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Cong plays minority card in Haridwar
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CPI, CPM declare candidates
DEO appeals to media, parties to cooperate
Govt Employees in Poll Campaigns
Cong to form govt in state: Anees Ahmed
Polling booths for migratory villagers
UKD (P) to highlight delimitation of Assembly seats
From comedy, Ghananand now dabbles in politics
This simple man has penchant for contesting elections
Rajpur Road BJP election office inaugurated
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Disgruntled BJP candidates rally around Nityanand Swami
Dehradun, January 8 Along with Sports Minister Khazan Das, sitting MLA from Sahaspur Raj Kumar met former Chief Minister Nityanand Swami on Friday. The former CM yesterday lashed out at the BJP leadership for “ignoring” him in the selection procedure of party candidates. “Proper procedure has not been followed in the selection of the candidates. Though I am a member of the election committee, I was not consulted,” said the former CM. The BJP candidates who have been denied party ticket have also begun looking for new options amid reports that the regional parties too have started throwing the bait. Leaders of the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) have started contacting the disgruntled leaders and may even offer party ticket to them. On the other hand, sitting MLA from Sahaspur Raj Kumar yesterday quit the BJP and decided to fight the elections from Purola as an Independent. “There was pressure from my supporters and I have decided to contest the elections as an Independent. I have quit the BJP,” said Rajkumar. Meanwhile, former Tourism Minister and veteran BJP leader Kedar Singh Fonia who was denied party ticket from the Badrinath Assembly seat is also expected to announce his plans soon. “Earlier, I was sidelined by Chief Minister BC Khanduri who denied me a ministerial berth but now I have been denied the party ticket from Badrinath,” said
Fonia. |
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Cong plays minority card in Haridwar
Haridwar, January 8 And, in all three segments, Muslim candidates are in the fray making it sure that the ticket is allotted according to their merit and political stature also. Surprisingly, all these three candidates are fielded from Haridwar district only, owing to the sizeable presence of the community people. From Haridwar (rural), Irshad Ali has been allotted party ticket while from Mangalore it’s Qazi Nizamuddin and Furkan Ahmed has been fielded from the newly created Piran Kaliyar segment. Currently, Irshad Ali is the block chief from Haridwar rural and owes much to Haridwar parliamentarian for bringing him into the mainstream politics. “Basic education, health facilities, roads, bridges and catering to farmers interests are on my agenda. I will work for all sects and communities equally,” Irshad told
TNS. While Nizammudin is a young and dynamic two-time sitting Member of Legislative Assembly and is eyeing a hat-trick this time on the Congress ticket. Nizamuddin had joined the Congress on October 28 last year, distancing himself from the Bahujan Samaj Party as party supremo Mayawati had suspended him on charges of anti-party activities. The legislator is also deemed instrumental along with Iqbalpur legislator Chaudhary Yashveer Singh in ensuring a record win for Harish Rawat in the 2009 parliamentary elections. Hailing from a good political family background with his father Qazi Mohiuddin also being a two-time legislator, first in Uttar Pradesh and then during interim
Uttarakhand, Qazi Nizamudin is adding to his family legacy. Having won the Mangalore Assembly segment in 2002 and 2007 with a huge margin, he is now eying a hat-trick which seems to be possible owing to his developmental works and down to earth nature. From the Piran Kaliyar segment, fielding of Furkan Ahmed has created a stir in the BSP camp as from here only their veteran party leader Mohammed Shahzad is contesting. Being vice-chief of the
PCC, Furkan Ahmed holds a good political hold in the Roorkee region. He almost made it to the state Assembly in 2007 when he gave a stiff fight to current BJP legislator Suresh Jain losing by a thin margin. With Piran Kaliyar being a Muslim-dominated segment, the party has reposed faith in him. “The party has given me the ticket on the basis of my work. Similarly I will work with the same passion for my people if they choose me this time,”
said Furkan. |
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CPI, CPM declare candidates
Dehradun January 8 The state secretaries of both the parties- Samar Bhadari of the CPI and Vijay Rawat of the
CPM, admitted they had serious differences over the Kedarnath and Ranipur BHEL seat which they hoped to sort out among themselves. They said they would soon announce their support for the campaigning of the candidates of other parties related to the Uttarakhand United Regional Front
