Shimla, January 3
The first-ever elections on party symbols to the urban local bodies threw up a mixed verdict even as the ruling BJP suffering some unexpected jolts and the main opposition Congress showing signs of a comeback in the state.

It was also for the first time that president and vice-president were elected directly by the electorate. The BJP won higher number of wards in Hamirpur but lost the posts of president and vice-president in Sujanpur and Bhota. It won in Hamirpur town convincingly and also did well in Una district.

The Congress did exceedingly well in Kangra and had the upper hand in Shimla district, though its performance fell short of expectation. The BJP made a clean sweep of the top two posts and all wards in Naina Devi in Bilaspur and the Congress matched its performance by achieving the same feat in Nurpur in Kangra.

In Rajgarh, the Congress bagged the post of president and the BJP won the vice-president. In Banjar, the BJP bagged both posts and five out of the six wards. In Manali, a Congress rebel Roop Chand was elected president while the post of vice-president was bagged by the BJP which also won five out of the six wards.

In Shimla district, the BJP won the post of president and vice-president in Suni (Sunita and Naresh) and Jubbal (Gobind and Lokesh), in Rampur Deepak Sood of the Congress bagged the post of president and its supported Independent Harish Chand was elected vice-president. In Kotkhai, Ravinder and Sandeep, both of Congress, bagged top posts while in Rohru the post of president was bagged by a Congress rebel Raj Kumar and that of vice-president by the CPM candidate Sukhdev.

In Theog, Hem Raj (BJP) was elected president, while an Independent Vivek was elected vice-president. In Chopal, Sukhdev of the BJP was elected president and KC Chandel of the Congress vice-president.

In Dalhousie, Manoj Chaddha and Bishan Lal, both of the Congress, were elected as president and vice-president, respectively. In Chawari, Santosh and Divya Chakshu (both Congress) bagged the top two posts. In Solan, the Congress won Arki winning the top two posts.

Solan, January 3
The Congress managed to maintain its stronghold in the Arki nagar panchayat by capturing the two crucial posts of president and vice-president by defeating the BJP.

The BJP, however, managed to win six of the seven posts of councillors while the Congress had to be content with mere one councillor.

Seema Sharma of the Congress managed to romp home the crucial post of president by securing 746 votes. She defeated BJP candidate Prabha Bhardwaj who could only muster 604 votes.

Kuldeep Sood of the Congress managed to get 714 votes and defeated the BJP’s Prabha Bhardwaj who secured 531 votes for the post of vice-president.

The BJP councillors who won the elections included Kanta Devi, Dileep Kumar, Bharti Verma, Surinder Kumar, Anita Gupta and Bhawna Gupta while the lone Congress councillor, who won from ward number five included Harish Gupta.

With the Congress having recaptured the two key posts, it had managed to give a befitting defeat to the BJP which would now be forced to sit in the opposition.

Sanjay Awasthi, president of the Arki block Congress president, said the voters had reaffirmed their confidence in the Congress which had recaptured the nagar panchayat. The victory had strengthened the party organisation.

Dharamsala/Una, January 3
In what could be described as setback for the BJP, the Congress dominated the Kangra, politically most significant district of the state.

From the results declared today, the BJP suffered a convincing defeat in Palampur, Nurpur, Kangra and Nagrota municipal councils.

It was only in the Dharamsala municipal council that the BJP managed to save face. In Dharamsala, the BJP managed to win 7 out of 11 wards. The win could be attributed to personal interest taken by local minister Kishan Kapoor.

However, the post of president in Dharamsala was won by Kamla Patial (independent), a BJP rebel, and while that of vice-president was won by Omkar Nehria of the BJP.

In Dehra nagar panchayat, however, the BJP maintained dominance winning 4 out of 7 wards. Three wards were won by the Congress.

In Jwalamukhi, posts of both president and vice-president were won by the Congress. While Anil Prabha of the Congress won as president and Anil Sood of the Congress won as vice-president.

In Kangra, district president of the Congress Suman Lata Verma won as president by a margin of 300 votes. The post of vice-president was won by independent Ashok Kumar.

