J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Students ask electorate to ‘go vote’
Hoshiarpur, May 6
In an effort to motivate people for casting their vote without any hesitation and fear, besides making public aware of their right to vote

Making people aware of their voting right, students of Woodlands Overseas School hold a procession at a market in Hoshiarpur on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Defamation case against Sidhu
Amritsar, May 6
Congress candidate from Amritsar Om Parkash Soni today filed a defamation case in the court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division) against his opponent and SAD-BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu for his alleged remarks that he (Soni) was involved in drug-peddling.

SAD-BJP, Cong hold road shows
Nawanshahr, May 6
As the polling day is drawing near, the political parties have started campaigning vigorously in the final round here for wooing the voters in their favour. Both the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the main opposition party Congress organised road shows here today.

GND varsity closed today
Amritsar, May 6
The teaching, non-teaching and administrative offices of Guru Nanak Dev University would remain close on May 7 and 13 in view of the parliamentary elections. This was revealed by Dr Raghbir Singh, Registrar of the university, in a press note issued here today. — TNS

Industrialists back Khanna
Batala, May 6
An industrialist meet was held at Wonder Hotel here on Tuesday night under the chairmanship of Mohinder Singh, President, Northern India Engineering Association, Batala, in which BJP candidate for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat Vinod Khanna was supported by the local industrialists.

BSP workers on a donating spree
Tarn Taran, May 6
On the call of party leaders, the poor workers of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) donated thousands of rupees as election fund for the party candidate for the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, Dr Surinder Singh Shahi.

People urged to use Rule 49 (0) to reject candidates
Amritsar, May 6
About 28 crore people in the country had not exercised their franchise during the Lok Sabha elections held in 2004 and this time the number is surely going to increase as the people have lost their faith in the present day political leaders.

PSU backs LPU students
Jalandhar, May 6
Extending their support to the students of Lovely Professional University, the Punjab Students Union (PSU) has decided to hold a strike on the campus on May 8.

Man booked for rape
Hoshiarpur, May 6
On the directions of the DIG, Jalandhar Range, the police on Tuesday evening booked Ram Lal, alias Lala, of Kajla village, near Banga, under sections 376 and 506 of the IPC for raping a woman of Bharta village.

Security guard killed in accidental fire
Amritsar, May 6
Ranjit Singh (50), an ex-serviceman working as a security guard, was killed in an accidental firing from his own gun while cleaning it. The deceased’s head was blown off in the incident that took place last night.

Chhibber foresees Maya as PM
Amritsar, May 6
Claiming that BSP supremo Mayawati would be the next Prime Minister, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber (retd), who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar, said the development of the country was only possible when its reins were in her hands. 

Students ask electorate to ‘go vote’
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Hoshiarpur, May 6
In an effort to motivate people for casting their vote without any hesitation and fear, besides making public aware of their right to vote, students of Woodlands Overseas School have taken an initiative by organising a rally here today.

An awareness campaign, “Go vote”, is not only to inspire and motivate the people to go and vote, but also to vote sensibly without falling prey to any materialistic allurements.

Holding placards and banners, students along with local residents took out a march in the streets and markets that culminated with a street play, “India Jaag Raha Hai”.

Talking to The Tribune, school Principal Simer Gill claimed that the students also sent inspirational voting SMSes to their parents, relatives and friends. Mobile vans with audio/visual messages from personalities like Amir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, etc, was positioned at most happening places in the evening.

To involve all the residents, a candlelight processions will be taken out shortly.

School chairman M.S. Gill said, “It is also to bring awareness among people that if one thinks that no candidate is fit for his vote, he can register his vote at the polling booth on Form 17-A. This can be a protest vote to shake the sleeping political system.”

Ravinder Sud adds: Following the reports of low poll percentage in the first, second and third phases of the 15th Lok Sabha elections in different parts of the country, students of the Hoshiarpur Institute of Management and Technology (HIMT) held an awareness rally here today to enlighten voters about the importance of their votes and to motivate them to cast votes on May 13 in the Hoshiarpur (Reserved) Lok Sabha constituency.

HIMT general secretary Pardeep Sharma flagged of the rally at the Bajwara bypass, Chandigarh Road, which passed through local Old Adda Mahilpur, Sessions Chowk, Government College Chowk, Prabhat Chowk, Clock Tower, Shimla Pahari Chowk and Dhobi Ghat and culminated on the HIMT campus. The students carried placards and banners to highlight the motive of the rally.

Citizens appreciated the move of the youngsters in motivating the electorate to participate in the final phase of polling of the Lok Sabha elections.

Defamation case against Sidhu
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 6
Congress candidate from Amritsar Om Parkash Soni today filed a defamation case in the court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division) against his opponent and SAD-BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu for his alleged remarks that he (Soni) was involved in drug-peddling.

Pardeep Saini, his advocate, today said earlier a legal notice had been served on Sidhu asking for an apology for his alleged remarks within 48 hours.

However, Sidhu did not bother about it. Saini said a criminal suit would also be filed once the elections were over. He said they had the CDs and news clippings regarding the alleged remarks and these would be produced in the court.

He alleged that Sidhu and his political companions were levelling baseless allegations to mislead the common man.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sidhu had refuted the allegations saying he had never made such remarks. He said he would give a reply at an appropriate time.

SAD-BJP, Cong hold road shows
Parmod Bharti

Nawanshahr, May 6
As the polling day is drawing near, the political parties have started campaigning vigorously in the final round here for wooing the voters in their favour. Both the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the main opposition party Congress organised road shows here today.