(UURF) on those segments where they had not fielded their candidates. They also appealed to other parties as well to campaign for their parties. The Left leaders said they had fielded their candidates on limited seats on those constituencies where they had been waging battle on the basic requirements. They said their efforts to keep the UURF flock unified could not be successful and suggested the warring party members of the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) to focus on colliding with the BJP and the Congress rather than among themselves. Meanwhile, the UKD (P) also released its second list of candidates on 20 seats after getting it approved from the Executive
Committee. Jaiprakash, party’s general secretary, has been pitted against president of the UKD (D) Diwakar Bhatt from Dev
Prayag. Basant Joshi, breakaway member of the UKD (D), had been given chance from Lal
Kuan. Party secretary Kishan Mehta said they would soon release the third and the last list and the party’s manifesto as well. He said their party was determined to give a strong competition to the BJP and the Congress. |
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DEO appeals to media, parties to cooperate
Haridwar, January 8 D Senthyl
Pendiyan, District Election Officer, pointed out that with strict rules and regulations in place by chief election office, major emphasis is on expenditure monitoring of the candidates, which has been fixed at Rs 11
lakh. Expenditure monitoring committees have been formed as well as flying squads comprising a magistrate and a police officer will be conducting strategic surveillance of main roads, barriers and checking posts to make sure violation of code of conduct is checked. Video surveillance teams will be covering election-related proceedings of candidates and another panel of video viewing team will be scrutinising the recorded
footages. Ffor media advertisements Pendiyan added that a media certification monitoring committee is in place, which will look into paid news, advertisements and biased coverage of candidates as well as other related aspects. He urged media establishments to cooperate with the administration as well as political parties to adhere to the norms of election expenditure and moral code of conduct. Any advertisement for a particular candidate in newspapers will have to get consent from the respective candidate by the media house, otherwise the publishing house will be liable for violation of election code of conduct. In case any candidate spends the stipulated amount of Rs 11
lakh, he will not be allowed to spend any penny extra on the election campaign and even his vehicle will be seized. Meanwhile, Rama Krishan Bandi has been appointed as first expenditure observer, while Yash Ushmani as the second expenditure observer in Haridwar district. They will be monitoring the whole expenditure of candidates during this election time. Shadow register maintenance will be done by them as well as checking the data provided by candidate with the real expenditure, be it cost of posters, pamphlets, chairs, tents or vehicles used during campaigning. |
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Govt Employees in Poll Campaigns
Nainital, January 8 A complaint in the matter has been received from a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Kumar Pandey. He had complained that some of the employees of the Social Welfare and Employment Department had been involved in carrying out campaigns for a certain candidate. In his order, Srivastava has stated that anyone found guilty of such conduct will be facing strict action for violation of the Model Code of Conduct. He has disclosed that the complaint mentions the name of Kishore Rana for accompanying a politician Raju Bhandari to several villages and speaking against the BJP candidate. Similarly Shankar Bohra of the Employment Office has been accused of openly moving around with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate GC Pande and campaigning for the latter. Srivastava has asked the RO at Khatima to immediately initiate a probe into the matter and submit a report to him so that he can take the action in the matter. Srivastava, who is also the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) in the district, has also asked Social Welfare Officer Jagmohan Kafola and the District Employment Officer to take action against the accused at their level and apprise him of the same. Several complaints with regards to the Model Code of Conduct are being received by the election machinery across the region and are being dealt with on a priority basis. A recent complaint received in Nainital pertained to a headline that had appeared in a local paper with reference to the protection of elephants. The complainant said the headline that had the words “Hathi mere saathi” had something to do with promotion of the BSP.
