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Cong, BJP workers scuffle over defence votes
55 pc cast their vote
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Lot on stake for Khanduri, Cong’s Rawat Dehradun, May 13 The outcome of polling in Uttarakhand will be crucial not only for the political career of Chief Minister BC Khanduri, but also senior Congress leaders. The elections are seen as a sort of referandum on the performance of the Khanduri-led BJP government, though the Chief Minister does not think so. Khanduri led his party from the front in the election campaign.
50 pc turnout in Roorkee
New booths cause confusion
Pitthoragarh villagers boycott polls
BSP, UKD go without verification
counters
Removal of Banners
After voting, Doonites call it a holiday
Fee hike: Medicos hold dharna
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Cong, BJP workers scuffle over defence votes
Dehradun, May 13 While Congress leaders claimed that defence personnel can cast their votes through postal ballots only, BJP leaders were adamant that as per orders of the Election Commission, they are eligible to vote through EVMs at their place of posting. The problem started at around 11 am, when the defence personnel arrived at the Anarwala and Kendriya Vidyalaya polling booths. Hardly some had cast their vote when Congress activists led by party's candidate Vijay Bahuguna reached the spot and asked authorities not to allow defence personnel to vote. Bahuguna claimed that they could cast their votes through postal ballots only. But, a few minutes later, BJP workers in large numbers, led by Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi and chairman of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) Umesh Aggarwal, reached at the spot and urged the authorities to ensure that defence personnel are allowed to vote. "The Election Commission had issued clear orders that defence personnel can cast their vote at the polling booth at the place of their posting. The Congress leaders are unnecessarily creating confusion," they claimed. Meanwhile, Bahuguna said he would file a complaint with the Election Commission in this regard. Congress leader from the area KN Joshi said the booth is only meant for Vijay Colony, Shakti Colony, New Cantt Road and New Basti people, and not for defence personals. ADM, Ajay Arora, who also reached the polling booth, said all defence personnel who have valid photo identity card are eligible to vote. Later, the police ensured that except for officials and polling agents, there was no Congress or BJP worker present at the spot. Thereafter, defence personnel were allowed to cast their vote. In all, from a total of 490 electors, 489 defence personnel exercised their right to vote at Anarwala and Kendra Vidyalaya 2. |
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55 pc cast their vote
Dehradun, May 13 According to State Election Commission officials, the figures are tentative, as they have still not received final data from far-flung areas of the state. While Uttarakhand recorded a turnout of 48.74 per cent in 2004, this time there is an increase in the percentage in all five parliamentary constituencies - Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Haridwar, Almora (SC) and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar. "According to tentative estimates received so far, the polling percentage stands at around 55 per cent. As far as break up for the five parliamentary constituencies is concerned, it will take time for compiling the data," said Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand, Radha Raturi. Notably, according to the Election Commission officials, Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar constituency in Kumaon has recorded the highest voting percentage. Uttarkashi and Dehradun recorded a turnout of 55 and 53 per cent, respectively. Likewise, Haridwar, Almora (SC), Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar
witnessed a turnout of 60, 43, 64 and 58 per cent respectively. The voting percentage in Chamoli and Radrprayag stands at 38.45 and 39, respectively. In Tehri and Pauri, around 34.93 and 41 per cent electors, respectively, exercised their right to franchise, whereas Pitthoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat recorded a turnout of 34.86, 44 and 31.04 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, polling for all the five parliamentary constituencies passed off smoothly without any violent incident. Albeit Congress and BJP activists did indulge in a verbal scuffle at one of the polling booths in Dehradun, but, by and large, elections passed
off smoothly. Chief Minister Maj Gen (Retd) BC Khanduri congratulated the people for turning out in fairly good number to cast their vote. "By casting their vote, the electors have contributed towards strengthening our democracy," he said. Leaders of all the main political parties also expressed happiness over the increase in voting
percentage, as compared to the previous general election. "It is good that there has been increase in voting percentage," said senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana. |
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Lot on stake for
Khanduri, Cong’s Rawat Dehradun, May 13 The elections are seen as a sort of referandum on the performance of the Khanduri-led BJP government, though the Chief Minister does not think so. Khanduri led his party from the front in the election campaign. A lot on stake is for three senior leaders of the Congress. Some believe they are fighting for their political survival. It seems a direct fight between the ruling BJP and the Congress in Pauri Garhwal and Almora in Kumoan region and an interesting three-way battle in Nainital and Tehri Garhwal. In Haridwar, it is a four-cornered contest. Former union minister Satpal Maharaj, a godman, is pitted against Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) of the BJP in the home constituency of the Chief Minister Khanduri. Winning this seat is a matter of prestige for the BJP as well as Khanduri. Khanduri lost only once to Satpal Maharaj in 1996. Gen Rawat won the byelection in February 2008 when the seat was vacated by Khanduri following his elevation as Chief Minister. This time it is neck and neck between Maharaj and Rawat.
