Nuh (Mewat), October 12
Ask any government official from the rest of Haryana who has remained posted at Nuh about Mewat district and chances are you will hear a tale of bitter experiences.

This district, situated on the southernmost end of Haryana along the Rajasthan border, can be termed the most backward district of the state. Its proximity to Gurgaon, the cyber-millennium city of the NCR, only underlines its impoverished character.

In sharp contrast with the Haryana’s city of skyscrapers, this town lags far behind in progress and has hardly anything to boast of, except for its glorious past and role in the country’s freedom struggle.

The lucrative promises and tall claims of development made by leaders of different parties and successive regimes notwithstanding, the Mewat region continues to face acute scarcity of water and electricity, besides having poor health and education facilities and pitiable condition of roads and other public infrastructure.

However, during the election time, all these crucial issues recline to the background, whereas phenomena like the collective decision of the community leaders and money power largely influence the poll outcome in this area.

While most parts of the district get electricity for merely four to six hours a day, many precious lives are lost (in transition to Delhi/Gurgaon) due to poor health facilities in the area. The only reasonable healthcare centre in the Mewat area is Al Afia Hospital, which was built with financial aid from Oman.

However, this hospital also has limited facilities and its own shortcomings, due to which it is not able to cater to the needs of the local residents.

Education, especially of girls, still remains a distant dream due to the failure of the state authorities in understanding and acting upon the specific needs of the area.

“The Meo Muslims, who comprise a major chunk of the local population, do not send their girls to co-educational schools due to their religious beliefs. However, the successive governments have failed to provide adequate middle, high and senior secondary schools for girls, due to which most girls are forced to discontinue studies after the primary level,” maintains Tayyab Hussain of Nuh.

His views are echoed by Khurshid, a farmer, and Zakir, a resident of Ghasera village. Ironically, though the Yamuna flows just 35 km away from this area, yet the residents of Mewat have been yearning for water.

The Congress government has launched the Rs 425 crore Rajiv Gandhi Rainy-well Scheme, but it is also facing several technical glitches.

New Delhi, October 12
On the eve of polling in Haryana, the Congress is hopeful that “overall development” of the state and “stability” provided by the UPA government will help the party win the elections to the 90-member state assembly.

Sounding confident of victory, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “All-round development of the state in agriculture and investment, coupled with rapid infrastructure growth and power generation, will ensure our victory.”

With the campaign having ended yesterday, senior Congress leaders did some in-house “stock taking” but refrained from getting to an estimate on how many seats the party expected to win. The state goes to poll tomorrow and counting is slated for October 22. “It will be a comfortable majority,” said Prithviraj Chavan, in charge of the party affairs for Haryana. Expectedly, there will be a fight on family-held seats, he said minutes before boarding a flight to cast his vote in his native Maharashtra where elections are scheduled tomorrow.

Hooda reeled off how thermal power plants are coming up in Yamunagar, Hisar and Fatehabad while irrigation and drinking water schemes have targeted areas as dry as the Mewat region. He said the entire state would benefit from new dams across the Ghaggar and canals. In education, Bhiwani has got the first women university while Mahendragarh will house a Central university.

He reiterated that the state was now number one in the country in wheat and milk production, ahead of Punjab.

Hooda said if he was chosen as Chief Minister again, he would continue with his unfinished agenda. Boosting power generation, attracting more investment and having an international airport are some of his priorities.

Chandigarh, October 12
All arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of elections for the 12th Vidhan Sabha in 90 Assembly constituencies of the state as it goes to poll tomorrow.

Chief Electoral Officer Sajjan Singh said polling would be held between 7 am to 5 pm. He said October 13 (Tuesday) would be observed as holiday in all public offices under the state government and as a paid holiday for those employed in any business establishment in the state.

A total of 67,620 government officials and 64,975 police personnel, including 60 companies of Central Security Forces, have been deputed for the elections. To provide assistance to the police as well as Central forces, Home Guards, NCC Cadets, SPOs, Forest Guards, officials of HAP and GRP have also been deputed.

He said photo identity cards had been issued to cent per cent electors in the state. However, in case any elector does not have a valid photo identity card, he can cast his vote by showing any other document including a ration card, passport, driving licence among others.

There are 1,30,25,055 electors, including 70,89,344 males and 59,35,711 females. In addition, there are 87,956 service voters, thus raising the total number of voters to 1,31,13,011.

As many as 13,524 polling stations have been set up all over the state.

Hathin (Faridabad), October 12
The motorcade of Harsh Kumar, the sitting Congress nominee from the Hathin Assembly segment of the Faridabad Parliamentary constituency, was attacked by some persons, who allegedly fired shots at the motorcade, last night in Chandpur village.

The incident occurred at about midnight yesterday when the Congress leader visited the village along with his supporters to canvass support for the October 13 elections.