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Cong to form govt in state: Anees Ahmed
Dehradun, January 8 In an informal interaction with mediapersons at the state Congress headquarters here today, Anees Ahmed said there was strong undercurrent in favour of the Congress in Uttarakhand and he was very much hopeful that the Congress would form the next government in the state. He said apart from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmoham Singh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and senior Congress leaders Gulam Nabi Azad and Salman Khursheed would be canvassing for Congress candidates in the state. He held that there wouldl be no film stars in the Congress campaigning and only senior Congress leaders and some of Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states like Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit would be campaigning for the party. Responding to queries, Anees Ahmed denied any possible change of constituencies for the Congress contestants, who had been allotted party tickets. He said the allotment of ticket was final and there would now be no more changes. Referring to five Assembly seats for which the Congress was still to announce candidates, Anees Ahmed said the Congress had already taken a decision on these five Assembly seats which were expected to be announced shortly. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya expressed satisfaction over the distribution of ticket. He said he was very much hopeful of the Congress forming the next government in the state. |
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Vote for virtuous candidates, say Muslim clerics
Haridwar, January 8 Through pamphlets and citing of holy Quran and teachings of Hadith, muftis and maulvis ,owing to a sizeable presence of Muslim community in the district, they are trying to bring voters to polling booths besides making them realise the importance of voting for the right and honest candidate. This idea came to Mufti Mohammed Rashid Qasmi of Mangalore, who had been noting the low percentage turnout of the community voters and their getting swayed by “vote bank” politics. Talking to The Tribune, Mufti Qasmi said, “Voting is equivalent to giving witness to the candidate and if we raise to power a dishonest and corrupt candidate, then as voters, we are doing an illegal act.” “In current political era, a voter is being induced with various means and this is hurting the very principles of democracy. The need is to make people aware about the importance of voting and about choosing a right candidate all the more, irrespective of his caste, creed, party or even relation,” said Mufti Qasmi, whose effort is being praised by all
and sundry. Now other Muslim clerics from many parts of the district are coming forward to join his mission. Emphasis is also on urging people to join politics not for the sake of power and other benefits but for the purpose of serving society. Voting for a wrong persons at the base level would mean giving him a chance to contest elections of higher level, like that of Chief Ministers and legislators. References from holy Quran, Mishkat Sharif, Bukhari Sharif, the compilation of Hadiths are being related to, so as to make voters aware of the malpractices opted by a majority of politicians these days to garner votes. The efforts of the Muslim clerics have gained tremendous praise and admiration in the district. Even district election administration has acknowledged the voting awareness-drive being generated by them, which does not violate election code
of conduct.
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Polling booths for migratory villagers
Pithoragarh, January 8 “These polling booths have been established around Dharchula town in the name of the same village polling booth,” said District Election Officer R Rakesh Kumar. According to Kumar, the voters of Garbyan, Bundi and Napalchu will vote at makeshift primary school, Garbyang, made at the lower valley while the voters of Ronkong, Nabi Kuti and Gunji villages have been given facility at Panchayat Ghar Nabi made at the lower valley. “Separate polling booths have been made for the voters of Duktu, Nagling, Baling and Phultari Tidang, Marcha Sepu, and Bon villages, which are situated between Dharchula and Jauljibi in the lower valleys of Dharchula subdivision,” said the officer. According to him, 19 polling booths in the district are situated at the heights of between 6,000 to 9,000 ft. For these voters, ITBP jawans will be deployed to carry the polling parties and material to the booths. “In case of snowfall in these polling booths, helicopters will be provided to carry the polling parties to the booths and back,”
he added. |
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UKD (P) to highlight delimitation of Assembly seats
Nainital, January 8 Talking to The Tribune, senior party leader Narayan Singh Jantwal, who is scheduled to file his nomination from the Kaladhungi seat, said, “We want to take it before the people that the process of delimitation that was imposed upon the state in 2006 is not in the interest of the state. It is a well-known fact that the state was conceived to bring about development in the remote hilly areas of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh. The delimitation that has been imposed upon the state is contrary to this very conception.” Jantwal pointed out that the new delimitation meant that 36 of the total 70 Assembly segments in the state now fell in the four districts of Udham Singh Nagar, Hardwar, Nainital and Dehradun. Out of these, Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar were completely in the plains while the remaining two districts are partly hilly and partly plain. To begin with, Jantwal said the state that came into existence in 2000 did not need a delimitation exercise so soon. Secondly, according to him, the population density criteria that have led to the maximum number of seats being concentrated in the four districts is to the disadvantage of those living in the hills as the topography and demography of the hill areas is unique in several respects. “Another thing that has happened on account of this delimitation is that while the Assembly constituencies in the plains have shrunk in size, the ones in the hills have become too big. Politically, it makes it very difficult for the contestants in the hills to cover their entire constituency. Even in terms of development, the funds that are allocated to the legislators for carrying out development works in their respective areas serve more people in the plains than in the hills,” he said. Denying the charge that the erstwhile combined UKD (which lost its existence recently) and now the UKD (P) has been practising the politics of parochialism while trying to divide the people on the lines of hills and plains, he said, ”This is not the case. We are not against the people of the plains. After all, the poor and the marginalised also exist there. What we have been saying is that the hills have always been on the margins of the development process. We just want special emphasis on the development of the hills so that the people living there come on a par with their counterparts living in the plains in terms of the facilities and avenues of development available to them.” |
