The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Uttarakhand POlls 2012 Sonia fails to turn up at rally venue Thousands of Congress supporters disappointed; Fog plays spoilsport Rajeev Khanna/TNS Haldwani, January 4 The Congress plans to kick-start the poll campaign in Uttarakhand with a bang ended in a fiasco of sorts as the star campaigner for the opening public rally, party president Sonia Gandhi failed to turn up at the venue. Thousands of Congress supporters had to go back disappointed as the weather played truant and did not allow Sonia Gandhi to fly to Haldwani on account of the dense fog on the route. With the poor visibility preventing her arrival, it was left to the state-level leadership that was accompanied by a couple of faces from the central organisation to take the event forward. The moment the SPG personnel vanished from the venue, the public got the inkling that Sonia’s programme had been cancelled and started moving out in large numbers. Some of them with links in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters could be seen calling up Delhi to make sure whether the programme had actually been cancelled. Ironically, the rally had initially been scheduled to be held in Rudrapur and later Haldwani was chosen as the venue. The Congress supporters had come to the MB Postgraduate College Grounds in large numbers from across the region to participate in the rally which was supposed to kickstart Sonia’s campaign schedule for the five poll-bound states. The supporters had started gathering on the spot from 10 am. Observers feel that despite Sonia’s absence, the rally has proved to be a success as the supporters got to hear what the party had to offer during its campaign and if voted to power. The tone was set by former Cabinet Minister and Congress heavyweight from Haldwani Indira Hridayesh who announced from the stage that the Congress would be setting the state on the path of economic growth if voted to power. She said the party would set up Uttarakhand Financial Corporation to give loans to entrepreneurs at the lesser rates of interest. She also talked about giving an unemployment allowance to the youth. Hridayesh said apart from providing low-cost housing to the weaker sections of society, the Congress would also provide agricultural loans at 3 per cent rate of interest. She also promised the revival of the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) unit at Bhimtal. Interacting with mediapersons amidst the speeches being made from the stage, Union Minister Harish Rawat ruled out that there were differences within the party and claimed that the response of the people for the rally showed that they were desperate for a change. Lok Sabha member from Almora Pradeep Tamta said the Dalits and minorities had always been safe under the Congress rule.
	No clarity over Yamnotri seat Ajay Ramola Mussoorie, January 4 The candidates in the fray for the ticket from the Yamnotri Assembly seat, which consists of voters from both Ganga and Yamuna valley, are finding it immensely difficult to wear the winning cap in the coming elections. The seat, until now, was with the UKD and the Congress respectively but the keen contest has made the battle for the seat, which is considered geographically and culturally difficult, far more interesting. The election pundits believe that if they are not careful enough, the seat could sway in favour of the party fielding strong candidate who is acceptable to the voters from both the Ganga and Yamuna valley. Pritam Panwar from the UKD had won the seat during the first election in 2002 held after the formation of the state. Congress candidate Kedar Singh Rawat won the seat in the second election too. Presently, the seat is with Congress MLA Kewdar Singh Rawat. The Congress and BJP both are yet to declare the names from the Yamnotri seat as yet and the ambiguity is keeping everyone guessing so far. Panwar, who has been declared the candidate, has begun his publicity earnestly from the Yamnotri seat. According to the sources in the Congress, Kedar Singh Rawat, sitting MLA, is the front runner for the seat this time too but whether he will get the ticket remains to be seen. On the other hand, the picture in the BJP is yet to emerge with many candidates in fray lobbying hard for their candidature. According to sources, the party is considering the candidature of Retd Commandent NS Bhandari, Vimla Nautiyal, Ram Sundar Nautiyal, Sanja Dobhal and others that will be declared within a day or two. The insiders in the BJP are of the view that any parachute candidate by the party could result in the rebellion within the cadres, thus affecting prospects of the candidate adversely. Considering such situation, the victory prospects for the major parties, including independent is not an easy task and the fear of rebellion among the cadres looms large in these elections. Till the parties do not clear the name, it would be difficult to state winning prospects from Yamnotri assembly seat.