The police chief of Palwal, Sanjay Kumar, said a criminal case had been registered against six persons on the complaint of Harsh Kumar’s driver. No arrest has been made so far. The police was probing into the incident and refused to give any details. The six named in the FIR are said to be natives of Chandpur, which is part of Hathin after the delimitation.

According to the Congress leader, about 20 persons in four vehicles attacked his motorcade. The window panes of the vehicle in which the Congress leader was travelling were smashed. They also allegedly fired gun shot on the vehicle of Harsh Kumar. They escaped after they were challenged by supporters of the Congress leader.

The Congress leader said he smelt foul play on the part of a senior Congress leader who was backing a rebel party candidate, Ramji Lal Daggar in Hathin. During the incident, Daggar and his supporters were also in the village to canvass support.

Although the Congress later played it down, initially supporters of Harsh Kumar said a mobile phone of one of the persons from the aggressor group was seized by them from the site immediately after the incident.

The district police chief, however, said no reference about any Congress leader being behind the attack was made by the complainant party before the police. It appears to be a clash between two opposing groups during the campaigning, he added.

The Congress nominee is facing a tough battle in four cornered contest in Hathin. However, the fight is intense between the Congress and two party rebels, Jaleb Khan and Ramji Lal Daggar in the fray.

Sirsa, October 12
The prestige of the Indian National Lok Dal will be at stake in nine assembly segments falling under the Sirsa parliamentary seat as Haryana goes to polls tomorrow.

As Sirsa is the home district of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, his party has put in maximum efforts on these nine seats.

In fact, Chautala himself has been contesting from Ellenabad and his elder son Ajay Singh is contesting from Dabwali and two seats are attracting the attention of the media and political observers from across the state.

A large number of “Chautalas”, including the fourth generation of former Deputy PM Devi Lal, are active in this seat. Aditya, Abhishek and Anirudh - three sons of Om Prakash Chautala’s deceased brother Jagdish in Ellenabad and Dushyant and Digvijay, two sons of Ajay Singh, in Dabwali. Besides, Ajay Singh and Abhey Singh have contributed a major share of their time to Sirsa despite their commitments elsewhere in Haryana.

Abhey’s two sons - Karan and Arjun - have been looking after their grandfather’s campaign in neighbouring Uchana Kalan.

Facing among others in the nine seats of Sirsa parliamentary seats, the Chautalas have three members of their own clan - Ranjit Singh (Congress), son of Devi Lal, from Rania, KV Singh (Congress), nephew of Devi Lal, from Dabwali and Ravi Chautala (Independent), son of Chautala’s younger brother Partap Singh, from Dabwali - as their opponents.

Victory in the nine assembly segments coming under Sirsa parliamentary seats is very important for the INLD, the political party trying to bounce back in tomorrow’s elections after losing in the last three consecutive elections.

The party had won in Dabwali, Ellenabad, Rori and Ratia in the 2005 assembly elections, while its lead shrank in Ellenabad, Kalanwali and Narwana in the parliamentary elections held in May.

The party definitely has an edge in Ellenabad, but it is locked in a triangle of straight contests on other seven seats in these elections. Kalanwali, ninth seat under Sirsa, is being contested by INLD’s ally - Shiromani Akali Dal - and there too it is locked in a direct contest with the Congress.

As people go to polls tomorrow, good performance on nine seats falling under Sirsa hold the key for any recovery of the INLD during these assembly polls.

As Haryana goes to the polls today, Geetanjali Gayatri caught up with leaders of prominent parties in the fray to know why the electorate should vote for them. Here is why:

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Congress)	‘Mitigation of 3 Cs’ We have successfully mitigated the three ‘Cs’ from Haryana. These are caste, corruption and crime that were the bane of the state. Having wiped out these, we have been able to cultivate an atmosphere conducive to growth and development. Ours will be essentially a vote for development which is for all to see. When we took over in the state, the people and industry had lost all confidence in the government. We have rebuilt it and changed the political culture for the better.
Om Prakash Chautala, INLD supremo	‘Aam aadmi’s hope’ The people are tired of the poor governance during the Congress regime. This is evident in complete collapse of law and order, poor situation of water and power and spiraling prices. The Congress has failed on every front. We are the poor man’s party, the common man’s hope and the farmers’ only well-wisher. We have a strong workers network on ground and have our hand on the pulse of the people who have made up their mind to vote for us.
Kuldeep Bishnoi, HJC supremo	‘Tried and tested’ My party was made by the people and for the people. In Haryana, my father Bhajan Lal’s work needs no introduction. The voter has tried and tested us in the past. Over and above our achievements, my clean image, struggle and sacrifice (I could have bartered for anything by being in the Congress), raising of issues that affect the common man are reason enough to vote for us. Then, I am young and forward-thinking and so are 53 per cent voters in the state.
Krishan Pal Gurjar, state BJP chief	‘Good governance’ Unlike the Congress, which believes merely in lip service, we have proved our mettle. During the Congress rule, the common man has only ended up becoming poorer because of price rise. The party has proved its inefficiency right from controlling rising prices to terrorism, providing basic amenities to good governance. On the other hand, surveys have shown that all BJP-ruled states top the development charts and good governance has become our hallmark.
Prakash Bharti,  BSP president	‘Vote for change’ The Congress has ruled the country for nearly 60 years. Despite being in power for successive governments, health, education and employment have never been priority with them. These issues have assumed significant proportions and nothing is being done to address these key areas. To add to this, there is the problem of rising prices, terrorism and growing insecurity. We are yet to get a chance to showcase our kind of governance which is why we are the best option.