While the sitting BJP MP from Hoshiarpur, Avinash Rai Khanna, and Dr Harvinder Kaur Cheema, wife of the SAD-BJP nominee, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, accompanied by local SAD-BJP workers, participated in the road show seeking votes for Dr Cheema, the Congress organised a massive road show in the evening in which the Congress nominee, Ravneet Singh Bittu, accompanied by local Congress leaders and workers, went door to door to seek support from the people in the interior markets of the town.

Shopkeepers garlanded Congress nominee Bittu at various places. The jostling workers and supporters gave tough times to security personnel

Industrialists back Khanna
Our Correspondent

Batala, May 6
An industrialist meet was held at Wonder Hotel here on Tuesday night under the chairmanship of Mohinder Singh, President, Northern India Engineering Association, Batala, in which BJP candidate for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat Vinod Khanna was supported by the local industrialists.

Speaking on the occasion, Khanna said a train would be started from Batala after getting the track laid, which would be directly linked to Beas via Qadian.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdish Raj Sawhney, Swaran Salaria, Chairman, Campaign Committee, Punjab BJP, Lakhmir Singh Lodhinangalm, MLA, Qadian, Vivek Sharma, President, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Naresh Mahajan, President, Batala BJP, Harinder Singh, General Secretary Batala BJP, Ashok Modgil, President, BJP Mandal, Batala, and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

BSP workers on a donating spree
Sanjay Bumbroo and Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, May 6
On the call of party leaders, the poor workers of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) donated thousands of rupees as election fund for the party candidate for the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, Dr Surinder Singh Shahi.

As soon as Avtar Singh Karimpuri, state president and member of the Rajya Sabha, reminded the party workers of the message of late Babu Kanshi Ram, founder of the party, to donate funds for the party along with their votes, the workers immediately started donating money.

Besides liberally donating whatever money they had in their pockets, they also assured the party leaders that they would make every sacrifice to see party supremo Mayawati as the next Prime Minister.

Narinder Kashyap, national general secretary, said the Dalit Samaj was fed up with the false promises made by the major political parties and was not interested in taking cheaper facilities like ration on subsidised rates and free electricity. 

People urged to use Rule 49 (0) to reject candidates
Sanjay Bumbroo/TNS

Amritsar, May 6
About 28 crore people in the country had not exercised their franchise during the Lok Sabha elections held in 2004 and this time the number is surely going to increase as the people have lost their faith in the present day political leaders.

Stating this to The Tribune here today, P.S. Bhatti, president, Organisation for Watch Dogs for Democracy in Punjab, said the people must vote in favour of the candidate of their choice as it helped in strengthening the democracy in the country. However, if they found all candidates were tainted or having criminal background, they should exercise their right of rejecting the candidates under Rule 49(0) by asking the presiding officer in this regard.

He said though their was no such provision in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) as the matter of negative voting was under consideration of the constitutional bench of the apex court, but one could exercise their franchise under the Rule 49 (0) by requesting the presiding officer by making a mark on none of the above. He said under this procedure one’s vote got counted whereas no vote was counted when a voter abstained from exercising his franchise.

Meanwhile, patrons of the Amritsar Vikas Manch Prof Mohan Singh and Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala has appealed to the people to realise the importance of their right to vote as the policy matters of entire nation, economy, country’s safety and security and foreign affairs are discussed and vital decisions made by the representatives elected by them. Parties or candidates who have no views on these matters or who performed poorly on such issues deserve no support, they added.

Fraternity Support
PSU backs LPU students
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 6
Extending their support to the students of Lovely Professional University, the Punjab Students Union (PSU) has decided to hold a strike on the campus on May 8.

State president of the union Gurmukh Singh Mann said the students of the university actively participated in the meeting and decided to boycott classes for a day on Friday. The union members flayed the management for raising the fee in every semester.

They said the annual hostel charges of Rs 40,000 were too high as compared to other universities, including Punjabi University, Patiala, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, where hostel fee was just Rs 4,700 to Rs 7,200 per annum

Man booked for rape
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, May 6
On the directions of the DIG, Jalandhar Range, the police on Tuesday evening booked Ram Lal, alias Lala, of Kajla village, near Banga, under sections 376 and 506 of the IPC for raping a woman of Bharta village.

According to police sources, the victim, in her complaint to the DIG, alleged that Ram Lal, a friend of her cousin, raped her at dagger point at her village in April, 2008, and later threatened her with dire consequences if she spoke on the matter to anyone.

Later, Ram Lal started blackmailing her and occasionally took her to some places of pilgrimage where he allegedly used to rape her.

After getting the matter inquired, the DIG ordered registration of a case against Ram Lal.

Security guard killed in accidental fire

Amritsar, May 6
Ranjit Singh (50), an ex-serviceman working as a security guard, was killed in an accidental firing from his own gun while cleaning it. The deceased’s head was blown off in the incident that took place last night.

According to information, he was posted at Haathi Gate powerhouse and had taken his gun to his home at Pandori Waraich village to clean it. The police authorities, which initiated an action under Section 174 of the CrPC, said Ranjit was in an inebriated condition when he was cleaning his gun. He forgot to remove the cartridges from his gun that resulted in the accidental fire. — TNS

Chhibber foresees Maya as PM

Amritsar, May 6
Claiming that BSP supremo Mayawati would be the next Prime Minister, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber (retd), who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar, said the development of the country was only possible when its reins were in her hands. 

Addressing an election rally at Hall Gate here, Chhibber lashed out at the SAD-BJP government in the state for failing on all fronts. He said every major political party was serving liquor to lure the voters during the elections. Chhibber said after winning the elections, his first task would be to create job avenues for the educated unemployed of this border region. He said his party was pro-poor, besides being secular. — TNS