Shimla, May 12
While election scenario at the national-level may be hazy, the choice the 46,04,832 electors of the hill state will make during the one-day poll tomorrow for the four seats will have far-reaching implications for Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his arch Congress rival Virbhadra Singh.

The prestige of Dhumal is at stakes in the Hamirpur constituency where his cricketer son Anurag Thakur has been locked in a grim electoral battle with Congress candidate Narinder Thakur, son of BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand. For five-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh it is a do-or-die battle in Mandi as a convincing win will help re-establish his credibility as a leader with the high command. His image had taken a beating following the party’s defeat in the 2007 assembly poll.

The poll outcome will also to an extent reflect on the performance of the BJP government in the state as Dhumal had himself declared that his party was seeking votes on the basis of its achievements over the past 16 months as also the failures of the UPA regime.

The Election Commission has set up 7,253 polling stations, including two auxiliary booths, and deployed 11,000 electronic voting machines in the state for smooth polling. The highest polling station in the state will be set up at an elevation of over 15,000 ft at Hikkam in the Mandi constituency. It has 321 electors spread in three villages: Hikkam, Komic and Langcha.

As many as 708 polling stations have been declared hypersensitive and 1,259 sensitive from security point of view. Over 15,000 police, paramilitary and home guards personnel have been deployed.

Chief electoral officer Anil Khachi said polling material and officials were in position in the polling stations, including those located in far-flung tribal areas of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Sipti and Bharmour where almost one-third of the booths were located at elevations above 13,000 ft. In all there were 43 polling stations, which were at a distance of 10 km or more from the nearest road head.

The maximum number of 197 hypersensitive polling stations is in Kangra district. The Mandi constituency had the highest number of 1,921 polling booths, including an auxiliary station in the Jogindernagar assembly segment.

The state had been divided into 706 sectors to be manned by senior officials to ensure fair and peaceful polling. This was in addition to 167 sector magistrates to be deployed for the purpose. The maximum number of 157 polling stations was in the Theog assembly segment and the lowest number of 84 stations was in the Doon segment.

The highest number of 11,99,820 voters is in the Kangra constituency, followed by Hamirpur (11,87,704), Mandi (11,11,787) and Shimla (11,05,521).

The 13,000 ft Rohtang Pass, which was closed two days ago due to unseasonal snow, has been reopened and with the local Met office forecasting clear weather, except isolated thundershowers in high reaches, the electors in tribal areas will not have any problems in exercising their franchise.

Dharamsala, May 12
Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma has claimed that the foreign policy of country has never been as strong as under the UPA government.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune yesterday evening, he said the BJP was claiming that it would have a muscular foreign policy. In the current scenario, the country required an intelligent foreign policy and not a muscular one, he added.

Listing achievements in terms of the foreign policy, he said the biggest achievement of UPA was the nuclear deal. India managed nuclear deal in its favour without signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). “The deal has facilitated buying of nuclear fuel for country’s power reactors from any country,” he added.

India lobbied and got declared October 2, birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, as International Day of Non-Violence. The move has secured international prominence for the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

Opposition parties talked of direct war after the Mumbai terrorist attacks. However, the UPA government mobilised the world opinion against Pakistan. World leaders not only expressed solidarity with India, but also condemned Pakistan. The result: Pakistan had been forced to accept that the terrorists existed on its soil. “The Pakistan army has been forced to act against terrorists on its soil. Instead of resorting to war, the UPA government managed better results against terrorism as compared to what was achieved by the NDA after the Kargil war,” Sharma claimed.

He said he had visited 16 states across the country for campaigning. The response gathered from the people during the rallies, indicated that the Congress would emerge as the single largest party in these elections, he said.

Hamirpur, May 12
All is set for polling in the prestigious Hamirpur parliamentary constituency in the fifth and last phase of polling tomorrow.

While candidates are busy making arrangements to bring their supporters to the polling booths, the Election Commission has already made elaborate arrangements for ensuring free and fair polling in the constituency.

In all, 11,87,377 voters, comprising 5,96 432 male and 5,90,945 female, will exercise their franchise tomorrow. The polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm.

The highest number of voters (79,533) have been enrolled in the Nadaun assembly segment. In all, 1,655 polling booths have been set up. Out of these, 99 polling booths have been declared critical, 167 hypersensitive and 319 sensitive.

