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Violence mars polling in Faridabad
In Jind, DSP among 6
hurt; Cong, INLD supporters clash at two places
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Polling halted for two hours in Assandh
Karnal, October 13 A moderate 65 per cent polling was recorded in the five assembly constituencies in Karnal district with the Indri constituency recording the highest polling of 70 per cent and Karnal the lowest of 61 per cent.
In Kohand, it’s over kidnapped boy
Four seats yet to see a woman contestant
Skirmishes in Rohtak
17 injured in Panipat clash
Heavy polling in Bhajan’s borough
Vehicles impounded
Five hurt in Mewat
Cong candidate, son booked
Proceedings against doctors quashed
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Violence mars polling in Faridabad
Faridabad, October 13 The polling had to be stalled for about two hours at the polling station in Malai village falling under the Hathin assembly segment on account of violence between supporters of the Congress and those of Independent and former MLA Master Azmat Khan in the fray. The polling was also halted at Toka in Hathin on account of clashes between supporters of the Congress and Master Azmat Khan.The polling process was extended after the official time to make up for the loss in time. The violence took a serious turn in Malai when supporters of the sitting Congress MLA, Harsh Kumar, and Master Azmat Khan clashed outside a polling station. Malai is the native village of Master Azmat Khan. Following intervention by the BSF personnel posted in the village, the supporters of Master Azmat Khan turned their ire towards them. The mob pelted stones at the personnel. According to reports, the BSF personnel had to fire gunshots in the air to disperse the crowd. The villagers even took away an SLR rifel of a BSF jawan. However, Azmat Khan helped in getting the rifle recovered from his supporters. In the mele, the trigger of SLR of a jawan got accidentally fired on his leg.The violent incident in the village continued for more than an hour.About six commoners are said to have been injured in the entire incident. Group clashes between supporters of Master Azmat Khan and the Congress were also reported in village Toka and Kota. Reports of clashes between supporters of the Congress and INLD also came from Bulawal, Khambi and Likhi in the Hodal assembly segment. Four persons are said to have received injuries in these villages. In Palwal, a vehicle of the son of sitting Congress MLA and Chairperson of Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission, Karan Dal, was stoned in Kuslipur village. The security personnel whisked him away in time. There were also reports of clashes between Congress and INLD supporters in Balai in the Palwal assembly segment.However, no case has been registered in connection with the incidents in all the three assembly till the time of filing this report. |
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In Jind, DSP among 6
hurt; Cong, INLD supporters clash at two places
Jind, October 13 A case has been booked against unidentified number of persons. The Congress candidate from Jind Mange Ram Gupta, the Transport and Education Minister in the outgoing cabinet, escaped unhurt in a clash that took place at a polling station located at Hindu Kanya College just when the polling came to end this evening. In another incident, supporters of the ruling party candidate allegedly resorted to violence at the residence of an INLD activist around 7 pm. The assembly segment of Safidon, however, topped the polling percentage in the district with 75 per cent of voters coming out to cast their votes today. It was 70 percent polling in Julana, Jind and Uchana Kalan segments while Narwana reported 68 per cent.According to reports, the main incident of violence took place just at the end of polling at Hindu Kanya College where the Congress candidate Mange Ram Gupta had arrived along with his supporters. However, the activists belonging to the INLD protested when the Congress supporters started raising slogans ofvictory in support of Gupta from the seat. It is alleged that while the supporters engaged in verbal dual and heated exchanges some one from the crowd threw a stone that hit the vehicle of the Congress candidate, who was whisked away by his security personnel.The pelting of stone, however, resulted in injuries to a DSP and a supporter of the Congress party. Heavy police force was then rushed to the spot which dispersed the mob from the spot. Several persons were also injured in another incident of clash that took place between Congress and the HJC candidates at Barahkalan village in the district around noon when the polling was in progress. While the injured have been identified as Surender, Vijay, Randhir and Chander Singh, the polling got disrupted for about half an hour. It could be resumed after the arrival of additional police force at the spot. In the third incident of violence which also took place after about two hours of polling deadline led to damage to the property of an INLD supporter. |
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Polling halted for two hours in Assandh
