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Bahuguna, Birender fail to answer question on rebellion in Cong
Poll Code Violation
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Rebels may mar BJP’s electoral prospects
KS Fonia and Khajan Das
Floods will be major election issue
Eunuch revives 2008 Doon mayoral poll fears of Cong
Rajni Rawat
Akhil Bharatiya Trinamool Cong
to field 50 candidates
Tiwari still a force to reckon with
Cong announces four more candidates
UKD (P) releases third list of 16 candidates
Cold wave conditions hit nomination-filing process
CEO wants vehicle-checking drive launched
Services of IT Dept requisitioned to check use of money power
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Bahuguna, Birender fail to answer question on rebellion in Cong
Dehradun, January 10 Both the leaders, facing a barrage of questions on distribution of the party ticket and allegations of favouritism and even money power being used in getting party nominations, refused to answer the queries related to the distribution of ticket. “We do not want to discuss the issue of distribution of ticket with the media,” declared Vijay Bahuguna, abruptly announcing that the news conference was over. Interestingly, both these leaders have been instrumental in distributing the party ticket that has led to allegations by party leaders and ticket aspirants that money exchanged hands in deciding candidates. Moreover, both these leaders who are considered close to former Chief Minister N.D.Tewari also gave two party tickets to Tewari’s “favourites” who had nothing to do with the Congress Party. Aryaendra Sharma, a personal assistant of Tewari, was given the party ticket from Sahaspur in Dehradun district. Manish Tewari, a nephew of Tewari was given party nomination from Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district, replacing the already announced candidate. N.D.Tewari has threatened to field candidates in all 70 Assembly seats in the state under the banner of his social organisation named, the Nirantar Vikas Samiti. It was alleged that Vijay Bahuguna and Birender Singh played an important role in getting these nominations. But they refused to comment on the issue. Birender Singh, general secretary in charge of Uttarakhand party affairs, denied any use of money power in the distribution of tickets. “I am in politics for the past four decades. Nobody, not even my political opponents, have accused me of taking money. I do politics of principles. If it is proved that I had taken money, I will quit politics,” said Birender Singh. Earlier, he announced that Suryakant Dhasmana, a senior party leader and ticket aspirant from Dehradun Cantt. seat, had been appointed as a vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee. Birender Singh also appealed to those Congress leaders who could not get party nominations not to fight elections as rebel candidates. “I appeal to all of them not to fight elections against official party candidates but to unitedly fight against the BJP,” he added. |
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Poll Code Violation
Pithoragarh, January 10 The notices have been served on them for using unauthorised vehicles during their nomination-filing process on Monday. PC Dumaka, SDM and returning officer, Gangolihat, said: “Congress candidate Narain Ram and BJP candidate Geeta Thakur have been issued notices for using these vehicles without permission.” Meanwhile, seven nominations were filed by candidates of various political parties from all four Assembly seats of the district today. “From the Dharchula seat, BJP candidate Khusal Singh Piplia and Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha candidate Birendra Singh Pal filed their nomination papers. From Didihat, Congress candidate Ravi Joshi and Independent candidate Jadish Chandra filed their papers. Narain Ram Sanguari of the BSP filed his nomination papers from the Gangolihat Assembly seat, according to the district election office. In Champawat district, four nomination papers were filed today. Congress candidate Hemesh Kharkwal, BJP candidate Hema Joshi and two Independent candidates, Kailash Rai and Rajesh Aggrawal, filed their papers. The returning officer, Champawat, said: “Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) candidate Harshvardhan Singh Rawat could not file his papers today due to late arrival at the election office.” |
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Rebels may mar BJP’s electoral prospects
Dehradun, January 10 From Rajpur to Badrinath the rebels are ready to fight the elections as Independent candidates or on the ticket of regional parties. The regional parties are not only welcoming the BJP rebels with open arms but are also offering them ticket. Miffed former Tourism Minister and sitting BJP MLA from Badrinath Kedar Singh Fonia, who recently quit the party, has filed nomination papers from the Badrinath seat on the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) ticket. There are 12 sitting MLAs and two Cabinet ministers belonging to the BJP, who have been denied ticket, and the regional parties are willing to oblige them. On the Purola Assembly seat, the sitting MLA from Sahaspur (Dehradun district), Raj Kumar, has already decided to fight the elections as an Independent candidate. Though Cabinet minister and sitting MLA from Dhanolti Khazan Das has also decided to fight as an Independent candidate, he has been approached by the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha and the Congress. Another BJP heavyweight Mohan Singh Gaunwasi, who wanted ticket from the Srinagar seat, MLA Brijmohan Kotwal, MLA from Karnprayag Anil Nautiyal and MLA from Pindar GL Shah, who was demanding ticket from the Tharali (SC) seat in Chamoli district, are also miffed over the denial of ticket. However, the BJP has deputed leaders to check resentment and rebellion over the allotment of ticket. “The winnability factor was taken into account while allotting ticket. The party will take disciplinary action if all our efforts to placate dissatisfied leaders fail. We are in talks with them and they too have met the high command to register their resentment over the allotment of ticket,” said Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, chairman of the Uttarakhand BJP Election Committee.