Around 92.64 per cent voters have been issued photo identity cards so far. However, the electors will also be able to cast their votes on the basis of 13 other documents through which identity of the voter can be established.

The service electors (25198) deployed on election duty will cast their votes through election duty certificates.

While main contest in the Hamirpur constituency seems to be between BJP candidate Anurag Thakur and Narinder Thakur of the Congress, six other candidates are also in the fray. Other candidates trying their luck this time are: Mangat Ram (BSP), Malkiat Singh (Rashtriya Suraksha Dal), Pankaj Kumar (Shiv Sena), Rajinder Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, and Raj Kumar (Independents).

Chief Minister PK Dhumal will stay back in his ancestral village, Sameepur, to cast his vote this time.

Mandi: Over 11,12,500 voters in 17 assembly segments under the Mandi parliamentary constituency will decide the fate of two scions, Virbhadra Singh of the Congress and Maheshwar Singh of the BJP, tomorrow.

With the main contest emerging between these two titans, CPM-CPI candidate Onkar Shad and BSP’s Ram Lal are likely to find it difficult to secure their security deposits, sources maintain.

The result on May 16 will decide the political fate of Virbhadra Singh not only within the Congress but also in the state as a whole.

Virbhadra Singh and Maheshwar Singh have tried hard to woo voters by touring all 17 segments in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has ordered videography of 33 critical polling stations in the Mandi parliamentary constituency, while the police and sector officers and observers would ensure free and fair polling at 193 hypersensitive and 200 sensitive polling booths.

Mandi, May 12
The Election Commission of India has allotted wireless handsets to polling parties manning over 12 inaccessible polling stations in Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Pangi subdivision in the Bharmour assembly segment. This is the first such instance during the Lok Sabha elections.

The polling stations where there is no telecommunication network include Chimret, Khanjar, Karpet Chaling in Mayar valley in Lahaul and Damel, Lahung, Tingti Yongmo and Taling in Spiti subdivision. Six polling stations in Pooh subdivision in Kinnaur district also do not have telecommunication link.

While the polling parties had to trek just around 5 km for reaching some of the polling stations in tribal areas like Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, they had to trudge around 15 km to take EVMs to Khariri in Sundernagar, Kota Dhar in Drang Parvara in Chachiot as tribal areas had better road connectivity than remote areas in Drang and Chachiot.

There was not a single polling station here that was not connected to district headquarters, said tehsildar (elections), Lahaul-Spiti.

Mandi electoral office Onkar Sharma said polling parties had reached all polling stations, including Hikkam, which was the highest polling station (15,000 ft) in the state.

Dharamsala, May 12
President of the Gurkha Jan Mukti Party Vimal Gurang has claimed that the BJP has assured them full support in forming a separate state for Gorkha community.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune Vimal Gurang said that the NDA during its previous stint in power had created Uttaranchal and Jharkhand states recognising the long pending demands of locals on the basis of ethnicity. ‘We are also extending full support to the BJP and the NDA this time on the assurance that it would help them in their cause for seeking a separate state for Gorkhas.’

Gurang was here today to meet with local Gorkha community. He came here after joining the joint rally of the NDA at Ludhiana two days ago. He also visited the Bhagsunag temple that is considered as ‘kuldevta’ by local Gorkha community. Gurang said about two crore Gorkhas in India had been fighting for their identity in the country. They settled here more than 200 to 300 years ago but are still considered and treated as foreigners in many parts of the country.

The historical fact is that maximum Gorkha community owes its origin to India. There are 35 battalions of Gorkhas in the army. So, to have identity in the country we are demanding separate Gorkha state, he said.

He also said the Gorkhas were seeking 6500 sq km area comprising Darjeeling and Doare districts in West Bengal as a separate state for Gorkhas. The West Bengal government is treating the strong Gorkha community as outsiders while the migrants from Bangladesh are being considered as insiders. The illegal migrants from Bangladesh are being issued voter identity cards by the Communist party in West Bengal to increase its vote bank, he alleged.

He also claimed that he had appealed to all Gorkhas in India to vote for the NDA and its alliance partners as they had included their demand for separate state in their manifesto.

Vimal Gurang’s presence in Dharamsala might help the BJP in elections. There is a strong presence of Gorkha community in Dharamsala assembly segment. However, they are traditionally supporters of the Congress.

It remains to be seen how much Vimal Gurang’s presence helps the ruling party in the state.