Karnal, October 13 Barring a stray incident of damage to an EVM in Chochra village in Assandh and boycott of polling by residents of a few villages in the Indri and Gharaunda constituencies, polling passed of peacefully. A minor clash occurred between Congress and HJC workers at booth No. 60 in Chochra village in the Assandh constituency and polling had to be suspended for two hours as miscreants damaged the EVM. The police registered cases against four persons. At the Kalaram polling booth in Gharaunda, the police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to quell the crowd assembled at the booth to cast votes. Polling started on a moderate note and 15 to 20 per cent votes were cast till 10 am. The trend remained steady and about 60 per cent exercised their franchise by 4 PM and the last hour witnessed only 5 per cent polling. Indri recorded 70 per cent polling, followed by Gharaunda (67 per cent), Assandh (64 per cent) Nilokheri (63 per cent) and Karnal (61 per cent). A 110-year old frail man reached the polling station No. 95 in the Gharaunda constituency to cast his vote. He was helped by relatives. He said he had great faith in democracy and had cast his vote in all the assembly and Lok Sabha elections held so far. A 50-year-old man, Ram Singh, whose 90 per cent body was under plaster due to multiple fractures in an accident, was brought to a polling booth by relatives to cast his vote. |
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Khoh village boycotts poll
Khoh (Gurgaon), October 13 None of the 1,141 voters of the village exercised their franchise in protest against the “highhandedness” of the state authorities. Not only did the villagers boycott the poll, they also guarded the lone polling booth in their village so that nobody could misuse their votes by taking advantage of the situation. The main reasons behind the protest were the state government’s failure in providing jobs to the local youth, as promised, and constructing a road to connect the village with the IMT, Manesar. The piece of land on which the villagers (sans any agricultural land) have built houses to earn rent is also under threat of acquisition. In fact, the villagers had informed electoral officials of their decision to boycott the poll last evening. Following this, District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Anurag Agarwal rushed nodal officer and duty magistrate Narender Yadav to the village to convince the villagers to participate in the polling process. The villagers, however, remained firm on their stance. Agarwal confirmed that no vote had been cast in the village. The protesting villagers, led by Sarpanch Rohtash Singh, pointed out that their land had been acquired more than a decade ago, but till date, the village youth were not given jobs in the industrial units set up on this land as promised by the state government. “Besides, the ruling Congress has not promised to provide job quota for the local youth,” maintained another villager. Rajinder Singh of the same village said the HSIIDC had adopted the village but no worthwhile development had been carried out. “Even the road that leads to the national highway has turned into a drain,” he lamented. The state authorities acquired 1,600 acres of agricultural land from Khoh, Kasan, Naharpur and Manesar villages for the IMT, Manesar, project. Residents of these villages maintain that they were promised 20 per cent reservation in jobs in the industrial units established on the land. However, the villagers rue that though many industrial units had come up on the land acquired from them since then, the village youth had not got any jobs in these as promised. Asked why didn’t the villagers show their resentment through their votes, Rohtash Singh said: “Whichever party comes to power, the government favours only the rich people. Since all of them are alike, voting for or against any party or candidate would not have made any difference,” he maintained. |
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In Kohand, it’s over kidnapped boy
Indri/Gharaunda, October 13 About 4,300 voters in three polling booths in Kohand village in the Gharaunda assembly constituency completely boycotted the poll. Not even a single vote was cast in polling booth number 131,132 and 133; the polling staff was sitting idle in these booths with 1,466, 1,214 and 1,609 voters, respectively. Also, neither any voter nor agent of any candidate were present in the polling stations. INLD candidate Narinder Sangwan did turn up at these polling stations but his efforts to persuade the villagers to cast their votes proved futile, same was the case with Congress candidate Virender Rathore. The villagers had decided to boycott the polls to express their resentment against the failure of the police to recover a six-year-old boy, Ajit Singh, who was kidnapped on September 27 last. The villagers had served an ultimatum to the administration to trace the boy within 48 hours failing which they would not cast their votes. The deadline expired without any result and the villagers translated their threat into action. Sangwan blamed the administration and the police for their callous attitude and said that the Police could arrest the boys who randomly threw stones on the train in which Rahul Gandhi was incidentally traveling and even recovered the stone pelted by the miscreants but in this case nothing tangible had come out even after seventeen days and the administration must take the blame for poll boycott. The Kohand villagers have decided to hold Panchayat this evening to chalk out future course of action. The polling booths (139 and 140) at Baldi village in the Indri constituency also boycotted the poll to express their anger against shifting of the village from Karnal to Indri. There were 1,737 voters in this village and not a single vote was cast. The villagers rued that their grievances were not being addressed to when the village was located at 2-km from Karnal and what would be their fate if the village to Indri which was more than 40-km away. The villagers of Hansu Majra and Chowgaon also boycotted the polls to protest against failure of the administration to protect the villages against floods and to provide adequate relief to the sufferers. |