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Floods will be major election issue
Haridwar, January 10 This is much to do with the ruling BJP Cabinet ministers and the local legislators, whom the public will surely be asking questions of the ground work done to lessen the impact of floods and also the mass discrepancy in flood relief aid distribution. Of the 11 Assembly segments, the flood factor will be having an impact in at least three to four segments. Major flood affected regions fall in Khanpur, Lakshar, Mangalore and Haridwar (rural) segments. Villages on the river belts of Ganga, Ban Ganga, Ram Ganga and Sonali, which remain submerged during floods, will not be easy for politicians to campaign. Despite rise in flood levels in the past three years, on the ground level no concrete efforts have been done to lessen the impact of the floods, which have irked residents of these village belts. Adding salt to the woes of flood-affected people was the mass embezzlement of government relief aid fund, with thousands not getting proper aid owing to disparity in identification of the flood affected people. Hazi Tasleem Ahmed,BSP candidate from Lakshar, told TNS that both BJP and Congress had done nothing in terms of addressing the woes of the flood affected region and will raise this issue while campaigning with the public. “While BJP state Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik didn’t even visit the flood affected regions twice, Congress legislator from Lakshar Kunwar Pranav Singh didn’t step out of his luxury car to at least listen to the woes of people of his constituency,” said Tasleem Ahmed, resident of flood affected village Sultanpur. Local villagers claim that every time elections come, they get bagful of assurances from the probable candidates, but when the time comes for action during floods, they seem to get disappeared. Former village head of Gangdaspur Sulekh Chand remarked that during the flood season it was not the administration or politicians which came to their help. Nearby villagers provided food, dry wood and fodder for animals, too. “It is only after the water level gets down that politicians visit their affected villages with some food packets and clothes.We need concrete measures from them, but they let us on our own every monsoon season,”said Sulekh Chand. Social activist Anil Kumar Saini from Maharajpur Kalan said that such has been the apathy of the state government in the past few years that even the then disaster management state minister Khajan Das didn’t even visit once these flooded areas, while in 2010, the floods in the region were recorded as the biggest since 1970. Surely, gauging the mood of the affected villagers in this region it is quite a hard time for the political candidates campaigning in these villages, and if they don’t want to face this situation again, then surely they should also visit these areas when they need them the most. |
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Eunuch revives 2008 Doon mayoral poll fears of Cong
Dehradun, January 10 Rajni today accused the Congress of deceit and announced that she would contest the Assembly elections from the Doiwala, Raipur and Dharampur seats as an Independent candidate. “Though I will focus on the Raipur seat, I will also be contesting from the Doiwala and Dharampur seats,” she said. Rajni shot into fame in the Mayoral elections of the Dehradun MC in 2008 when she as an Independent candidate lost to BJP candidate Vinod Chamoli while pushing Congress candidate Surat Singh Negi to the third position. Vinod Chamoli had polled 60,867 votes, Rajni 44,249 votes, while Negi stood had secured 40,642 votes. Rajni got most of the votes from slums of Dehradun, considered a stronghold of the Congress, giving tension to the Congress leadership. Shortly thereafter, Rajni had announced to fight the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from the Tehri Garhwal constituency. However, she withdrew in favour of Congress candidate Vijay Bahuguna. Congress poll managers had to work hard to persuade Rajni not to contest the Lok Sabha poll as it could have harmed the prospects the party candidate. Rajni today claimed that she withdrew her candidature in the Lok Sabha elections in favour of the Congress candidate as the party had assured her of ticket for the Assembly poll. “But now the Congress has backtracked. I will now contest from the Raipur, Dharampur and Doiwala seats as an Independent candidate,” Rajni said. She claimed that she still enjoyed the support of the people and would spring a surprise in the three constituencies. Rajni also made it clear that she would not join the Congress or the BJP even after the elections. She said all these years she had been working for the betterment of girls belonging to poor families. |
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Akhil Bharatiya Trinamool Cong
to field 50 candidates