In Nagrota Bagwan, Himandri Sony (Independent) won as president while Arun Mehra of the Congress won as vice-president.

Kangra had been the stronghold of the BJP as it won 12 out 16 seats in last assembly elections. It is also represented by 4 cabinet ministers in the present BJP government.

In Palampur, the Congress dominated by winning both seats of president and vice-president. The old stalwart and former municipal council president Balwant Thakur of the Congress won with a convincing margin of over 500 votes.

In Nurpur, the Congress swept all the nine wards. Krishna Mahajan of the Congress won as president and Yashpal Soga of Congress won as vice-president.

In Una, however, the BJP maintained its dominance. It managed to win in Satokhgarh, Mehatpur and Gagret nagar panchayats.

Heavy polling was noticed in almost all municipal councils and nagar panchayats of Kangra district. According the officials here, there was about 73 per cent polling was recorded in municipal polls in the Kangra district. Maximum polling 82 per cent was recorded in Jawalamukhi and minimum 66.74 per cent was recorded in Dharamsala municipal council. In Nurpur 72 per cent, Kangra 76 per cent, Dehra 73.7 per cent, Nagrota 74 per cent and Palampur 67 per cent was recorded.

In Una district, about 79 per cent polling was recording in one municipal council and four nagar panchayats. In Una 79 per cent polling was recorded, Mehatpur 77.42 per cent, Gagret 78.71 per cent, Dhaulatpur 78.88 per cent, Santokhgarh 83.06 per cent.

The counting was delayed as voting at many booths continued till 5.30 pm. The officials say that after 4 pm that was the deadline for casting votes they closed down the gates of polling booth. However, a large numbers of people were standing in queues inside the polling booths. They had to be allowed voting as per the directions of election commission.

In Dharamsala, counting could start only after 6.30 pm due to delayed polling in some wards.

In Una, at polling booth number 10 there were 278 voters still standing in queue inside the polling booth at 4 pm. The polling in booth continued beyond 6 pm.

People braved snow and cold conditions to come out and vote. In Dharamkot area of Dharamsala that received heavy snowfall on December 31 people were seen standing in long queues to cast their vote.

Hamirpur, January 3
The BJP has maintained its hold in the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad by winning the top post of president and vice-president and in eight wards in the elections, results of which were announced after completion of polling today.

The Congress candidates have won top posts in Nadaun, Sujanpur and Bhota nagar panchayats.

Deep Kumar (BJP) sitting president of the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad has defeated Kashmiri Lal, an Independent.

BJP candidate Dharmender defeated Manoj of the Congress for the post of vice-president.

In Sujanapur Nagar Panchayat, the Congress candidates have won both top posts of president and vice-president. Manoj Thakur (Congress) has been elected president and Onkar Swaroop has been elected vice-president.

In Bhota nagar panchayat, the Congress has won the post of president and vice-president and its candidate Sarvjeet Kaur and Desh Raj have been elected.

In Nadaun, Congress candidate Reena Devi has won the post of president and BJP candidate Tarun Kapil has won on the post of vice-president.

Deep Kumar has defeated Kashmiri Lal Handa by 686 votes for the post of president.

Deep Kumar polled 2,572 votes, Kashmiri Lal 1,986, Avnish Kumar 1788, Yash Pal 157 (all independents) and Prakash Chand (Congress) 1,112 votes.

For the post of vice-president, BJP candidate Dharmender defeated Manoj of the Congress by 911 votes.

Dharmender polled 4,253 votes and Manoj polled 3342 votes.

Palampur, January 3
Fourteen BJP MLAs from Punjab today called on Shanta Kumar, senior BJP leader, vice-president of the All-India BJP and in charge of Punjab affairs of the party. By the afternoon, all MLAs reached the Yamini Complex residence of Shanta Kumar and met the senior leader one by one.

Much political significance was added to this meeting of the BJP MLAs with Shanta Kumar in political circles keeping in view the Punjab assembly elections due in early next year. However, no BJP minister from Punjab was called.