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From comedy, Ghananand now dabbles in politics
Dehradun, January 8 A few months ago, Ghana had even acted in a video song album of folk singer Narinder Negi that had a dig at the BJP government and corrupt ways of the politicians, but now the comedian has hitched the BJP’s bandwagon. In fact, amid the mounting rebellion in the rank and file of the state BJP in the aftermath of the distribution of party ticket, Ghana has given the Uttarakhand BJP a reason to smile and bank heavily on the comedian, who the party claims, is a sure shot winner. Both the BJP and the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) were keen to enlist his support for the elections but the BJP turned lucky when the comedian yielded to the persistent efforts of the party and decided to fight the election on it’s party ticket. “Several people from different parties were in touch with me but I decided to fight the elections on the BJP ticket because this is the first time a national party in the state has decided to field a local artist,” said the comedian. Aware of his limitations, Ghana Bhai said comedy comes naturally to him and he would be happy to add a dose of comedy in politics that has become the bug-bear of the general public. “I do not follow politics but I am sure if one works diligently for the welfare of the people, things can change. I feel happy when I see people enjoying my shows; it gives me great deal of satisfaction to see them at ease. But that is not to say that comedians do not have their moments of sadness. I think all of us are battling sadness and unhappiness in our lives but laughter allows us to let go these dull moments,” apprised Ghana. A fan of Raj Kapoor, Ghananand has acted in sic films, including Ghana Bhai MBBS. “ I shot to instant fame after the seven minute role that I played in the the popular film Ghar Jawain. It was a blockbuster and soon I was flooded with offers. But I could not pursue an independent career because of my employment as a Forester with the Uttarakhand Government. The producers of Laughter Challenge too had come up with a proposal, but I could not accept it due to my job,” added Ghananand, who recently retired from government service. |
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This simple man has penchant for contesting elections
Haridwar, January 8 One such candidate is Mohammed Mursleen Qureshi, who has a penchant for contesting elections, not only for the sake of records only, but the dream of winning elections one day so that shelter can be provided to homeless people. This time he is contesting the twin Assembly segments from Haridwar district - Haridwar (city) and Haridwar (rural) - as he feels that both city and rural people interests will be catered by him only. Such is his election love that till date Qureshi has contested Parliamentary elections, Assembly elections and municipal chairman-councilor elections. And this list doesn’t go till college union and school head boy elections as Qureshi is just 5th class pass. Though he does not have educational degrees due to his election-contesting interest, he surely has several election certificates that he gets from the Election Commission. A social activist, basically, Mohammed Mursleen Qureshi does iron casting work and is founder of a social-political outfit, Hind Awami Hukook Party. Local people fondly call him Haridwar’s Dharti Pakkad due to his penchant for contesting elections, be it Lok Sabha, Assembly or municipality ones. Qureshi doesn’t fear the number of votes polled but relishes his interaction with the common man and the faith reposed by those people who voted for him. Qureshi contested the Haridwar Assembly elections held in 2007 and polled 419 votes, while surprisingly in the municipality chairman elections Qureshi polled 827 votes despite spending just
Rs 500. In 2009 Parliamentary elections, he contested against political biggies like Congress Harish Rawat,BJP Swami Yatindranand Giri and BSP Mohammed Shahzad, but still is content with the 1876 odd votes he polled, as he came 10th among total 21 candidates. In his inimitable style, Murslein Qureshi usually campaigns wearing his election symbol and a banner worn over his shoulder, in which voting appeal is inscribed for the public. Often he takes lift from two-wheelers and sits back on it and urges people to vote for him, joining hands, doing traditional aadaab and namaskaar. His main issue apart from corruption and providence of shelter to homeless poor people will be constructing toilets at all major bus stations, railway stations, important commercial places and at specially those places where buses and commercial taxis ferrying people stop or take a break for food. But the seriousness with which Mursleen approaches people, makes them consider him seriously and that’s why it is believed that he will surpass his earlier tally of votes this time too. |
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Rajpur Road BJP election office inaugurated
Dehradun, January 8 Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker and Senior BJP leader Harbans Kapoor inaugurated the office. He asserted that the BJP will come back to power with a thumping majority in the state. BJP Rajpur Road Assembly candidate Ravinder Kataria expressed gratitude to the party
high command for allotting him the party ticket. Senior Dehradun BJP office-bearers Naresh Bansal, Vishwas Davar, Puneet Mittal and
Ashish Nagrath were present on the occasion.
