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Ellenabad bypoll on Jan 20
A lot at stake for Cong, INLD
Bishnoi vows to bring defectors ‘on the road’
HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi meets party workers before addressing a press conference in Karnal on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar |
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Now, you can hoist the Tricolour round the clock
High Court
Chautalas in habit of lying: Cong
Smart card for commuters
Hoax bomb call creates panic
Rahul’s visit: BJP hits out at varsity
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Ellenabad bypoll on Jan 20
New Delhi, December 22 The byelection to the Ellenabad constituency was necessitated after Om Prakash Chautala vacated his seat and opted to retain his Uchana Kalan seat. The model code of conduct will come into force with immediate effect. The commission has decided to use EVMs in the byelection.
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A lot at stake for Cong, INLD
While this January 20 Assembly byelection is crucial to the prestige of the Congress since it is the party in power, it is equally important for the INLD, especially because the party cannot afford to lose from its pocket borough. The other main parties, the BJP, the HJC and the BSP, are keeping their cards close to their chest. Sources in the BJP said a meeting of the parliamentary board would be called in a day or two to decide whether or not the party will contest the byelection. HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi said his party would definitely contest the byelection and a meeting to decide on the candidate had been called tomorrow. For the Congress, this byelection is also important since the party, as of now, has cobbled a majority with the support of the Independents who have been rewarded with positions in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led ministry. If it manages to win Ellenabad, the party, one short of a simple majority after the merger by Haryana Janhit Congress MLAs, would be able to stand alone irrespective of the Independents. Among the names doing the rounds for the Congress ticket are that of Bharat Singh Beniwal, who contested the recent Assembly elections against the INLD supremo unsuccessfully. He ended up with over 48,000 votes, nearly 16,000 votes short of Chautala. While he is rallying hard for the ticket, former OSD to Chief Minister KV Singh, who contested the October Assembly elections from Dabwali and lost, is also in the race. His contention is that while he had been nursing Ellenabad for the past over four years in the hope of contesting the election from the seat after it was de-reserved in the delimitation exercise, he was asked to move to Dabwali in the last few months before the elections. He now wants to test the waters in Ellenabad. Among other contenders is Anil Khodd, son of a former MLA from Ellenabad, who has the backing of a senior minister in the Cabinet. In the INLD, former MLA Abhey Singh Chautala, seems the probable candidate for the Ellenabad seat since the party does not want to take any chances in the byelection. A defeat here could send out the wrong signals, which would undermine the achievement of winning 31 seats in the Assembly elections. The party has already launched a campaign for the seat with the Chautalas extensively touring the area and addressing rallies. The other name doing the round is that of senior Chautala’s covering candidate in the Assembly elections, Aditya Chautala. |
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Bishnoi vows to bring defectors ‘on the road’
Karnal, December 22 “All defectors will be unseated and punished by the people for betraying them by deserting the HJC and they will never be able to get re-elected,” he told mediapersons here. The defection by HJC MLAs was “unconstitutional and illegal” and these defectors had completely vitiated the process of electing the government through a democratic process and hit at the roots of the democratic polity, he added. “We have filed a petition with the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha and I am fully confident that these members, who have succumbed to horse trading and joined the Congress, will lose their membership,” he asserted. Bishnoi announced that his party would contest the Ellenabad assembly byelections and his effort would now be to launch the membership campaign from New Year to strengthen the party. The party was not at all demoralised by defections by some MLAs and fully geared up to face challenges, he added. Demanding a CBI inquiry into the recent Madhuban case and alleged horse trading to muster majority by the ruling Congress party, Bishnoi alleged that cases had been instituted against a local daily, “Abhi Abhi” just to “intimidate and silence” the media. He criticised the government for uncontrolled price rise and bureaucratisation of administration and said the HJC would launch a statewide agitation to mobilise people against the government. Meanwhile, the police today arrested the editor, printer and publisher of Abhi Abhi, Kuldeep Sheraon, and sent him in two-day remand. |
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Now, you can hoist the Tricolour round the clock
Kurukshetra, December 22 The Union Home Ministry has accepted the request of Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal to allow the hoisting of the National Flag round-the-clock and do away with the condition of hoisting the National Flag after sunrise and lowering it before sunset. Jindal had written to the government on June 1, questioning the rationale behind mandatory lowering of the National Flag before the sunset. He maintained that tall flag posts with height above 200 feet had been erected at some places and it was difficult to hoist and lower the flag every day. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs through its letter dated December 22 intimated Jindal that it had no objection to the proposal to install “giant flag posts” for hoisting the National Flag day and night at various places. However, it has put a condition that adequate arrangements should be made for illumination of flag at night and it should be immediately replaced in case of damage by vagaries of weather. The flag code clearly mentioned that the flag should always be hoisted at sunrise and lowered at sunset, irrespective of the weather conditions. Prior to 2001, the general public of India could not hoist the National Flag publicly except on designated national holidays. Jindal, then an industrialist, filed a public interest petition in the Delhi High Court seeking striking down of the restriction. Jindal apparently flew the flag atop his office building, violating the Flag Code of India. The flag was confiscated and he was warned of prosecution. Jindal argued that hoisting the National Flag with due decorum and honour was his right as a citizen and a way of expressing his love for India. The case moved to the Supreme Court, which asked the Union Government to set up a committee to consider the matter. The Union Cabinet amended the Indian Flag Code with effect from January 26, 2002, allowing the general public to hoist the flag on all days of the year, provided they safeguarded the dignity, honour and respect of the flag. It was held that though the Flag Code was not a statute, restrictions under the code need to be followed to preserve the dignity of the National Flag. |
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High Court Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 22 The directions by Justice K. Kannan came on a petition by B. Singh Bhatti. Seeking the quashing of elections of managing committee members of a cooperative society, he had contended the elected candidates belonged to the general category and there was “no representation through any member of the reserved category”. Quoting the Haryana Cooperatives Societies Act, he had added at least one member of the backward class should be represented through elections in the committee, if their number was 10 per cent or more of the total membership. Claiming to be a backward class member, the petitioner had contended 10 per cent of the total society members belonged to the same class. As such, “there ought to have been among the elected candidates at least one person belonging to the backward class”. Justice Kannan took note of the fact that the Registrar, cooperative societies, had in a report admitted there was “no enumeration of castes from among the society members; and, therefore, it was not possible to ascertain whether 10 per cent of the society members belonged to the backward class. “The rule providing for a performa for the nomination form does not provide for any particular detail whether a person belongs to backward class or not. It provides in form A only as regards the reserved category through a query whether a person belongs to the scheduled casts. There is no question seeking an answer whether a person belongs to backward class. The report, therefore, spells out that a direction has been issued that enumeration of all castes from amongst the members shall be done for the future elections,” Justice Kannan observed. The judge concluded: “The cooperative societies shall gather details of all members belonging to the backward classes, and such information shall be collected with requisite proof at the stage of admission to membership. “The enumeration of the backward class status form among the members shall be fully complete before election to managing committees are announced and any election held in future without such enumeration will be liable for challenge”.