	Process of nominations for Assembly poll begins today Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 4 The process of nominations for the Vidhan Sabha elections,2012, will commence from January 5, 2012. Radha Raturi, Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand, said here today that besides the different district headquarters, provision for filing of nominations as per requirements has also been made at the tehsil headquarters and the block headquarters in some of the districts. In Dehradun district, nominations for the Chakrata Assembly constituency would be filed at Kalsi block, for Rishikesh in the Rishikesh tehsil, for Vikasnagar and Sahaspur Assembly constituencies in the Vikasnagar tehsil, while nominations for the other six Assembly constituencies of Dharampur, Raipur, Rajpur Road (R), Dehradun Cantt., Mussoorie and Doiwala would be filed at the collectorate office. In all the six Assembly constituencies in the Tehri district — Ghansali, Devprayag, Narendra Nagar, Pratap Nagar, Tehri and Dhanaulti - nominations would be filed in the New Tehri Collectorate. In Chamoli district, nominations for the Badrinath, Tharali and the Karanprayag Assembly constituencies would be filed in the office of the District Magistrate at Gopeshwar. In Rudraprayag district, nominations for the Kedarnath Assembly constituency would be filed at the collectorate, whereas for the Rudraprayag Assembly constituency, the same would be done at the tehsil headquarters, Rudraprayag. In all the 11 Assembly constituencies in Haridwar district - Jwalapur (R), Jhabreda (R), Bhagwanpur (R), Haridwar, BHEL-Ranipur, Piran Kaliyar, Roorkee, Khanpur, Mangalore, Laksar and Haridwar Rural - nominations would take place at the collectorate. Similarly, for all the six Assembly constituencies of Yamkeshwar, Pauri (R), Srinagar, Chaubattakhal, Lansdowne and Kotdwar in Pauri district, the process of filing nominations would be conducted at the collectorate. Nominations for the Didihat, Dharchula, Pithoragarh and Gangolihat (R) Assembly constituencies of the Pithoragarh district would be done at the concerned tehsil headquarters. Similarly, nominations for Lalkuan, Bhimtal, Nainital, Haldwani, Kaladhungi and Ramnagar Assembly constituencies would also be done at the concerned tehsil headquarters. In the Champawat district, nominations for the Lohaghat Assembly constituency would be held at the tehsil headquarters, whereas for the Champawat Assembly constituency, the same would be done at the collectorate office. In Almora district, nominations for the Someshwar, Almora and Jageshwar Assembly constituencies would be done at the collectorate, while the process of nominations for the Ranikhet, Dwarahat and Salt Assembly constituencies would be carried out at the tehsil headquarters. In Bageshwar district, nominations for the Kapkot Assembly constituency would be held at Kapkot tehsil headquarters, whereas for the Bageshwar (R) Assembly constituency, it would be held at the collectorate. For the Khatima and the Nanakmatta Assembly constituencies of Udham Singh Nagar, nominations would be done at the Khatima tehsil headquarters, whereas for the remainder Assembly constituencies of Jaspur, Bajpur, Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Kichcha, Sitarganj and Kashipur, nominations would be filed in the concerned tehsil headquarters.
