Sirsa, May 6
With only a few hours remaining for the polls, candidates and their supporters spent the day making personal contact with people, particularly those claiming control over vote chunks.

Former Chief Minister and INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala, who has returned to his hometown to cast his vote tomorrow, met several people and families in the town.

Manohar Mehta, an INLD supporter, had organised a tea party for Chautala, where prominent members of the Punjabi community from the town greeted the former Chief Minister.

Chautala also went to the residence of his old friend late Leela Krishan Mehta, and talked to his family members.

Chautala also went to the local courts to meet the lawyers.

Chautala’s younger brother Ranjit Singh, who is also one of the main campaigners of Congress nominee Ashok Tanwar, toured villages of the Rania assembly segment of the Sirsa seat and met people, who, he had been informed, had drifted away from his party due to some reasons.

Ashok Tanwar, the Indian Youth Congress chief and the Congress nominee, met people with his supporters in Sirsa town. He also talked to several persons over telephone to renew their commitment for votes.

“I am satisfied with my campaigning and have been able to raise the issues concerning common people. Sirsa has remained backward despite being the home district of a former Chief Minister,” said Tanwar.

INLD nominee Sita Ram, too, met people and sought their support.

In a reception organised by the Jangir Samaj in his honour, Sita Ram said he would be indebted to the love and affection showered by people on him during campaigning.

Padam Jain, district president of the INLD, concentrated on door-to-door campaign.

While the senior leaders of the Congress as well as the INLD concentrated on garnering support of voters, other party functionaries were busy in dealing with their party’s polling agents and allocating duties to the workers for the polling day.

Rajinder Dhanak, the HJC candidate and Veer Bhan Mehta, district president of the party, addressed workers in their office and exuded confidence of victory.

BSP candidate Rajesh Vaid also remained busy in allocating duties of the workers for the polling day tomorrow.

Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal also batted for Dhanak in his Bishnoi belt in Fatehabad district today.

The CPM state secretary said his party had been able to raise pro-people issues in this election, while all other major political parties had trivialised the election by ignoring issues concerning common people.

Chandigarh, May 6
About 1.20 crore voters will decide the fate of 210 candidates, including 14 women, in the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies of Haryana tomorrow, when the state will go to polls from 7 am to 5 pm.

To facilitate the voters in exercising their right to vote, 12,894 polling stations have been set up. To ensure that the members belonging to weaker sections of the society fearlessly exercise their right to vote, 1,146 polling stations have been specially set up for them. Also, 1,925 polling stations have been identified as sensitive and 1,283 as hypersensitive.

The voters will decide the fate of heavy weights like former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal (HJC), who is contesting from Hisar, INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh (Bhiwani), former Finance Minister Sampat Singh of the INLD (Hisar), Union Ministers Selja and Rao Inderjeet Singh, who are the Congress nominees from Ambala and Gurgaon, respectively, and former Union Minister I D Swami, who is trying to keep the BJP flag up in Karnal.

The general elections have assumed special importance in the state as they are being viewed as the semi-final for the next Assembly elections, which are just months away. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent 2005 assembly elections, the then ruling INLD had lost all 10 Lok Sabha seats in 2004 and could register its win only in nine assembly segments. In the assembly elections held after a year, the party could not improve its tally of the assembly segments. It won just nine assembly constituencies, one short of the mandatory 10 for getting the state of Leader of Opposition for its leader in the House.

Going by the same analogy, people are inferring that the performance of various parties in the Lok Sabha elections would be reflected in the next assembly elections also. Hence, all parties have pulled all stops to ensure their convincing win.

The Lok Sabha elections will provide an opportunity to the HJC (BL) and the BSP to establish their credentials before the state electorate. If they are able to perform reasonably well, they can claim a substantial share in the non-Jat vote bank of the Congress. Similarly, these elections will be an indicator of the political fortunes of the INLD, which, despite its humiliating defeat in the last assembly elections, still continues to enjoy the status of the main opposition party in the state.

On the other hand, for the Congress, these elections are an opportunity to re-establish its popularity in the state. If the party is able to pick up a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in the state, it will be hard for the opposition parties to stop it from forming the government in 2010 also. However, if it fails, there are bound to be calls for the head of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda within the party itself.

Rewari, May 6
Mamta Gulati (33) is a special voter. She is the only one among the over 12 lakh voters of the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency who had sought - and has got - a Braille ballot strip from the authorities concerned.

An employee at the local Deputy Commissioner’s office, Mamta says she was feeling elated and excited at the prospect of casting her vote all by herself. “Prior to this election, I used to take the help of an escort to cast my vote. However, this time, I came to know that the EC had made provision for Braille ballot strips and applied for the same,” she said while talking to The Tribune here today.

Daughter of a local trader, L.D. Gulati, Mamta did her graduation from Delhi University, besides studying Braille and doing a course in stenography. “Braille is our life, sir,” she said on being asked about the importance of this special language.