Dehradun, January 10 State in charge of the party Dinesh Bajaj said the party would give adequate representation to the youth and women candidates. He alleged that both the Congress and the BJP had failed to solve the problems being faced by the common man and were involved in various scams. The only regional party, Uttarakhand Kranti Morcha, had also failed to do the needful for the welfare of the people, he alleged. Bajaj claimed that in such a situation, their party had emerged as a viable alternative that could provide a transparent government. “The party, under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has rooted out the 35-year-old autocratic rule of the CPM from West Bengal without any bloodshed and has been successful in giving a transparent and honest administration. We will replicate the same in Uttarakhand,” he claimed. Bajaj further said they would create a border districts development council which would devise a policy to provide education, employment, promotion to tourism and agriculture. It would also help stop migration from the border villages. The unemployed youth would be given a special monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 till they got any job. |
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Tiwari still a force to reckon with
Nainital, January 10 The Congress leadership has been trying and is expected to continue doing so in the days to come to use Tiwari’s name to garner support amongst the voters in the state. No matter that Tiwari has been absent from all the public rallies of the party over the last two years, but there has not been a single rally where the Congress leadership has not remembered to mention his name and reminding the masses of the “Vikas Purush” of Uttarakhand. Even at the recent rally in Haldwani, the leaders who have been keeping a safe distance from Tiwari ever since the infamous sex scandal at the Hyderabad Raj Bhawan saw his departure from the post of the Andhra Pradesh Governor, were seen recounting the work done by Tiwari in the state during his tenure as Chief Minister from 2002 to 2007. Tiwari’s most important contribution has been the developing of the industrial hubs in the Terai area like the ones at Rudrapur, Sitarganj, Pantnagar, Kitcha etc. Although it has been a matter of contention that the hubs were developed on the rich tracts of agricultural land, the fact remains that top industrial houses of the country, including the likes of Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Nestle etc. did set up shop in these hubs and there was generation of jobs that did benefit the local population as well. Another important contribution made by Tiwari was the setting up of the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) unit on Bhimtal road. Although the factory has been lying closed for quite sometime, the Congress leaders, including Indira Hridayesh, could be heard promising its revival if the Congress comes back into power in the state. Even in the public debates being organised by television channels across the region, Tiwari’s name does figure at large. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has been gunning for the Congress, accusing it of having sidelined Tiwari, the Congressmen have been saying that they have never given up Tiwari and it is in fact the BJP that has gone ahead with sidelining former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Old-timers say that Tiwari still carries a lot of political weight and a single political comment from him can upset the political equations in the state. |
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Cong announces four more candidates
Dehradun, January 10 The party has so far announced 69 candidates for the Assembly elections slated for January 30. However, it is yet to decide on the party candidate from the Gadarpur seat. Former state Chief Minister ND Tiwari has also been able to get two seats for his favourites. Tiwari’s personal assistant, Aryaendra Sharma, will be the party candidate from the Sahaspur seat while his nephew, Manish Tiwari, will contest from the Kashipur seat. He replaces Manoj Joshi who was earlier declared as a party candidate. The party has given ticket to Devender Sethi from Dehradun Cantt. Hira Singh Bisht, a former state minister and senior party leader, has been given ticket from the Doiwala Assembly seat. From the Kiccha Assembly segment, Sarvar Yaar Khan has been given party ticket. THE LIST OF CONGRESS CANDIDATES Dehradun Cantt Devender Sethi Sahaspur Aryaendra Sharma Doiwala Hira Singh Bisht Kiccha Sarvar Yaar Khan |
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UKD (P) releases third list of 16 candidates
Dehradun, January 10 The party has already announced the names of 34 candidates. Party president Trivender Singh Panwar said he would announce the names of the rest of the candidates tomorrow. Out of 20 seats, 10 seats have been allocated to Left parties. Constituency Candidate n
Champawat Harshvardhan Rawat n
Dehradun Cantt Sanjay Bhatt n Bhimtal Poorn Singh Mehra n
Haldwani Bhuvan Joshi n Dharali (SC) Rakesh Kandari n
Ghansali (SC) Makan Lal n Kotdwar Rajender Arya n
Rajpur Road Sanjeev Kumar n Kiccha Mahender Singh Rawat n
Gadarpur Anil Arora n Mangalore Pradeep Dhiman n
Ranipur Sarita Purohit n Sitarganj Dr Shahin Khan n
Ranikhet Kumari Pratima Negi n
Srinagar Arvind Nautiyal n Roorkee Tanuj Rathi |
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Cold wave conditions hit nomination-filing process nainital: The existing cold wave conditions have had an impact on the filing of nominations by various candidates. While some of the candidates have gone ahead to file their papers even amid the snowfall, several others have not been able to gather enough number of supporters to go to the designated offices. According to information, supporters of several candidates across the region could not make it to the venue for the filing of the nomination papers as the roads were blocked on account of snow.
