Shimla, November 8
Contrary to expectations, the first-ever election of state Youth Congress president conducted through secret ballot turned out to be a one-sided affair with Vikramaditya, son of Union Minister Virbhadra Singh, trouncing his main rival Raghubir Singh Bali, son of senior Congress leader and former minister GS Bali, by a huge margin of 3,485 votes.

According to the break-up of the votes polled by each candidate, announced by Pradesh Returning Officer Murali Shetty, Vikramaditya secured 5,919 votes against 2,434 votes polled by Bali. In all 9,649 votes were polled, of which Vikramaditya has cornered 61 per cent. Sitting Youth Congress president Manmohan Katoch, who was in the electoral arena to seek a second term, came a poor third with 457 votes.

However, the declaration of the final result has been withheld by Election Commissioner in charge Surat Hegde pending an inquiry into complaints of violation of the code for the election by the Foundation of Advance Management of Election (FAME).

The 11 other candidates in the fray - Dinesh Azad (66), Gobind Sharma (54), Gurdev Singh (37), Ritesh Kapret (111), Sajid Ali (122), Shanti Swaroop (56), Simi Nanda (96), Vinod Kumar (67), Vinod Jhingta (19), Vivek Kumar (101) and Yogesh Kumar (62) - polled insignificant votes. There were 48 invalid votes.

It was for the first time in the history of the state Youth Congress that the president and other office-bearers have been elected through a democratic process with secret ballot. It became a high-stake affair after sons of two senior party leaders entered the electoral arena.

The trend of voting indicated that Bali did well in the Kangra parliamentary constituency, securing a lead of over 1,400 votes. In the process, sitting president Manmohan Katoch, who also hails from Kangra, could manage only a handful of votes.

However, Vikramaditya performed exceedingly well in the Mandi and Shimla constituencies to build an unassailable lead over his rival, while it was a mixed affair in the Hamirpur constituency with the main contestants sharing the votes.

Vikramaditya thanked the Youth Congress workers for expressing confidence in him and asserted that with the friendly match in the family over, he would take along everyone to help build a strong organisation. 

Shimla, November 8
Even as the dissident camp plans to go ahead with its public awareness campaign against corruption at Solan, Mandi and Kullu during the next three days, senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar today stressed the need for resolving all disputes so that the party could work unitedly for ensuring its victory in the byelections.

Reacting sharply to his name being linked with the rebel faction, he said he was not heading any faction and he belonged to the party and not any particular group. “It is unfair on the part of the media to link my name to any faction and I urge all not to drag me in this controversy,” he said.

The dissident camp under the aegis of the Himachal Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha will launch their crusade against corruption from Solan tomorrow. This will be followed by similar campaigns at Mandi on November 10 and Kullu on November 11.

“Since our organisation is a non-political outfit registered under the Societies Act, our public awareness campaigns against corruption should not affect any political party,” said one of the leaders. They said they would continue with similar programmes all over the state urging people to join them in this noble cause even if the high command objects to it.

Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar, whose name is being linked to members of the morcha, including Maheshwar Singh, Radha Raman Shastri, Mahinder Sofat, Shyama Sharma and HN Kashyap, also appealed that all party leaders must sit together and resolve the differences. He, however, also expressed his displeasure over the use of unparliamentary language against senior leaders. “Nobody should use indecent language against leaders who have at one point of time held senior positions in the party and such differences must be resolved within the party forum,” he said.

“Since two byelections in Nalagarh and Renuka are to be held on November 30, the need of the hour is to sit down and resolve all differences so that everyone can get together and campaign unitedly for the party candidates,” he stressed.

Party sources said the high command was keen that talks were held with the rebels before LK Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra, which will enter Himachal at Mandi on November 16 and at Nahan on November 17. The infighting within the party and statements being issued by senior leaders against each other is not going down well with party cadres and this could even adversely affect the party in the byelections.

Shimla, November 8
The resounding victory of Vikramaditya, a political greenhorn, in the Youth Congress poll has come as a shot in the arm for Union Minister Virbhadra Singh who has surprised everyone by allowing his son to contest the high-stake battle.

