It promised to “consider” the setting up a separate gurdwara committee for the state.

No wonder, the HSGPC lent a tacit support to the Congress in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent Vidhan Sabha elections.

After forming the government in the state, the Congress developed cold feet on this issue because of the impending Punjab Assembly elections, for the fear that the Akalis might try to take advantage of the state government’s alleged attempts to interfere in the religious affairs of the Sikhs.

It resorted to the time-tested device of setting up a committee on an issue on which decision has to be delayed or no decision has to be taken.

In this case also, the issue had been entrusted to a committee headed by agriculture minister HS Chatha, who took over three years to submit his report.

But he again recommended setting up a committee headed by the advocate-general to study the legal aspects of his report.

The HSGPC leaders have been upset over the delay. Nalvi said the Congress has
repeated in Haryana what it had done in Andhra Pradesh, where after promising
the separate state of Telangana at the time of the elections, the party went back
on its promise.

Similarly, after taking votes of the Haryana Sikhs on the promise of the separate SGPC, the ruling party has now been backtracking.

It has been in this context the Jhinda faction has called the March 29 meeting.

However, the choices before the two factions of the HSGPC are limited. If they have to achieve their aim, they cannot support the INLD, which has been dead set against the separate committee.

For the same reason, the HSGPC factions cannot support the BJP, an ally of the INLD and the Akalis.

The only course for them, if they chose not to support the Congress has been to either boycott the elections or to set up their own candidates.

In both the cases, they would be helping the cause of those who have been opposed to the separate SGPC for Haryana.

The Congress, to say the least, has been sympathetic to their cause.

Indirectly acknowledging this reality Nalvi said, “During the Lok Sabha elections they would ‘expose’ the anti-Gurughar and anti-outside Punjab Sikh attitude of the Akalis. We would campaign against the Akalis both in and out of Punjab to highlight that they had always harmed the interests of the Sikhs living in other states.”

Following this opinion, the range police had decided to place crime complaint boxes at the rural areas.

Hisar, March 9
The state government’s multimedia publicity blitzkrieg a week before the code of conduct came into force put the opposition parties on the back foot once again.

Days after the Hooda government announced sops for various sections of the society, it launched a series of advertisements on the popular television news channels and the FM radio channels showcasing its achievements.

The objective was to blunt opposition propaganda that the Congress government has been misguiding the people by making false claims of the development works done in the past four years.

Just as the sops robbed the opposition parties’ of their agenda, the latest publicity campaign silenced the opposition on several counts, especially on power, irrigation, education, health and welfare issues.

The campaign that must have cost a fortune as it has been aired several times on all the major news and radio channels, had been brought to a halt when the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha poll schedule and the moral code of conduct came in to force. However, by then the campaign had achieved its purpose.

The campaign initiated animated discussions in the village chaupals. In the rural areas, the Indian National Lok Dal workers tend to dominate such discussions.

However, this time round they found no answers to queries raised by the Congress supporters, who appeared upbeat by the campaign.

In the urban areas, where the FM radio channels have a huge following among the youth, the campaign won the Congress hundreds of voters, who will be voting for the first time on May 7.

This is the first time that such a well-orchestrated publicity campaign has been launched by the government. Usually government publicity campaigns are dull and overflowing with meaningless data.

The leading opposition parties could see the fallout of the campaign in the change of tack. The INLD has now chosen to raise the issue of borrowings by the government.

Party supremo Om Parkash Chautala has sought a white paper on how borrowings by the government have risen by 17,000 crore in four years to Rs 40,000 crore.

Likewise, senior party leader Sampat Singh has now been trying to corner the Congress by claiming that the government has still been misleading the people especially, on education infrastructure.

He has stated that no progress had been made in the Rajiv Gandhi Education
City project.

He has gone to the extent of demanding that the government should return the acquired land to the farmers.

The second prize went to the residence of the varsity registrar. In the on-the-spot painting competition, Vikas Chauhan won the first prize and Meenakshi and Kamaksha won the second prize jointly. Seema won the first prize in rangoli.

Kaithal, March 9
Efforts are on to make the legal system more transparent so that the people can get speedy and hassle-free justice.

This was stated by Justice LN Mittal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while
addressing advocates and judges after inaugurating the newly constructed Bar
complex here.

He presided over a lok adalat in which 350 of a total of 546 cases were decided.

He said in lok adalats cases were settled through mutual consent which helped
maintain cordiality.

He said with the construction of the complex a long-standing demand of advocates was met and the two-storeyed complex with all amenities would help advocates.

He said another Bar complex was being constructed at a cost of Rs 153 lakh at the Guhla subdivisional headquarters which would be completed by the end of May 2009.

The judge gave a call to the advocates to help provide free legal aid to poor, the SCs, the BCs, the differently abled and women.