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CEO wants vehicle-checking drive launched
Dehradun, January 10 She said that the work of distribution of voter slips to the electorate was in progress. She assured that all voters whose name figured in the voters’ list would be able to cast their votes in the elections. The Chief Electoral Officer has also requested the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary, Transport, to direct the concerned officials to control the incidents of vehicular accidents by making necessary provisions and prescribing time limit for movement of traffic during night time.
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Services of IT Dept requisitioned to check use of money power
Nainital, January 10 In a letter addressed to the presidents and the general secretaries of all recognised national and state political parties of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, the Secretary of the ECI, SK Rudola, has stated, “The commission has also advised the candidates to open separate bank accounts for election-related expenses and make all election-related payments through these accounts. It is needless to point out that funds provided by the party to its candidates for the election purpose is required to be reflected in the day-to-day accounts of election expenditure of the candidates and the parties are also required to maintain and submit the accounts before the commission after the elections.” The letter further states, “In order to maintain purity of the elections and make the election process transparent, it is advised that the political parties avoid cash transactions and should instruct their office-bearers, officials, agents and candidates not to carry huge cash during the elections.” It points out that instances have been reported to the commission and also in the media that cash, liquor and several utility items are being used in a clandestine manner during the election process to influence voters. Rudola has said such distribution of cash, liquor or any other item for the gratification of voters is bribery and is punishable under the IPC. It is also a corrupt practice under the Representation of People’s Act, 1951. He recounts that at a meeting of the commission with all political parties on October 4, 2010, the issue of the use of money power during the elections was discussed and the instructions issued by the commission for the monitoring of election-related expenses during the Legislative Assembly poll in Bihar were welcomed by all parties. The commission further fine-tuned its instructions in view of the experience in Bihar and implemented them during the last General Elections in five states, namely Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. The letter adds, “I am further directed to inform all concerned that the commission has amplified some of these instructions and issued detailed guidelines for the monitoring of election-related expenses for the ensuing poll in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. The commission has issued instructions, inter alia, to the law enforcement agencies to form flying squads to keep a watch over the distribution of cash, liquor and other utility items in the constituencies when the election process is on and seize the said items.” The copy of the letter has also been sent to all State Election Officers and the Income Tax authorities in all poll-bound states. |
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MP from Tehri Garhwal, and Birender Singh, party general secretary and in charge, Uttarakhand affairs, had no explanation on the issue of rebellion in the party on the question of distribution of the party ticket for the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Dehradun, January 10
While on the one hand heavy snowfall in the hilly districts will be playing a crucial role in election campaigning, in the plain Assembly segments of Haridwar, the recent years’ flood will be having a major impact too.
This is much to do with the ruling BJP Cabinet ministers and the local legislators, whom the public will surely be asking questions of the ground work done to lessen the impact of floods and also the mass discrepancy in flood relief aid distribution.
Eunuch Rajni Rawat, who was instrumental in the defeat of the Congress candidate in the elections of Mayor of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation in 2008, could again create problems for the Congress in three key Assembly constituencies of the district.
Rajni today accused the Congress of deceit and announced that she would contest the Assembly elections from the
Doiwala, Raipur and Dharampur seats as an Independent candidate.
The Akhil Bharatiya Trinamool Congress has also jumped into the election fray and announced that it will field 50 candidates from various seats for the state Assembly poll slated for January 30. The party will announce the names of the candidates tomorrow.
