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Rebel plays spoilsport for Jassi
EC notice to Cong, SAD (B) candidates
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Moga admn detects paid news, advts
Maghi celebrations
Cong rebel’s kin give Oscar a tough
time
Dist-level monitoring and complaint cell set up in Ferozepur
The foundation stone of martyrs’ memorial at the Tibbi Sahib road in
Muktsar.
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Rebel plays spoilsport for Jassi
Bathinda, January 14 The supporters of Singla, who had desperately been trying to get the Congress ticket for either Bathinda or Mansa, have put up Harmesh Roshi as an independent candidate against Jassi. Roshi, a vice-president of the Bathinda rural unit of the Congress, is a property dealer and was being backed by Tehal Singh Sandhu, secretary of the PPCC and a right hand man of Singla. A couple of other local Congress activists, including Dr Satpal Bhateja, chief of the Rajiv Gandhi Manch, were present at a function today when Roshi opened his election office here. Tehal Singh and the others in his group had been seeking ticket for Singla, who had earlier represented the Bathinda segment and was a finance minister during the Congress regime. They presented a memorandum against Jassi to the PPCC chief Captain Amrinder Singh during a rally here last month. Saroop Singla, candidate of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), is trying to take benefit of the infighting in the Congress and has succeeded in making a dent in certain strongholds of Jassi. Moreover, the Dera Sacha Sauda that has considerable influence in the area is yet to come out in support of Jassi whose daughter is married to the son of the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Initially, it was believed that Jassi might have a smooth sailing, but the subsequent developments might queer the pitch for him.
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EC notice to Cong, SAD (B) candidates
Faridkot, January 14 “The Congress leaders are trying to raise unsavoury controversies to defame him. The Congress leaders in Faridkot are seeking to stir these controversies to divert the voters’ attention from the basic issues,” said the SAD (B) candidate. However, the Congress candidate and sitting MLA, Avtar Singh Brar accused Malhotra of violating the election code of conduct by distributing not only the clocks and copies but also paying the electricity, telephone, water supply and sewerage bills of the voters to lure them. “Three month back, I distributed the school copies and wall clocks among some poor families in Faridkot. There was nothing wrong in this distribution at that time,” said Malhotra. Amidst this sabre-rattling between the Congress and the Akali candidate, the district Election Office has issued show-cause notices to both the candidates today for the alleged violation of election code of conduct. In another case, SAD(B) candidate Deep Malhotra has lodged a complaint against the Congress candidate for slanderous campaign against him on Facebook. “On the basis of this complaint, a notice has been served on the Congress candidate,” said the DEO.
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Moga admn detects paid news, advts
Moga, January 14 Confirming this, Dr PC Mittal, chairman of the committee, said after preparing the report of the calculated amount, it was discussed with the district election officer-cum-district magistrate B Purushartha. The reports in this regard had been sent to the returning officers concerned to add the expenditure in the respective candidates' account. Prominent among those whose paid news/advertisements had been detected, include senior SAD leader Jathedar Tota Singh, former DGP Paramdeep Singh Gill, Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain, former MP Kewal Singh, SAD candidate from Baghapurana Maheshinder Singh and few others. District Election Officer B Purushartha, while talking to The Tribune, said strict instructions had been given to the media monitoring and certification committee to minutely look into the newspapers and the television channels to detect the paid news and advertisements. Meanwhile, the rebel Congress candidate Vijay Sathi was of the view, “Not only the expenditure on the paid news items and photographs but also the undue influence created on the voters through the print media by this wrong practice should be taken as a violation of the poll code. It is a serious issue and stern action should be taken against the political parties and their candidates for creating undue influence on the voters by such wrong
practice.” |
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Maghi celebrations