BJP sources said Shanta Kumar had called this meeting to get the firsthand feedback of the performance of the BJP in Punjab. Earlier on December 24, a number of BJP MLAs had also met Shanta Kumar at Chandigarh and aired their grievances pertaining to the functioning of the party in Punjab.

BJP sources revealed that most of the MLAs had told Shanta Kumar that development activities in their constituencies were going on at a snail’s pace and it would be difficult for them to face the voters in coming assembly elections due next year. They also complained that pick-and-choose policy was being adopted in the allocation of funds to their constituencies. Despite repeated complaints in this regards to ministers in the SAD-BJP government, nothing had been done.

A majority of the MLAs were of the view that efforts should be made for the strengthening the party in a big way in Punjab before the assembly elections. Ministers should give due weightage to party workers. The government should provide additional budget for their constituencies to complete all ongoing development works before the elections.

It was also learnt that Shanta Kumar is likely to meet the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in the coming days with whom he had cordial relations. He would use his good offices to sort out all problems faced by the MLAs and the party in Punjab. Shanta Kumar later said the party was quite strong in Punjab and it would give a united fight to the Congress in the assembly elections of 2012.

Shimla, January 3
The Himachal Police today finally switched over from khakhi to blue uniform after a long wait of six years since the idea was mooted but not without controversy as confusion prevailed whether IPS officers should sport the new attire or it should be confined only up to DSP rank officers.

Interestingly, barring three IPS officers, including Director General of Police DS Manhas, IG (South) Ashok Sharma and Shimla SP Sonal Agnihotri, majority of the IPS officers stuck to their old khakhi uniform in the police headquarters here, literally creating a divide. It was former CBI director Ashwani Kumar who had mooted this idea of change in the colour of uniform but only up till the DSP rank officers while he was heading the state police.

The switchover in the uniform from today was too conspicuous as the DGP sported the new blue attire at a function where Chief Minister PK Dhumal was the chief guest. Even though the top police boss wore the new blue uniform, majority of the IPS officers were rather reluctant to toe the line and not without reason.

“Since any modification in change in our uniform is guided by the Indian Police Service (Uniform) Rules, 1954, it is not within the purview of the state government to make changes in our uniform,” they said. The Himachal Police Service (HPS) officers and the other ranks wore the blue uniform.

In fact, the IPS officers point out that rules clearly mention that it is the Central Government, in consultation with the state government, may, from time to time, make modification in the dress and in case any question of interpretation of these rules arises, the Central Government will decide.

There had been a lot of resentment over the decision for change in the colour of uniform. The Police Personnel Association had even moved court on the issue pointing out that it would lead to discrimination as it was only meant for officers and personnel up to the DSP rank. They were of the opinion that it should have been uniformly adopted for all right from top to bottom.

The DGP, however, could not be contacted as he was not available in the office.

Shimla, January 3
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has underlined the need for strengthening the network for collection of real time intelligence and reorganisation of the beat system for effective policing.

Presiding over the first meeting of the State Police Board here today, he said all ranks should strive to win the trust and affection of the people through friendly conduct and dedicated service to make Himachal Pradesh a “Dev Bhoomi and Vir Bhoomi” in the real sense.

The role of the police had changed and it required cooperating with the people to function in an objective, impartial, apolitical, trustworthy, transparent, humane, effective, efficient and responsive manner.

He said crime like terrorist activities, anti-national activities, spying and crime against property should be given top priority and the detection and recovery of the stolen property should be improved substantially. The officers need to be the leader of their teams and presence of police personnel made visible on streets, public and crowded places. The crusade against narcotics and use of drugs by youth should be checked firmly and an eye kept on ragging incidents in educational institutions.

There should be zero tolerance for traffic violation and an effective strategy had to be adopted to bring down the cases of suicides by launching awareness campaign to curb such tendencies.

Leader of Opposition Vidya Stokes said migratory labourers and workers had been responsible in the rising crime graph in the state which needed to be checked with firm hands. She said cases of crime against women, Dalits and other weaker sections must be dealt with sternly.

Director General of Police Dr DS Manhas presented a draft of Rs 20,25,151 as contribution of the employees of the department to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated a blood donation camp organised by the police in collaboration with the State Red Cross Society at the Ridge.