Shimla, May 12
It is only a marginal swing of about two lakh votes during the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly elections, which makes a big difference in the number of seats bagged by a political party which wins at least three parliamentary seats or forms the government in Himachal.

As such it is being expected that the difference in the total number of votes polled by the two main political players in the hill state, the BJP and the Congress, will not be huge in these elections as well. As a result the winning margins of the candidates is not expected to be too huge.

A look at the 1998 LS poll statistics indicates that by polling an excess of 2.26 lakh votes over its nearest rival the Congress, the BJP won three of the four seats barring Shimla. The BJP, which won Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra polled a total of 12,24,361 votes against the Congress candidates, who managed to secure 9,97,410 votes.

Once again in the 2004 parliamentary elections, the scene was no different expect for the fact that while the Congress won three seats, the BJP could retain only one LS seat.

The data for the 2003 Assembly elections also presents a similar picture when the Congress formed the government by winning 43 seats while the BJP had to contend with only 17 seats. While the Congress candidates in the 68 Assembly segments polled 12,46,112 votes, the BJP got 10,55,951 votes. Though the difference of votes between the two parties was merely 1.9 lakh, the difference in seats was a huge 26.

Even the 2008 Assembly polls threw up the same old figures, as the difference in votes polled by the two parties was 1.6 lakh. The BJP got 14,41,142 votes while the Congress got 12,80,000 votes. In these elections the BJP managed to win a total of 41 seats while the Congress was restricted to 23.

Even though the BSP which made its presence in the Himachal elections for the first time in a big way in the 2008 polls and even spoilt the Congress game plan by making a dent into its vote bank, it is mainly the BJP and the Congress which have been in power.

Solan, May 12
With the ruling BJP having all five MLAs, including a Cabinet minister, from the district all eyes are now focused on the number of votes, which the BJP can procure from this crucial district. Since it is for the first time in the history that Solan district had swept the Vidhan Sabha (VS) polls in Solan, the party has high hopes of procuring a good lead for its candidate Virender Kashyap.

Kashyap, who hails from the district, is hopeful of cashing in on the lead procured in the 2007 VS polls and breaking the jinx of 10 consecutive failures in various VS and parliamentary polls. Also at stake is the prestige of the lone Cabinet minister and local MLA Dr Rajiv Bindal who has been leading the poll campaign.

Hopeful of registering a good margin, Bindal says, “The absence of the two-time Congress MP DR Shandil has peeved the masses and people were fed up with his non-availability. Contrary to this our candidate Virender Kashyap has been in touch with the masses ever since the last elections. He has not only been active in the public but also has done more developmental works during his stint as chairman of the marketing committee in comparison to the Congress MP.”

Though the district was a traditional Congress bastion, the VS polls had reversed this assertion with the BJP routing the Congress completely. Senior Congress leaders like former CM Virbhadra Singh did raise crucial corruption-related issues, including a probe into irregularities in a recruitment scam in the local municipal committee when Bindal was its chairman, but the Congress failed to capitalise on it.

It, however, remained to be seen how much the BJP could gain from this situation, as not much anti-incumbency factor was visible in the one-and-a-half-year BJP rule in the state. Though it presented the most optimistic scenario for the BJP to wrest the Shimla seat for the first time, it was yet to be seen whether the BJP would manage to keep its lead intact or suffer a decline in its votes after the 2007 polls as it was much ahead of the Congress in its poll campaign which was coordinated and well timed.

Shimla, May 12
The police has made elaborate security arrangements for conduct of peaceful poll in Shimla district which has a total of 992 polling booths.

Besides 2,000 Himachal police and Home Guards personnel, two companies of the CRPF and one company of the Haryana India Reserve Battalion have been deployed in the state to ensure free, fair and peaceful poll.

District police chief R.M. Sharma said that strict vigil was being kept to ensure that no anti-social elements tried to disrupt the polls in any manner. “We have made extra police deployment in each police station so that mobile parties can keep vigil on the polling,” he said.

With complete ban on sale of liquor since campaigning ended yesterday, the police is keeping a check to ensure that there is no smuggling or its movement in the district.

He said out of a total of 992 polling booths, 99 had been declared hyper-sensitive, 95 sensitive and 698 were normal. “Extra vigil will be kept on the hyper-sensitive and sensitive booths to ensure that the polling passes off smoothly,” he said.