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U’Khand Raksha Morcha to contest 60 seats
PITHORAGARH: The Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha
(URM), a local political outfit, which was launched by former state minister TPS
Rawat, will contest 60 Assembly seats. At a press conference here on Sunday, organiser of the URM SS Pangti said: “We have already announced the names of 26 candidates and the names of other candidates will be announced soon.” Party leader Shailendra Raj Bahuguna said Virendra Singh Pal would fight from the Dharchula seat, Krishna Nand Kapri from Pithoragarh and Moti Ram Sagar from the Didihat seat. The URM will be fighting the elections for the first time. — BD
Kasniyal Training programme for presiding officers
PITHORAGARH: District Election Officer R Rajesh Kumar has asked the presiding and first polling officers of the district to learn the functions of the electronic voting machine
(EVM), including its functions of unit control and ballot control. “The officers should learn both the processes by continuous exercises,” said Rajesh Kumar while inaugurating a training camp for the presiding officers and first polling officers of Pithoragarh and Gangolihat subdivisions here on Saturday. The training began with the learning of the process of the voting machine, how to prepare it and how to link balloting unit with the control unit and to begin polling process after pasting green paper on control unit and seal the control unit. — BD Kasniya Filing of nominations leads to chaos
NAINITAL: The filing of nominations by various candidates from different political parties is leading to a chaos at several places. Since the candidates are accompanied by a large number of supporters and they proceed to the designated offices for filing their papers in a procession, traffic jams have become a common scene at various places. Over the past two days, Haldwani and Ranikhet have witnessed a series of such jams, where a large number of vehicles choked the narrow arterial roads of the towns, putting the residents to extreme discomfort. —
Rajeev Khanna 30 file papers
DEHRADUN: Candidates of different parties filed a total of 30 nominations on Saturday, according to the Uttarakhand Electoral office. A total of three candidates from the
BJP, including Ganesh Joshi from the Mussoorie Assembly seat, Deepak Rawat from Lansdowne and Ajay Bhatt from Raniketh assembly seats, filed their nomination papers. Former PWD Minister Indira Hridesh of the Congress also filed her nominations from the Haldwani Assembly seat. While seven candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP), one from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P), seven unrecognised candidates and 11 Independents filed their nominations. — TNS |
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Former state Chief Minister Nityanand Swami has become new rallying point for the disgruntled BJP candidates who have been denied ticket for the Assembly elections slated for January 30.
Haridwar, January 8
The CPI gave five names of candidates. Anand Singh Rana will fight from
Badrinath, Dinesh Nautiyal from Gangotri, Luxmi Jaggi from Kedarnath, Munrika Yadav from Ranipur BHEL and Madan Singh Khalsa from
Jhabrera. The CPM declared candidates for six constituencies where Rajpal Kanyal has been fielded from
Tharali, Shiv Prasad from Sahaspur, Gangadhar Nautiyal from Kedarnath, PD Baluni from Ranipur
BHEL, Bhagvan Singh Rana from Tehri and Hari Singh Rana from Nanakmatta. Shiv Prasad will file his nomination today.