	Discontent over distribution of ticket BJP men rise in revolt in Almora, Bageshwar Our Correspondent Pithoragarh, January 4 The ruling BJP rank and file cadre have risen in revolt in the Almora seat of Kumaon region after the release of the first list of party candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections.The party workers are unhappy over the distribution of the ticket in Almora, Bageshwar and Kapkot seat, while there are reports of discontent on Lohaghat seat also. In Almora seat, denial of party ticket to Kailash Sharma led the revolt from a score of senior workers, including party district president. The workers have sent a complaint letter to the party president and have said that the decision taken by the party on the ticket from Almora seat is not fair in party interest. “We have sent resignation letters because the party did injustice to the devoted workers and gave the ticket to an outsider. Our workers have appealed to me to contest as an Independent and I am considering the proposal,” said Kailash Sharma, a former MLA. Besides Kailash Sharma, senior BJP workers like zila panchayat chairman Mohan Ram Arya and district cooperative bank administrator Pan Singh Marwi have also resigned from the party. Ragunath Singh Chauhan, a former MLA, has been given the BJP ticket. The denial of the party ticket to sitting MLA Sher Singh Garia from the Kapkot Assembly segment of Bageshwar district has created a storm in the district unit of the party, and the workers of Malla and Bichla Danpur area of Kapkot seat have resigned from the party en mass. Balwant Singh Bhauriyal, Uttarakhand minister, has been given party nomination. From Bageshwar seat, the party ticket has been given to Chandan Ram Dass, but other aspirants, including Kamaljeet Das, son of former BJP minister Narain Ram Dass, and Sajjan Lal Tamta have announced to contest as Independents . “ I have left my government job only to serve the party but by denying the promised ticket, the party has betrayed me. So I have decided to contest as Independent from the Bageshwar seat,” said Tamta. The party workers in Lohaghat Assembly seat of Champawat district are sore over allotment of the party ticket to Puran Singh Fartiyal. The supporters of former MLA Kishen Punetha, though did not expresse their resentment, but according to them, the party has ignored a time-tested worker in promoting a new face into the party. Puran Singh Fartiyal had joined the BJP two years ago from the UKD . “We will put our resentment through proper channel at an appropriate time,” said Kishen Punetha. The Champawat sitting MLA of BJP, Beena Maharana, has been maintaining a studied silence over denial of party ticket to her.
	Raksha Morcha releases list of 14 names TPS Rawat to fight from Lensdown Tribune News Service Dehradun January 4 The Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) has announced names for 14 seats in it’s first list. Party president Lt General (retd) TPS Rawat is fighting from Lensdown seat. The party is intending to field its candidates on a total of 60 seats and is likely to announce 12 names in the second list after taking affidavits from the candidates with regard to their loyalty towards the party. Rawat said the BJP was encashing the name of Anna Hazare in context of Uttarkhand Lokayukta in a wrong manner. A team led by party spokesperson PC Thapliyal was sent to meet Anna Hazare to corroborate the fact in this regard, he said, where Hazare was shocked to see himself with Chief Minister BC Khanduri in posters used for publicity purpose. He said Hazare expressed dissatisfaction with the Opposition parties as well, including Left, saying that they, too, like the Congress were opposed with the Lokpal Bill. He said he was committed to give 20 per cent seats to ex-servicemen but was facing reluctance from them to jump into the political arena. Besides him, there is Shobha Joshi, ex-serviceman’s daughter, who will fight from Almora and Hawaldar Moti Ram Sagar from Didihaat. Rawat said he had fielded clean, honest and hard working people from his party for various seats. Among this, Ratan Singh Gunsola, two time panchayat head, has left BJP to join URM and will now contest from Tehri. Dr Virender Singh Pal, a teacher who runs Asian Academy at Pithoragarh and Nainital and worked a great deal for ex-serviceman, has been fielded from Dharchula. Rekha Balmiki from Jawalapur is an exception. She is a sanitary worker popular in her area and will now fight from Jawalapur. Haji Yameen Siddiqui from Koshipur is a committed social worker. By seeing the list, it seems Rawat has tried to placate people of various religions and communities by giving them the ticket from his party. On the issue of debacle of experiment related to Uttarakhand United Regional Front, Rawat castigated UKD (P) for spreading out speculation regarding leaving URM and taking along the rest of the chunk. On the issue of Left parties, he said the Left leaders should make it clear which side they wanted to opt for, UKD (P) or URM. Ratan Singh Gunsola will fight from Tehri, Puran Singh Rauthan from Devprayag, Surender Singh from Rishikesh, Mohan Singh Rawat from Ranipur BHEL, Rekha Balmiki from Jawalapur, Arjun Singh Gaharvar from Rudra Prayag, TPS Rawat from Lensdown, Hawaldar Moti Ram Sagar from Didihaat, Dr Virender Singh Pal from Dharchula, BR Kohli from Gangolihaat, Vipin Chander Bhatt from Dwarahaat, Sobha Joshi from Almora, Surender Singh Nigaltiya and Haji Yameen Siddiqui from Koshipur.