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Four seats yet to see a woman contestant
Chandigarh, October 13 Skewed sex ratio and conservative society where khap panchayats still have the final say notwithstanding, women in the state have always played second fiddle to men in the state politics. The state has produced some eminent women politicians, including Chandravati, Sushma Swaraj, Shakuntala Bhagwaria and Prasani Devi, besides a few young women parliamentarians, including Selja and Shruti Choudhry. After two terms in the state assembly, Sushma Swaraj moved to the Centre and remained a Union Minister in the NDA government. But only woman to occupy a prominent position was Shanno Devi, the first Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. Incidentally, the state is yet to have a woman Chief Minister, though neighbouring Punjab achieved this distinction when Rajinder Kaur Bhattal became Chief Minister in time before the 1997 assembly elections. Incidentally, Roopvati has no formal education and she is one of the 15 women contestants in fray from a constituency that has till date remained in hands of male candidates only. Though women account for 47 per cent of the total electors of 1.28 crore, the number of women contestants is just 5.6 per cent. There are only 67 women amongst 1,222 candidates, a few fractions lower than nearly 6 per cent recorded in 2005. Two of the 13 women legislators of the outgoing assembly - Kiran Choudhry (Tosham) and Savitri Jindal (Hisar) - in the outgoing assembly got in because of unfortunate midterm demise of their spouses in an air accident. Of the 60 women contestants in the last elections, 13 were elected to the assembly. It was perhaps the largest number of women legislators in the state assembly since 1966. The previous biggest group of women legislators was seven in the sixth Vidhan Sabha when Kartar Devi, Prasani Devi, Shakuntala Bhagwaria, Bahin Shanti Devi and Kanwar Sharda Rani (all from the Congress), Basanti Devi and firebrand Chandravati were elected on the Lok Dal tickets. At present, Prasani Devi (74) of the Congress is the oldest woman candidate to contest the elections. Shakuntala Bhagwaria has been MLA four times, once as an Independent, twice on the Congress ticket and once on the Janata Dal ticket. At 66, she is perhaps the oldest woman contestant from amongst SC candidates. The highest number of women candidates contesting the assembly elections was 93 in 1996 and only four of them were declared elected. |
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Farmers give harvesting a break, cast vote
Chandigarh, October 13 Small wonder then that farmers in the state took a day off from their harvesting season to exercise their right and villagers began queueing up to vote from the time the clock struck seven this morning. Women were not ones to be left behind and they came with children in tow, with their men and their families or all by themselves. Like 80-year-old Kaushalya who sat with old village women on a charpoy at the government school in Dhurkada (Ambala), awaiting her turn. “My feet can’t carry my weight anymore but I sure can cast my vote. I know how to use the EVM and will press the button next to the symbol of the party I think should form the next government,” she says. Of the 918 votes, a total of 115 have been polled two hours after voting began. In the constituency as elsewhere, party candidates are busy booth-hopping, checking of all is proceeding smoothly, trying to get a feel of mood of the voters. There are younger women too who make up the queue at Dharukada as also in Patti Afgan in Kaithal. “Undoubtedly, we decide in the family. Once here, we are on our own. We only know where we have voted,” explains Rajjo Rani. In Kutubpura, excited faces greeted The Tribune team. Congress candidate and Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala had just left the booth, adding zing to the dullness that cames from handing out slips to voters. In Ballana village of Pehowa, Tarlochan Singh speaks for the rest of “his group” who are queued up since morning to cast their votes. “Our harvesting can wait for a day. No harm will come to our crop. But if we miss voting today, we will have to repent for the coming five years. The contest certainly is between the Congress and the INLD and our mind is made up about where our vote will go,” he maintains as the others nod their approval. |
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Skirmishes in Rohtak