However, it turned out to be gamble which paid off. Although the results of the elections of frontal organisations are not a true indicator of the popularity of a political party or its leaders, the performance of inexperienced Vikramaditya makes it quite obvious that Virbhadra Singh is still well-entrenched at the grassroots. The five-time Chief Minister, who is being sidelined ever since the party lost power in the state, has sent a strong message that he cannot be ignored.

While the top Congress leadership is pitching for bringing in younger leaders to the fore, the triumph of Vikramaditya only indicated that the 77-year-old patriarch still holds sway over the youth.

However, the involvement of sons of two important party leaders in the poll has only widened the factional divide between rival camps headed by Virbhadra Singh and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh. The rank and file had been engaged in a no-holds-barred battle for the past one month and it could have implications for the party in the coming byelections to the Nalagarh and Renuka Assembly constituencies. Although Virbhadra Singh said the friendly match would not leave any ill-will and expressed the confidence that Vikramaditya would take along everyone to strengthen the organisation, it will take some time to smoothen the ruffled feathers.

A shrewd politician, Virbhadra Singh refused to take credit for his son’s victory and said one should only thank party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who introduced the democratic system to ensure equal opportunities to all Youth Congress workers for the organisational posts and prove their mettle. The result could change equations wihtin the party and lead to new alignments.

However, his loyalist Harsh Mahajan, who held the post of the state Youth Congress for a record 10 years, maintained that the election held by secret ballot indeed reflected the ground reality that Virbhadra Singh was still the most popular Congress leader in the state.

Shimla, November 8
Chief Electoral Officer Narinder Chauhan said today that the security deposit for candidates contesting the Assembly and LS polls had been increased following an amendment in Section 34 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

He said these amendments have come into force with effect from February 1, 2010. As such, the security deposit for candidates has been increased to Rs 25,000 for the Lok Sabha elections and Rs 10,000 for the Assembly elections. “This amount shall be half for SC and ST candidates,” he said. Chauhan said the Ministry of Law and Justice had also effected amendments in the Rule 90 of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.

He said these amendments have come into force with effect from February 23, 2011. According to the amendments, the upper limit of the election expenses applicable to candidates has been increased to Rs 40 lakh for Lok Sabha and Rs 11 lakh for the Legislative Assembly in the state, Chauhan added. — TNS

Una, November 8
The Una police chose Gandhigiri to spread traffic awareness, especially among two-wheeler commuters, in the district. Instead of wielding the stick by challaning, the police distributed helmets and T-shirts among them.

The SP, Una, Sumedha, while talking to The Tribune, said the campaign was started as part of the “traffic awareness week” that started in the district today. We arranged sponsors for distributing free helmets and T-shirts with traffic awareness messages among commuters.

Today policemen were asked to politely stop the commuters on two-wheelers who were not wearing helmets or were violating any other traffic rules. The policemen gave free helmets to such violators with the idea that they would wear it in the future.

Asked if this Gandhigiri would help rein in the traffic violators, the Una SP said it was a new experiment in the district and they were hoping that it would succeed.

She, however, said in case the violators did not heed to Gandhigiri, on the last day of the traffic awareness week, zero tolerance would be adopted towards the traffic violators.

The SP said the traffic awareness week was being conducted in this district from November 8 to 14 to generate general awareness among the public about traffic rules and regulations.

Besides the Gandhigiri on the first day today, a traffic rally by school students was held. A seminar on “Road safety, our safety” was also held under the chairmanship of Sat Pal Satti, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, in which the Una SP on behalf of the Police Department urged all departments to come together to solve the problems of road congestion and traffic violation.

The problem of lack of parking space, encroachments, fixing of bus stoppage points and road engineering was discussed in detail. In this seminar, representatives of various departments such as the PWD, the HRTC, the municipal committee and NGOs participated.

Mandi, November 8
The emphatic win of Vikramaditya Singh, son of local MP and Union Minister Virbhadra Singh, in the state Youth Congress poll has not only catapulted him to the centre stage of state politics at the young age of 22, but his victory has come as a big jolt for the detractors of the Virbhadra camp led by his rival, state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur, in his home district.