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Make voting compulsory, says Ramdev
Haridwar, May 13 Ramdev opined that voting should be made mandatory for every citizen. He urged the people to come out and vote. He said that unless voting is made compulsory as is the norm in several European countries, the voter turnout in India would remain low. The yoga guru urged the government to make voting compulsory. He said that if one doesn’t utilise the right of vote given by the Constitution, then citizens also don’t have right to access other benefits provided by the government. “In countries like Australia, Argentina and Italy, there is a provision that those who don’t vote a specified number of times are barred from accruing various benefits. This is the need of the hour for Indian democracy,” said Ramdev. Nowadays, the yoga guru Swami Ramdev, apart from popularising yoga, has been lending his voice to social and national issues. In April when the notification for election was issued, Ramdev had send a questionnaire to all political parties asking them to opt for candidates having the right credentials and criminal-free background. He had also asked them to elaborate on the criteria on which the party would select its candidates. Just before the election campaign ended, Swami Ramdev took out a ‘Jan Jagran Yatra’ to generate awareness and urge people to vote. |
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Age no bar: At 98, Kalawati goes to vote
Dehradun, May 13 The oldest voter to cast vote was 98-year-old
Kalawati, who went to Nehru Colony polling booth to do the same. Besides, there was an impressive turnout of men in mid 90's. Sohan Singh (85) came all the way to the polling centre sitting on the shoulder of his son. Despite his poor health, he cast his vote at Rajpur booth and said he had not missed any election in the past 50 years.
Rajjo Devi (75) was brought on a stretcher from the hospital to the polling centre at
Dalanwala. Like Singh and Devi, scores of elderly persons above the age of 75 cast their votes, reaffirming their faith in the democratic system. |
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50 pc turnout in Roorkee
Roorkee, May 13 The poll process was peaceful and the weather too was conducive for people to move about, even as they reached their respective polling booths. "Everyone should use one's franchise, which ultimately decides the fate of the nation," said a local resident Vijay Raja, who came to cast his vote along with his family in the afternoon. Till 1 pm, 40 per cent polling rate was reported in the city. "I am very excited to cast my voting right for the first time. Today I feel like a citizen of India in the true sense," said
Amit Gupta, a local youth while praising the security arrangements in the region. Meanwhile, the police claimed that not even a single untoward incident took place at any of
the polling booths in the region. Notably, before polls 111 booths were declared as 'highly sensitive' and 107 'sensitive' by the police administration. "We are very happy as the elections were totally peaceful. Not even a single untoward incident happened in the region due to tight security arrangements," said SP (Rural) Ajay Joshi. |
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New booths cause confusion
Mussoorie, May 13 As per reports, this confusion was caused due to an increase in the number of polling booths this year and a re-allocation of voters to the new polling booths. The result was that some voters had to make a search in three polling booths for their names before they were finally able to exercise their right to vote. The problem was further compounded due to the arbitrary allocation of voters to the new polling booths. Members of the same family found that their votes were in separate booths. Vijendra Pundir, a senior journalist, said, “In my family, there are five voters and our votes were spread across three booths. “It took us two hours to figure out the same.” Many women and elderly persons could not vote as a result. Meanwhile, the polling in Mussoorie was low but peaceful. The percentage of polling was 25 to 30 per cent around 2.00 pm and there was no rush in a majority of the booths. However, a higher polling percentage was reported in the localities around the town. There were no reports of any untoward incident. |
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Pitthoragarh villagers boycott polls
Pitthoragarh, May 13 According to information, four polling booths at Bungli and Ganura villages in Gangolihat tehsil, and Kanari and Haldu villages in Pithoragarh Tehsil did not witness even a single voter till 1 pm. “We have information that till 1 pm not even a single voter turned up at these four polling booths in the district,” said TS Sontiyal, incharge of the control room at the district election office in Pitthoragarh. Similarly, voters of two villages in Chamoli district - Banru and Syun - also boycotted the polls. They alleged that there has been no development in their respective villages since long. Therefore, as a mark of protest they had collectively decided against voting in favour of any party this time. |