Shimla, January 3
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the managing director of Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Limited, Banglore, and its local dealer Ace Infotech System, Shimla, to pay Rs 59,747 along with interest to the HP Paramedical Council for supplying defective computer system to it.

The forum, headed by RL Azad, also imposed Rs 1,500 as costs on both parties for indulging in an unfair trade practice.

The forum passed this order on a complaint filed by the council alleging that it had purchased a computer for doing official work for Rs 59,747 from the opposite parties. When the computer developed a snag, a request was made to the opposite parties to check the same. However, the engineer, who was deputed by the local dealer, failed to rectify the problem.

The company and its dealer in their reply have specifically alleged that the complainant had used pirated software and no anti-virus software was installed in the computer.

While allowing the complaint, the forum observed that there was no evidence on record produced by the opposite parties to prove the fact that the complainant had used pirated software as a result of which the computer started giving problem.

“Therefore, we have no hesitation in holding that the computer system supplied by the opposite parties was defective and by doing so, they have indulged in an unfair trade practice. As such, they are liable to refund the price of the computer system to the complainant, along with interest and litigation expenses,” the forum said.

Shimla, January 3
The country’s largest 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station has achieved a record generation of 6,420 million units till yesterday, overshooting the target by 290 million units.

It has been an exceptionally good year for the project and power generation has been more than the target all through despite unscheduled shutdowns due to excessive silt in the Sutlej during the monsoon. Even the normally lean December, when generation is reduced drastically due to decline in discharge, turned out to be good one and 302 million units were generated.

The hydroelectric project also achieved a record 38.5 million units of electricity in a single day on August 30 last year. It is designed to generate 36 million units in a day and 6,950 million units in a year. No other hydro-power project in the country has achieved such high-level of generation till date. The Union Ministry of Power has set a target of 6,700 million units for the current financial year and with almost three months to go the project is likely to exceed it by a huge margin.

The daily generation ranges between 8.5-9 million units and it is likely to increase in February and March with the rise in temperature. It achieved a generation of 7,019 million in the last financial year and the figure will be surpassed this year.

The achievement is creditable in view of the fact that the plant remained closed for 22 days on account of high silt in July and August.

Nurpur, January 3
A family dispute led to the murder of Manu Singh (28), son of Ran Singh of nearby Bhaloon village. According to Nurpur DSP Hari Ram, the deceased was allegedly murdered by his brother Anu Singh with a sharp-edged weapon last night.

Following the complaint of the deceased’s mother, the police has lodged an FIR under Section 302 of the IPC and arrested her accused son this morning.

The police said a case of theft was already registered against the accused a few months ago for stealing telephone cables.

In another incident, Kulbir Singh (33), a Home Guard jawan of Rehan in this subdivision, had reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree this morning. He had also consumed some poisonous substance before hanging himself.

According to police sources, following the complaint of Kulbir’s wife a case of abetment to suicide has been registered against his father Mohinder Singh. The denial of share of the ancestral property by the accused to his son allegedly forced him to take the step. The father and the deceased allegedly had an altercation last night.

The deceased was rushed to the civil hospital here this morning, but was declared brought dead.

Shimla, January 3
Even as life is limping back to normalcy in the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti after the heavy snowfall, power supply to Pooh subdivision in Kinnuar cannot be restored even after five days.

Kinnaur had plunged into darkness after a heavy snowfall on December 28-29.

Though power supply in many parts of Kinnuar, including district headquarters Reckong Peo, was restored today, yet the supply remained erratic. Sunil Chaudhary, Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur, said the tourists, who could not leave Sangla where they were staying in hotels due to heavy snowfall, today left after the roads were cleared. The vehicular traffic on the National Highway-22 has been restored but the higher roads in the district are still closed for traffic.

Even as most parts of the tribal areas experienced almost four to five feet of snow, the local Meteorological Centre said there could be a fresh spell of rain and snow on January 7.

The weather in Shimla remained clear today even though the tourist rush for the New Year is thinning out.