On being asked whether she knows of her solitary and pioneering status in her constituency, Mamta replies in the negative, but says she would like to appeal to all visually challenged persons to avail the benefit of this facility. Her boss C.G. Rajinikaanthan, who is also the District Election Officer, appreciates her initiative and concern.

However, there is a loud dissenting note as well. Mohan Singh Ahluwalia, who had resigned from his post as Commissioner (Disabilities), Haryana, a few years ago on this very issue, is highly critical of the Election Commission and other government authorities in this regard.

“It is a shame if only a single visually challenged person in a constituency of more than 12 lakh voters has been granted the right to secret ballot, which is a constitutional right. Being the custodians of citizens’ rights, the Election Commission and the government should have ensured that every visually challenged person gets a fair chance to cast his/her vote in privacy,” he asserts.

On the other hand, the election authorities maintain that despite their best efforts, they could not get the details of the visually challenged persons who knew Braille.

Arianpura, May 6
Has the district administration prevailed upon angry villagers of Arianpura village in Gharaunda area of Karnal district and convinced them not to boycott the Lok Sabha polls tomorrow or have they been taken for a ride?

The villagers who were up in arms against the administration and had blocked traffic and allegedly indulged in stone-pelting on the police last month, resulting in registration of criminal cases against 75 villagers, had announced to boycott the polls and not allow any political leader to enter the village.

However, there was change in the mood of people today and Bhushan Singh, brother-in-law of sarpanch Rita Devi, told The Tribune that Deputy Commissioner Chander Prakash had assured that all 75 cases for alleged acts of violence would be withdrawn and as a consequence, the villagers would not boycott the polls

Bhushan further claimed that the DC also agreed to constitute an 11-member committee to hold talks on the issue after the polls. There are 4000 voters in the village.

However, the Deputy Commissioner denied that any promise had been made to withdraw the cases and said he simply told the villagers that their demand would be considered keeping in view the moral and ethical aspects. The villagers had not allowed Congress candidate Arvind Sharma to enter the village last week but their attitude softened yesterday when INLD-BJP candidate I.D. Swami visited the village.

The villagers asked Swami to get 32 kilas of land given to Rajkiya Mahavidyala Gyanpura, Ghronda, restored to the village or else the proposed Kalpana Chawla Memorial Medical College to be located on this land. They said 42 kilas of land was given to the college but it had utilised only 10 kilas and the remaining land was lying vacant.

Swami made no promise about transferring the land back to the village but assured that he would try that the college was upgraded and more courses were introduced.

Hisar, May 6
Shakespeare’s Juliet Montague wondered: “What’s in a name”? Ask former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and he would tell why a name matters.

Bhajan Lal (78) has all reasons to be jittery as he enters the Lok Sabha polls from Hisar where he faces an Independent who is his namesake.

The problem is not many voters would know this Bhajan Lal from the other.

Haryana Janhit Congress nominee and veteran leader Bhajan Lal had left the Congress in 2005 after losing the race for the Chief Minister to Hooda.

He was elected to the assembly nine times and twice to the Lok Sabha.

On the other hand 47-year-old Independent candidate Bhajan Lal is contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time.

All three major parties - the Congress, the INLD and the HJC - blame each other for fielding dummy and namesake candidates to confuse voters.

“It is the Congress and the INLD strategy to field a dummy and namesake candidates. But they do not know that the voters are more aware these days and know the election symbols of all candidates.

It is simply an attempt to spread chaos and confusion,” said Bhajan Lal.

The INLD, however, refutes the allegations. “We are not into this business...in fact, it is Bhajan Lal who has fielded his namesake to justify his loss in the election, which is almost certain this time,” party’s Lok Sabha candidate Sampat Singh said.

Similarly, Congress nominee and sitting MP Jai Prakash also disowned the allegations. “Why will we field namesake candidates. There is no need to do so. People are well aware of the work done by the Congress in the state and would exercise their franchise accordingly,” Jai Prakash said.

Besides Bhajan Lal, there are two other Independent candidates who share the same name - Chhotu Ram.

There are about 12 lakh voters in the Hisar constituency who will exercise their franchise tomorrow to choose their representative out of the total 38 candidates, including 27 Independent candidates.

All 10 constituencies in Haryana will go to polls tomorrow. — PTI

Fatehabad, May 6
Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who has been embroiled in a fierce electoral battle at Hisar, today met members of his Bishnoi community and his old supporters in Khara Khera, Dhangar, Kajal Heri, Khajuri and Mohammadpur Rohi villages to garner support for HJC nominee for the Sirsa seat Rajinder Dhanak.

He was also accorded a reception in the Fatehabad grain market.

As the formal campaigning had ended on Tuesday, Bhajan Lal concentrated on meeting his supporters and seeking their support.

He paid obeisance in the Bishnoi temple at Dhangar and met villagers there.

The former Chief Minister said he had no relation with his nephew, who is a parliamentary secretary in the Hooda government.

He said he would win the Hisar seat by a margin of over 2 lakh votes.

Bhajan Lal was accompanied by former MLA Ran Singh Beniwal and former HPSC chairman Gurmesh Bishnoi.