Rohtak, October 13 Though two persons received bullet injuries in a firing incident in Naya Baas village of the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency, the administration claimed that it was a case of personal enmity and had nothing to do with polling. A few supporters of the Congress candidate and an Independent candidate from the Meham assembly segment reportedly got injured in a clash between two groups that took place at a booth in Madina village this morning, which held up polling for about half and hour. Polling also got disrupted for about 25 minutes at a booth in Polangi village under the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency after an altercation between Congress and INLD agents. The Meham assembly segment reported the highest polling percentage of 78 in the district. It was followed by 68 per cent in the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi segment where Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the ruling party candidate. The Kalanaur segment recorded 66 per cent polling while Rohtak city reported about 65 per cent polling. In all four assembly segments, including Meham which had been declared sensitive revealed that the security arrangements at some booths were lax with just one policeman at one booth. He was assisted by a Home Guard and polling officials were finding it difficult to keep a check on the number of voters inside the booth.Private vehicles were found to be parked within 50 metres of the polling stations in some villages of the Meham assembly
segment. |
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17 injured in Panipat clash
Panipat, October 13 Panipat (rural) recorded 76 per cent polling and Panipat city 65 per cent. Dariya village in Israna segment registered the highest polling with 915 of the 1198 voters exercising franchise, whereas the overall voting percentage was 69 per cent. In Jalalpur 2 village 11 HJC supporters and six of the Congress were injured in a clash. They were taken to the Civil Hospital. Congress candidate Sanjay Chhokar and Dharam Singh Chhokar later visited his injured supporters. Overall, 68 per cent electorate voted in this constituency. Ganaur registered 65 per cent voting, Rai 70 per cent, Kharkhoda 54 per cent and Broda 66 per cent. At Sonepat the polling percentage was 65 per cent. |
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Heavy polling in Bhajan’s borough
Hisar, October 13 The Nalwa assembly constituency from where Bhajan Lal’s wife Jasma Devi of the HJC and former Finance Minister Sampat Singh of the Congress are locked in a gripping contest reported a polling percentage of 77.This is a newly created constituency and has gone to the polls for the first time after the delimitation exercise. The Hansi assembly segment, y reported a poll percentage of 73 per cent. |
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Vehicles impounded
Sirsa, October 13 Eightyfive per cent votes were polled in the Rania assembly segment from where former Deputy Chairman of Haryana Planning Board Ranjit Singh is seeking election, while on Sirsa seat, where five-time MLA and Haryana Industries Minister LD Arora is in fray, the polling was moderate at 66 per
cent. Dabwali, where INLD secretary general and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Singh Chautala is facing Haryana CM’s former OSD KV Singh, the polling was quite high at 80 per cent. One vehicle each of the
INLD, the HJC and an Independent candidate was impounded after these were found plying without permission. |
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Five hurt in Mewat
Mewat, October 13 The INLD has filed a complaint with the Election Commission on booth-capturing by Congress activists in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi. Voting was halted at a few places due to stones-pelting. In another incident, INLD supporters hit Congress candidate Maman Khan and broke his car windscreen. Following the incident, more forces were deployed there. |
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Cong candidate, son booked
Kaithal, October 13 It has been alleged that Dillu Ram and his son Pawan had been distributing plastic water storage tanks among voters in a Balmiki locality on Kharodi Road to influence voters. |
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Ambala 74 Bhiwani 65 Faridabad 75 Fatehabad 75 Gurgaon 63 Hisar 73 Jhajjar 66 Jind 70 Kaithal 72 Karnal 65 Kurukshetra 71 Mahendragarh 72 Mewat 68 Palwal 73 Panipat 69 Panchkula 59 Yamunanagar 77.5 Sirsa 66 Sonepat 64 Rohtak 69
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Proceedings against doctors quashed
Chandigarh, October 13 “Despite the best possible standard treatment”, the victim died and a case of under sections 366A, 328, 302 and 376 of the IPC was registered at the city police station in Ballabgarh. An accused, Dharmender, was convicted and sentenced for rape and other offences in November 2006. Despite the conviction orders, the father instituted complaints in six different forums. In one of the complaints instituted after eight months, the petitioners were summoned for the offence punishable under Section 201 of the IPC. It was contended a number of injuries were “not noted to benefit the main culprit, and wrong treatment was given to accelerate the death of the patient so she may not be in a position to name the real culprit.” Counsel for the petitioners Pavit Mattewal had asserted after Dharmender’s conviction it was not understandable as to how an offence under Section 201 of the IPC could be made out against the petitioners. After hearing the arguments, Justice Jora Singh asserted: “At the time of examination by Dr Rakesh Singh, neither the complainant party, nor Dharmender were known to the doctors. The doctors have no enmity with the complainants. The main accused had also no intimacy with the doctors.” Justice Jora Singh also observed Med Singh, while appearing as prosecution witness in the state case, had not stated a word against the petitioners. Even when they appeared as prosecution witness, no suggestion was put to them that proper treatment was not given or the MLR was forged and fabricated.
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