Chandigarh, October 12
The Election Commission today approved 49 counting centres for Haryana, a day ahead of polling.

The information of counting centres in each district was individually conveyed to the Deputy Commissioners, who are also the District Electoral Officers during the elections, this morning.

After deliberating on the number of centres and the central security force available, the ECI approved the number of counting centres in any district as per the last requirement sent by the DEOs.

“The information of counting centres in the district was crucial because polling material, including the electronic voting machines, are to be given out and received at these centres only. In fact, given the delay, officials of the ECI have been calling us up through the day to see if we are facing any difficulty due to the delayed decision,” an officer claimed.

Meanwhile, the ECI has decided that all strong rooms, where polled EVMs are kept, will be guarded by the central police forces (CPF) till the date of counting.

This decision is in line with ECI’s consistent efforts to safeguard the EVMs and ensure greater transparency in the polling process.

However, based on the actual availability of the CPF, the commission has asked the Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, to appropriately reduce the number of strong rooms and counting locations without compromising the quality of the conduct of elections.

Maintaining that the requisite number of the CPF was also in place, the ECI said no inconvenience would be caused to the election process because of the timing of announcement of the centres.

The Election Commission is continuously engaged in further streamlining and strengthening the management of the elections in the country.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 12
Haryanvis seem to be politically more conscious than residents of any other state of northern India when it comes to exercise their franchise.

The trend was observed today when thousands of voters from 90 assembly constituencies of Haryana, serving in various government and non-government offices of the border state, applied for a special casual leave to vote tomorrow.

With intent to spreading awareness among newly appointed employees, some of the employees were seen distributing copies of leave rules to them of various departments, including nationalised banks.

The employees also submitted an undertaking to the effect that they are regular residents and registered voters of a particular parliamentary or assembly constituency in Haryana and would be casting their vote tomorrow.

Investigations by this correspondent revealed that almost all officials hailing from Haryana proceeded on leave today.

Karnal, October 12
About 2,000 angry residents of Kohand village in Gharaunda Assembly constituency, who had threatened to boycott the poll if the six-year-old boy kidnapped on September 27 last was not recovered today, turned down the appeals from political parties to reconsider their decision of not casting their votes tomorrow.

The polling parties which reached the village with EVMs were treated with respect by the villagers but refused to entertain the candidate or supporter of any political party. The villagers even refused to accept any pamphlet or other publicity material from the candidates and kept the political parties at bay.

The villagers had served a 48-hour ultimatum on the administration and police to recover the child; however, the police hasn’t been successful in tracing the child so far. The police had announced a reward for giving credible clue about the child and the photograph of the suspect was also released but to no avail.

Amarjit was allegedly kidnapped on September 27 last when he was playing in the ground of Baba Balak Ram Public School in Kohand. Enraged by inaction of the police, the villagers even staged a dharna on GT road and removed the flags and posters of all political parties.

Kaithal, October 12
Two persons were killed and two seriously injured when a three-storey shopping complex building collapsed here today. The injured were admitted to a private hospital.

Rescue operation was started immediately to extricate those buried under the debris manually and with the help of JCBs.

The shopping complex building was near completion. Some plumbers were working in the building when it came to the ground like a pack of cards at about 1.30 pm today.

As the building came to the ground it hit an electric pole, which fell on a passerby motorcyclist, injuring him badly. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

SHO Ravinder Tomar and executive officer of the Municipal Council SK Goyal rushed to the spot and began the relief and rescue operation. Three persons, all plumbers, were extricated from the debris and rushed to the local Shah Hospital.

One of the victims, Amrik Singh of Siwan, extricated from under the debris was declared brought dead by the doctors. While two others, Sukha and Rajbir alias Moman of Padla village, were admitted in the hospital with serious injuries.

According to information, the shopping complex was built without seeking any sanction from the MC. Goyal said we had issued notice to the owner of this building.