RS Baswana, district and sessions judge, informed that Rs 397 lakh had been sanctioned by the government for the construction of 46 residential houses for judges and other employees.

He said about 18,000 cases had been settled in the district through 214 gramin and other lok adalats and Rs 5 crore compensation had been awarded in claim cases. A sum of Rs 21 lakh had been recovered as fine for various offences.

Gurgaon, March 9
“Gud Nalo Ishq Mitha”, “Sauda Khara Khara” and “Ishq Tera Tadpaye” are some of the few Punjabi songs that are still popular among the masses and people cannot stop dancing when the singer of these hit songs, Sukhbir, gives a live performance. Same was the scenario at the annual programme Manthan 2009 of the Ansal Institute of Technology, where the singer made the audience crazy.

“The Punjabi music makes me more energetic every time I hear it. I cannot live
without it. It flows in my veins and I think I am made for this only,” said the
Dubai-based singer.

“Though I have not been born and bought up in India, my heart beats for the
country,” he added.

While interacting with the students, Sukhbir said, “I do not drink and smoke, as it is injurious to health but today’s generation takes it as a status symbol. You should not take up this bad habit as it might affect them in later stage.”

On being asked why he was out of limelight for almost six years, Sukhbir told The Tribune, “I was busy with religious album ‘Nirgun Raseela’ that my father wanted me to complete. After that I got married so got busy. But now, I am back with my new album ‘Tere Naal Nachna’ that has already become popular among music lovers.”

“Actor Akshay Kumar, who is a good friend of mine, has also lent his voice in my last album and we have given all the money, which has been collected from the album, to the Mumbai blast victims,” he added.

“I have sung a Hindi song in my new album. I owe this song to Asha Bhosle, who encouraged me to sing in Hindi,” Sukhbir said.

He had also sung a song in Hindi for movie “Dhoom”. “It was due to Hrithik Roshan that I sang the song, but I have no interest in singing for films,” he added.

About the trend of including a Punjabi song in Hindi movies, that is catching up fast, may it be “Singh is King”, “Jab we met” and many more, he said, “It is the rhythm and beats in the Punjabi music that attracts everyone. Thus the directors and producers love to put it in the film as it might help in the success of a movie.”

His wife Dimpi Singh was also present on the occasion. Sukhbir feels that Dimpi is his best critic and also the first person to listen to his music.

Dimpi said, “Yes, it is mostly me who listens to Sukhbir’s songs first and if I
feel anything is not working in the music, he immediately changes the same
after discussion.”

Gurgaon, March 9
With a view to inculcating students’ interest in the hobby of postage stamp collection (philately), the Department of Post, Gurgaon, organised a philatelic exhibition titled “GURPEX-2009” here recently.

The visitors, including a considerable number of schoolchildren, evinced a keen interest in the rich collection of stamps on display.

The thematic collections of stamps covered subjects like nature, wildlife, flora and fauna, cultural heritage, cinema, sports, foreign lands, famous international personalities and much more.

HUDA administrator G. Anupama was the chief guest, while the director, postal services, Gurgaon, Amarpreet Duggal, presided over the function.

The winners of the “Design a Stamp” contest held to mark the Children’s Day on November 14, 2008, were given away prizes on the occasion.

The winning students were from Blue Bells, Kendriya Vidyalaya, CCA, HMS and
Lord Jesus School.

A special cover with a special cancellation was also released on the occasion.

Addressing the schoolchildren and other visitors, Duggal exhorted them to adopt postage stamp collection as a hobby.

“Apart from enhancing our knowledge about the life and times, philately also broadens our outlook and adds to our assets which we can proudly pass on to the next generation,” Duggal observed.

Local philatelist Alok Jaggi conducted a workshop on philately for the schoolchildren. He told them about the scope and significance of the philately and the proper technique of stamp collection.

Budhera (Gurgaon), March 9
The festival of colours is yet to arrive and the people here, especially the youth, are getting crazy even before the day comes.

Keeping this in mind, SGT Dental College, Hospital and Research Institute organised a cultural “Holi Mahotsav” here recently.

“It is the annual programme that is organised by the college,” stated the college principal, DV Nadgir.

The programme started with a song “Holi ayee re holi ayee re” by the students. They also presented folk dance.

A group of artiste, invited especially from Mathura, performed Ras Leela that was enjoyed by all who were present there.

Sarpanches from 36 villages visited the college to witness the performance by the artistes from Mathura.

Secretary to the state government Darmveer and president of the Dental Council of India Anil Kohli were the guest of honour.

Earlier every one played Holi with flower petals and chandan powder, but later on the students started playing Holi with water and colours.

They all said holidays have started and they would not be able to meet their college friends on Holi, so it is better that they play it before going home.