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Chautalas in habit of lying: Cong
Sirsa, December 22 Ved Parkash Vidrohi, spokesperson for the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, claimed that the financial condition of the state was fine and alleged that the Chautala family was in the habit of speaking lies to mislead the people. “The Chautalas are in the habit of fabricating their own statistics. Earlier, they tried to mislead the people before the Assembly elections that farmers’ crops were withering away due to drought and scarcity of power and water. However, a record 47 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains have arrived in the markets,” Vidrohi alleged in his statement. Vidrohi also pooh-poohed the oft-repeated accusations of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his sons that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had been discriminating against old Hisar district. “Chautala always discriminated against South Haryana during his tenure as Chief Minister. Now, when the Hooda government has been taking care of development of all parts of the state, the Chautalas have been spreading canards to befool people,” the HPCC spokesperson alleged. Vidrohi alleged that the Chautalas had been spreading this “false campaign” in view of the impending Ellenabad byelection and added that the people were wise enough to see through the game plan of the INLD leaders. The HPCC spokesperson claimed that the Congress would win the Ellenabad bypoll by a comfortable margin and the people would reject the politics of “falsehood” being practised by the
Chautalas. |
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Smart card for commuters
Panipat, December 22 The authorities have so far distributed 12,000 smart cards. A large number of residents have been making a beeline outside the office of the toll plaza to get the smart card. There was strong resentment among local residents ever since the toll plaza was set up outside the city to collect toll from those using the elevated highway. However, the local residents, who had to travel from one end to the other within the city, were also made to pay the toll at the barrier even as they were using the service lanes. Barriers had been put up across the NH-1 and all had to pay the toll. The smart card, which looks like a debit card, can be recharged and used accordingly. The toll plaza authorities said the local residents could avail of this card at Rs 50 each by showing their ID card. The card would be valid for life. The residents had been demanding that they should be exempted from paying the toll for the elevated road as they were not using it. Instead of offering an exemption, the authorities came up with the smart card concept, which has been received well by a number of local residents. However, there are still many who feel that it is an unnecessary burden on them as they only use the service lanes and not the elevated highway. Sanjeev Kadiyan, a local resident, anyone coming from Babarpur (on the outskirts of the city) to the district headquarters had to pay the tax, which could not be justified in any way. |
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Hoax bomb call creates panic
Kaithal, December 22 According to information, a call was received at the local fire station at about 8.30 pm yesterday through which the caller informed the officials about the bomb at the old bus stand. The fire station staff informed the police control room, following which an alert was sounded by DSP Jagat Singh and the area around the bus stand was cordoned off and the traffic movement was stopped in the area. GM, Haryana Roadways, Kaithal depot, RK Goyal said the staff present in the workshop was immediately withdrawn as a precautionary measure and no person was allowed to enter the premises. Team of experts that arrived from Madhuban this morning carried out an intensive search on the bus stand premises. However, nothing objectionable was found anywhere.
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Rahul’s visit: BJP hits out at varsity
Chandigarh, December 22 In a statement issued here, president Krishan Pal Gurjar alleged that the Vice-Chancellor of the university had acted irresponsibly by asking the staff to call back the students who were away for their winter vacation. Maintaining that the university authorities were working towards fulfilling a political end, he said the Vice-Chancellor should rise above politics and ensure that no political activity should be encouraged on the campus. Stating that Rahul’s visit would not benefit students in any manner, he said it would certainly lead to politicisation of education and university campuses. Gurjar maintained that Rahul Gandhi’s programme for the uplift of the poor was a farce and that staying for a night in a poor man’s house or eating with the poor would not wipe out poverty.
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BSF jawan cremated
Rewari, December 22 On the insistence of the family members of the deceased, who were skeptical about the suicide theory following a “compressed” skull detected by them, DC A Sriniwas ordered a re-examination of the body. The report is awaited. |
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Freedom fighter dead
SONEPAT: The mortal remains of veteran freedom fighter Pyare Lal (96) of Rohna village, who died after a brief illness on Monday, were consigned to the flames with honours at his native village on Tuesday. Naib tehsildar Jagbir Ahlawat was among those who paid tributes to the departed soul.
— OC |
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Lashing out at the defectors for betraying the party and the people, Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi today vowed to bring them on the road.
Chandigarh, December 22