The election of Vikramaditya Singh to the state Youth Congress top post is historic as the organisational poll was held after 40 years. Now, Virbhadra Singh’s mass appeal has once again marginalised his detractors and silenced his critics who were claiming that his son was being “para-dropped” into politics.

Vikramaditya’s victory in the Mandi parliamentary segment, represented by Virbhadra Singh, has come as a double shock for Kaul Singh Thakur, who was supporting Raghuvir Bali, son of GS Bali, a Congress MLA from Nagrota-Bagwan.

Nurturing the ambition of becoming the next Chief Minister, Kaul Singh Thakur “has been propping up” an anti-Virbhadra Singh front in the state after he was retained as the party president for the second time by the high command. He had thrown his weight behind Bali’s son, but they had to bite the dust in the Youth Congress poll.

The Youth Congress post of district president in Mandi went to Sanjay Dogra, son of former Nachan MLA Tek Chand Dogra, a staunch Virbhadra supporter. He secured 959 votes while Dharmender Sharma, supported by Kaul Singh, secured just 542 votes.

The Youth Congress candidates supported by the Kaul Singh group had to bite the dust in his home district as a majority of the block presidents belong to the Virbhadra group.

While Sanjay Dogra became the president, Karan Viraj, son of Kaka Mahant, former president of the Kullu Municipal Council, was elected as the general secretary, securing 298 votes.

The entry of Vikramaditya Singh in the centre stage of Congress politics has set the stage for “a third line of Congress leadership” in the state and is being viewed as a big achievement considering that he has never been an NSUI leader.

Mandi, November 8
CPM-CPI and Left Trade Union activists today almost stormed into the Deputy Commissioner’s office in protest against the hike in prices of petrol and diesel and in support of their demand for raise of up to Rs 10,000 minimum wages per month for daily wagers. Later they courted arrest.

Responding to the nationwide protest call given by the Left parties, over 100 CPM-CPI activists almost stormed into the DC’s office and staged a protest as the DC was not in the office.

The police swung into action only after the activists gatecrashed into the DC office as there was no policeman at the gate.

They submitted the memorandum to Mandi ADC HR Chouhan, as the DC was on leave.

CPM general secretary Bhupender Singh and CPI leader Parkash Pant stated that the state and UPA government had failed to check the price rise and labour laws were being violated and minimum wages had not been increased.

They demanded that the UPA government should announce a rollback on the recent hike and enhance daily wages up to Rs 10,000 per month linking it with the price index.

Solan, November 8
The Himachal Pradesh Petroleum Dealers Association has termed the opening of new retail outlets by three oil companies as a wasteful expenditure as no proper field investigations had been conducted to gauge their financial feasibility.

The association, which filed a civil writ petition in the state high court, has stated that the three oil companies - IOCL, BPCL and HPCL - had within a period of three weeks from August 25, 2011, to September 14, 2011, issued several advertisements for establishing 2,917 fresh retail outlets in Himachal, Punjab and Haryana, out of which 280 were earmarked for the state.

Since it was not possible to conduct field investigations and gauge financial feasibility of various pumps in three weeks, this would merely burden a tax payer’s pocket.

The state high court has granted a stay on the opening of new retail outlets by the Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas and three oil marketing companies in the state.

The association asserted that the setting up of 2,917 outlets would lead to purchase of 6,000 underground tanks, 600 dispensing units and an estimated Rs 8 lakh per pump would be incurred on their construction.

This would put a burden of several crores on oil companies, thus adding to their losses.

Though the Petroleum Natural Gas Regulatory Board was constituted in 2005 to regulate the trade, it had been reduced to a defunct body.

The association has in its petition stated that the ministry had also failed to notify petroleum products as this would have allowed the board to regulate the trade in the interest of consumers and this could also expose the true picture of the claimed losses of crores.

Association president Sukumar said pumps should be set up only in unrepresented places and the three oil companies should not compete amongst themselves and a pump of only one company should be opened at one site.

Since the frequent hike in petrol prices was burdening the common man, the oil companies should desist from increasing its administrative overhead expenditure by opening new outlets without proper field investigations as they add up to the losses, said Deepak Baweja, vice-president of the association.