Muktsar, January 14 They fought bravely and defeated the Mughals in the battle by sacrificing their lives. Guru Gobind Singh himself cremated all these brave Sikh soldiers in 1705 and renamed the ‘Khidrane di Dhab’ as Muktsar. However, unlike previous years, no senior politician came here to pay obeisance on this historic day. In the past, all senior politicians used to come to pay obeisance and hold political conferences on Maghi, but their busy schedule during the elections campaign did not even allow them to take part in the religious programme, this year. They had already cancelled the political conferences in view of the election expenditure limit, fixed by the Election Commission. Karan Singh, manager of the historic Gurudwara, said, "Though no senior politician came to pay obeisance the number of the devotees witnessed an increase as compared to the previous years." Only a few SGPC leaders including the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar paid obeisance at the Gurudwara this year. Bhai Maha Singh Hall inside the Gurudwara complex was decorated where the devotees, after paying obeisance, attended the ‘Shabad Kirtan’. |
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Cong rebel’s kin give Oscar a tough
time
Faridkot/Kotkapura, January 14 After he was denied the party ticket, Upinder Sharma is contesting as an independent from the Kotkapura seat. To prevail upon Upinder Sharma to withdraw his nomination papers in favour of the Congress candidate, today, Oscar Fernandes, general secretary, All India Congress, reached Faridkot. However, once Upinder Sharma got whiff of the senior Congress leader reaching Faridkot, he switched off his mobile phone and went underground in the morning. Waiting in vain for many hours for Upinder Sharma to emerge and have a meeting with him today, Oscar Fernandes, accompanied by some senior party leaders, finally reached Sharma residence in the evening. At Upinder's home, his daughter, Shivani, confronted Oscar Fernandes with some uncomfortable questions for denying party ticket to his father and giving ticket to Ripjeet Singh Brar, the younger brother of senior Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar. After a 30-minute stay in Upinder's house, when Fernandes failed to pacify Shivani and meet Upinder Sharma, a ‘dispirited’ Fernandes left his house. Since morning today, rumours were afloat about Upinder Sharma surrendering his claim, succumbing to party pressure. While earlier, the family members were maintaining a stony silence in the evening, Saurav Sharma, his son, denied that his father would withdraw his nomination papers. “In the last assembly elections in 2007, my father surrendered his claim on the Kotkapura as per the direction’s of the party high command to vacate the place for a green-porn in politics. My father was promised the ticket this time but all promises proved to be false,” said Saurav. Upinder Sharma had won the Kotkapura seat in the 1992 elections and got the portfolio of the jail minister.
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Dist-level monitoring and complaint cell set up in Ferozepur
Ferozepur, January 14 S. Karuna
Raju, DC-cum-DEO, said, “All the arrangements to ensure fair polls have been completed. The observers appointed by the EC have also taken over their duties and the public was free to meet them regarding any complaint or issue concerning the
polls.” Raju further said, “General observer for the Ferozepur Rural and Gururharsahai assembly segment C. Parthasarthi can be contacted at 99884-19317 while Partap Singh, who has been appointed as his liaison officer, can be contacted at 98765-02228. Vijay
Luxmi, commissioner, Income Tax from Hyderabad, has been appointed as the expenditure observer for all the four assembly seats. She can be contacted at 99884-18998. For the first time, the EC has also appointed a police observer, Kamal Singh
Rathore, DIG, who can be contacted at 99884-20119 for any complaint related to the functioning of the police or security matters during the polls. “Following scrutiny of the nomination papers of various candidates, 39 candidates are left in the fray from the four assembly segments of the district,” he said. DPS Kharbanda (ADC) said, “Rehearsals of the polling staff on duty would be held in various assembly segments on Sunday.” |
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SGPC chief announces completion of martyrs’ memorial before next Maghi
Muktsar, January 14 The foundation stone of the martyrs' memorial, dedicated to Mai Bhago and 40 Muktas, was laid by the then president, SAD, Parkash Singh Badal along with the then SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur on May 4, 2005 on the Tibbi Sahib road. However, not even a single wall has been constructed even after a gap of almost seven years. Avtar Singh Makkar said, "A three-member committee, headed by the vice-chancellor of the Punjabi University, Dr Jaspal Singh, has been formed. It would complete the construction of the memorial before next
Maghi."
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