	Haridwar (City) has highest number of voters in state Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 4 Of the 70 Assembly segments constituted in the new delimitation of Uttarakhand state, Haridwar (city) segment has the highest number of voters in the entire state. A total of 1,21,178 voters will be casting their votes from this segment, which is the highest in the entire state, making it one of the hot seats of the state as far as numbers are concerned. Also, in terms of number of voters, district wise, Haridwar has the highest number of voters 10,83,535. Only Dehradun district, with total voters of 10,46,898 is close to Haridwar, while other districts lag far behind. Rudraprayag district has least number of voters, 1,56,601. In Haridwar, the least number of voters in the entire district is from Lakshar, where a total of 43,554 voters are enrolled in the voters’ list. Notably this time, a total of 80,000 new voters have been inducted into the entire district, of which the most number has increased in Haridwar (city) segment only, numbering 12,000. This figure increased post- November month when the list was finally compiled. Segments of Roorkee and Ranipur-BHEl have also witnessed more than 10,000 number of additional voters in the final list. What is surprising is the difference between total number of male and female voters in the entire district. This has drastically fallen as the difference accounts to approximately 10,000. A total of 5,91,444 voters are male while 4,92,159 constitute the women voters in the district with a total aggregate of 10,83,603.
	Wireless sets for polling booths Our Correspondent Pithoragarh, January 4 District election officer R Rajesh Kumar said today that wireless sets would be issued to the polling booths situated in those areas of the district where there was no communication facility. “Most of the areas that have no communication facility falls in the Dharchula Assembly constituency. A list of such places has been sought from the SDM, Dharchula,”’ said the election officer. According to him, the polling booths situated at the high-altitude areas of Namik, Darma, Byans and Garbiyang had no communication facility. “During the 2007 Assembly elections, 100 wireless sets had been issued to the police and sector magistrates. However, this time the need of wireless sets will be more than that,” he said. He added that contact with polling parties would be kept through these sets. The district election officer said out of a total of 504 polling booths in the district, the location of 48 had been changed. Fourteen new polling booths had been set up in the Dharchula constituency, seven in the Didihat constituency, 12 in the Pithoragarh constituency and five in the Gangolihat Assembly constituency.
	Training schedule of polling officers Dehradun, January 4 District Election Officer Dileep Jawalkar has prepared a table for various tasks to be undertaken for the Assembly poll. He urged all election officers to go by the table. He said: “The sale of nomination letters will start from January 5 to 12 in the offices of returning officers. The last day of nominations is January 12. The nominations could be withdrawn by January 16 till 3 in the afternoon, after which election symbols will be distributed. The election will take place on January 30 and counting will take place on March 4.” Jawalkar said the first training of employees to be deputed for voting would start on January 9, the second on January 16 at the ONGC auditorium, and the third training on January 27 at the Parade Ground. The training for counting will take place on February 10 and March 2. — TNS
	Awareness drive for voting begins Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 4 District Magistrate Dileep Jawalkar addressed a meeting of the Voters Awareness Core Committee and asked nodal officers to work in close coordination with each other in awakening voters to exercise their right to vote during the state Assembly elections in the district. He also gathered information from the officials about their efforts in this direction. He directed District Manager of the Industrial Centre Kaushalya Bandhu to prepare a tableau on election for Republic Day and distribute jackets carrying slogans pertaining to voting to BLO. He directed to organise an exhibition and Run-For-Vote event on National Voting Day which would be supervised by district sports officials. Youth Officer of the NSS Lalit Joshi said he made 2000 people to fill pledge forms to cast their votes by holding camps with the joint efforts of NSS, NCC, Scouts & Guides and Nehru Yuva Kendra activists. District Education Officer Geeta Nautiyal said she was holding essay and drawing competitions in schools of the city regarding election. Sub controller, Civil Defence, CS Baunthiyal informed the DM of holding 20 such camps where 25,000 participants were made aware about voting. MK Diwedi, manager of Agrani Bank, said he was distributing banners regarding elections in various banks. The DM urged the SP, Traffic, to seek the cooperation of station in charge in chipping in the task of spreading awareness with regard to voting among people.