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BSP, UKD go without verification
counters
Dehradun, May 13 Notably, two-third of Dehradun is part of Tehri and one-third of Haridwar constituency. There were around 800 polling booths in the region and almost all had counters of both BJP and Congress at a stipulated distance outside them. But Bahujan Samaj Party counters were fewer in number, such counters for regional party Uttarakhand Kranti Dal were completely missing at these booths. It seems while Congress and BJP booth management was very effective in Dehradun, BSP, despite being a force to reckon with in both Tehri and Hardwar parliamentary constituencies, failed to come up with counters. Thickly populated St Agnes centre at Nehru colony had no BSP and UKD counters. Similarly, counters of both the parties were missing in Hydel office polling booth in Teg Bahadur road area. Meanwhile, UKD leaders admitted that being a small party it did could not match the financial resources of big parties like BJP and Congress. "UKD cannot have big funds at its disposal like the BJP and Congress," said NS Rawat, a senior officer-bearer of UKD. Sources revealed that parties such as BJP had a budget to the tune of Rs 6,000 for the expenses of a counter at each booth, and the Congress too had kept similar provisions. |
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Removal of Banners
Roorkee, May 13 The incident took place following the removal of banners from a BJP counter set up near Arya Kanya Inter College polling booth by the SDM around 10.30 am. Making allegations of favouring the Congress, local election coordinator of the BJP Ram Gopal Kansal alleged that it was improper on part of the SDM to remove the banners. SDM Joshi held that he was performing his duty and the banners were put up in violation of the Code of Conduct. “The banners were put up within a radius of 200m of the polling booth. We also removed all banners of other parties as per rules,” said Joshi while refuting the allegation of favouring a particular party. The SDM added that the BJP leader, along with his supporters, misbehaved with government officials while they were performing their duty. Meanwhile, Kansal said that he has lodged a complaint against the SDM to the Chief Election Commissioner, Dehradun, and the Chief Minister BC Khanduri. |
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After voting, Doonites call it a holiday
Dehradun, May 13 Residents could be seen heading to their favourite hangout destinations like Maggie point, Shahastradhara and Lachhiwala. “My friends and I had decided that after voting, we will head to Lacchiwala to swim,” said Anuj, a student. As most policemen were busy with election duty, there were a few traffic policemen around. Many youngsters could be seen going for long drives without helmets. |
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Poll Bytes
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Fee hike: Medicos hold dharna
Dehradun, May 13 The demand of the students was today bolstered by the state authorities stand, which clearly states that the hike cannot be more than the minimum slab laid down by the government. “We have been assured by the Secretary, Medical Education, that the matter will be sorted out. “Private medical institutions cannot push through such demands when stipulations have been laid down that hike in the fee structure has to be kept under Rs 30,000,” said a third-year medical student on the condition of anonymity. The main grouse of the students is the hike brought about in the miscellaneous charges. “The management had already stated that they will not be raising the fees of students who were in their second, third, fourth and final years of study and that status quo will be maintained,” he added. Unable to receive a positive response from the management, the students are not willing to attend classes. The students have submitted a revised proposal of the fee structure to the management. However, the management is demanding that the students should first withdraw their stir and resume their classes before any talks can be held. Rejecting the proposal submitted by the students, the management has claimed that the hike is only three per cent and that it has been made in view of the rising costs. “We are open to discussion but the students have to first end the strike. The library charges have been increased because books and journals cost a lot and we wish to keep our students abreast with the latest trends in medicine,” said principal Dr SB Dabral. |
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