Sonepat, May 6
After hectic preparations, the district administration today claimed that it was ready to hold free and fair polling on all 1257 polling booths in the Sonepat parliamentary constituency tomorrow.

All teams with EVM machines and other polling material have reportedly reached their respective polling booths. No truck have reportedly been hired this time for carrying the polling teams.

It is for the first time that the polling teams would be served with food packets at the booths. A booth-level officer (BLO) has also been put on poll duty at every booth to oversee the conduct of the voters outside the booths.

Additional police personnel have been deployed at all sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations. Every such booth has been put under the direct supervision of the micro-observers. The district has been divided into six sectors and each sector would be manned by a DSP and he would be assisted by a police team to be headed by the police officer of Inspector rank.

Gurgaon, May 6
Goods and property reportedly worth crores of rupees were gutted in a fire, which broke out at an industrial unit in Udyog Vihar in Phase II here today.

The fire broke out at Bhurji Super-Tek Induatries Ltd, which employs more than 100 workers, this morning. It took over 10 fire engines from the local Fire Department as well as from Maruti Udyog Ltd and Hero Honda for nearly six hours to douse the fire, which was reportedly sparked by a short-circuit.

“We manufacture bodies of air-conditioners and desert coolers. One of the workers saw smoke coming out from the factory and it was because of his alertness that we could prevent any casualty,” said Kamaljeet Singh, MD of the unit.

Singh alleged that it took nearly 55 minutes before the first fire engine from the local Fire Department arrived at the spot. “Fire engines and water refills etc were promptly provided by Maruti Udyog Ltd, Hero Honda, Coca Cola and neighbouring Airterl unit,” he added.

An employee at the factory even alleged that the losses due to the fire could have been contained had the fire engines arrived at the scene in time.

On the other hand, District Fire Officer Hanuman Sihag claimed that the fire engine had reached the site within 10-15 minutes of getting information.

“There is every possibility of a re-fire because of plastic material lying there,” he said.

Nuh (Mewat), May 6
On the eve of parliamentary elections, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) candidate for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat has charged an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) with conspiring to rig the poll.

In a complaint addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner submitted to the Nuh Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Mehtab Singh Sehrawat, BSP candidate Zakir Hussain and party’s state unit president Prakash Bharti have accused the said officer, posted as Ferozepur Jhirka SDM, was trying to rig the elections by misusing his official capacity.

“The said official has directed the presiding officers to ensure low polling at their respective booths and help the persons owing allegiance to the ruling party,” says the complaint, a copy of which was also forwarded to The Tribune. The complainants have sought action against the said official, apart from seeking his transfer elsewhere.

On the other hand, the District Election Officer has asserted that he had inquired into the matter and found the allegations unfounded. “We have received the complaint and got it verified; and there seems to be no substance in the allegations,” Sehrawat told this correspondent on being asked about the matter. The DC, however, said he had personally asked all officials on poll duty to strictly follow the guidelines issued by the EC and ensure a free and fair poll.

Faridabad, May 6
The Congress camp is pinning its hopes on the magic of Rahul Gandhi on the youth which will help them sail through in Faridabad.

Although Rahul did not visit Faridabad, he did address a public meeting in Nuh, in the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency, and in Sirsa. Nuh falls in Muslim (Meo) dominated Mewat district. It was part of the Faridabad parliamentary constituency, but post-delimitation the area has been shifted to the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency.

The Congress camp feels that Rahul’s visit at Nuh and Sirsa has had beneficial impact on the youth and has galvanised them in favour of the party. District president of the Palwal District Congress Committee Harinder Pal said more than 50 per cent of the voters in the state were in the age group of 18-40.

According to many, even before the country waded into election campaigns, the Congress as matter of strategy had raised the issue of youth participation in the democratic process and the government formation in the country. The general feeling is that the Congress saw “trump card” in Rahul for the party in the parliamentary election as far as youth section was concerned. It was a foregone conclusion that he would be the star campaigner of the party in the country. Even while the Congress apparently surged ahead on the slogan of youth the parties opposed to it were stuck up in reacting to the “youth agenda and talks” and left to do the catching up exercise during the entire campaign in Faridabad, as was the case in other areas.

It was for no reason that the Congress leaders during their speeches here would try to rub in the point that the Congress nominees in the state were comparatively younger and that the party’s “past, present and future” was sound. They were vocal to impress upon the public that there reference to “future” was Rahul Gandhi.

Mulk Raj, a young voter and resident of Ballabgarh city, which falls in the Faridabad parliamentary constituency, opined in the same way and felt that the youth do appear to be impressed by Rahul’s “straight forward” talks as reported by the media.

In Nuh, Rahul reportedly extolled the virtues of youth and expressed the view that they could usher in new wave of thought and progressive ideological imprint on the formation of the next Lok Sabha election. The caveat, of course, according to many, is that the conduct of the Congress nominee in Faridabad, as well as in other areas, would rather have much influence on the local voters. Rahul’s “progressive” image could act as substrate and act as “matching grant”.