	Two issued notices for poll code violation Pithoragarh, January 4 BJP district president, Didihat, Vikram Bhatia and CPI (ML) candidate from the Dharchula Assembly seat Jagat Martolia have been issued notices for violating the model code of conduct in their respective areas. According to sources, Martolia has been issued the notice for violating the poll code by organising a public meeting near Shivalaya in Dharchula town. The meeting has been videoed by the station officer of the Dharchula thana. On the other hand, Bhatia has been served the notice for displaying party banners and flags on his vehicle on January 3. — OC
	‘BJP has done justice in ticket distribution’ Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 4 Member of the BJP Election Campaign Committee Devinder Bhasin has said that the party leadership has done justice in ticket distribution and it will help the party make a comeback in the state. “By and large, the ticket distribution has been done keeping several things in mind and by bringing in new faces the party has tried to deal with anti-incumbency factor that is expected to come to play against the BJP,” said Dr Bhasin.
	Sidelights Sonrise in the Congress Uttarakhand definitely is witnessing a bright sonrise in the Congress. This was evident as the two political scions, Anand Singh Rawat who is the son of Union Minister and Congress heavyweight from the state Harish Rawat, and Sanjeev Arya, who is the son of the present Pradesh Congress Committee president Yash Pal Arya, showed their oratory skills at the rally held on the MB Postgraduate College premises on Wednesday. The two youngsters were given a platform to address thousands of Congress workers and supporters and they did not disappoint any one. They went all out to attack the BJP government in the state and called upon the party cadres to unite and bring about a change in the state. Sarangi on the political platform It was after a long gap that the name of Chief Minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri's aide Prabhat Kumar Sarangi was raised at a political platform. Sarangi had been Khanduri's aide during his previous term as the Chief Minister. He had been "unpopular" not only among Khanduri's critics from outside but from within the BJP as well. Congress leaders at the rally chose to attack Sarangi on the controversial decisions taken by Khanduri during his previous tenure. One of the speakers went on to say, "We were no musicians but were forced to play a Sarangi (stringed musical instrument) in the public to air our protests and grievances." 'Pampered' Cong supporters Congress men can always be trusted to display what has come to be known as "Congress culture". This culture was on display at the party rally in Haldwani too. A large number of them chose to occupy seats meant for the media and women supporters to leisurely bask in the sun instead of helping in the organisation of the event. Some of them could even be seen enjoying their cigarettes while sitting on the seats. Despite repeated requests being made from the stage to vacate the seats, none of them thought it better to budge from their chairs. All for the party ticket In the race to outdo each other and to get it registered who is more loyal than the king himself, Congress aspirants for party ticket from various constituencies had come to the venue with the maximum number of supporters raising slogans in their favour. The slogans were either in favour of party president Sonia Gandhi or in the favour of the aspirants. Two groups that were having a match of sorts in slogan raising were those supporting Ram Singh Kaira on the Bhimtal seat and Rajkumar on the Bazpur seat. They had to be repeatedly told to lower their pitch and stop the slogan raising. There were some others too who made grand entries accompanied to the beats of the drums and traditional instruments. Khanduri on the target Most of the Congress speakers chose to lambast the Khanduri government on the issue of the Lokayukta which is being played up by the BJP in its campaign. They said the BJP was trying to take the people on a ride on this issue. The speakers said while the institution of Lokayukta had been existing since the days when Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the Chief Minister, the BJP never bothered to act on the report given by the existing Lokayukta with regards to the corrupt deals that were brought to its notice. The speakers also chose the occasion to question the BJP on the reason why Khanduri's predecessor Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank was removed from office. — Rajeev Khanna