Dharamsala, October 13
It has been two days since the Congress changed candidates in Dharamsala and Jawalamukhi Assembly constituencies of Kangra district. However, the changed candidates are still campaigning in the earlier constituencies thereby creating confusion among party workers.

Two days ago the Congress had shifted Sudhir Sharma, who was earlier allotted party ticket from Dharamsala, to Jawalamukhi. Instead of Sudhir, the party ticket from Dharamsala was allotted to Manoj Gaddi. Sudhir had, however, maintained that he would either contest from Dharamsala or not contest. He has been maintaining his presence in Dharamsala and is campaigning in the constituency.

Virbhadra Singh had also issued a statement yesterday that Sudhir would contest as party candidate from Dharamsala. However, till the filing of this report the Congress had not issued any communication regarding a review of its decision in favour of Sudhir.

The result of the confusion is that in the Dharamsala Assembly constituency two Congress candidates, including Sudhir Sharma and Manoj Gaddi, are campaigning as party candidates.

In the Jawalamukhi Assembly constituency also, Sanjay Rattan, who has now ceased to be a Congress candidate from the area, was still campaigning as party candidate. To add to all this confusion, Virbhadra arrived in Jawalamukhi this evening and campaigned for Sanjay. He will campaign for Sanjay tomorrow as well.

Congress leaders close to Sudhir maintained that the party command would review the decision of moving him to Jawalamukhi. They maintained that the decision was not being announced as former MLA from Dharamsala and Jodhpur MP Chandresh Kumari was lobbying against the change in Delhi.

Though he has now ceased to be a Congress candidate from Jawalamukhi, Sanjay has hope as Sudhir has refused to shift to his area. In case Sudhir refuses to shift to Jawalamukhi, even after being denied ticket from Dharamsala, Sanjay can be the automatic choice of the party from the constituency.

The confusion prevailing over Congress tickets from Dharamsala and Jawalamukhi Assembly constituencies has rekindled expectation of other Congress leaders who had lost hope after ticket allotment by the Congress.

HPCC delegate from Dharamsala and close confidant of former HPCC president Kaul Singh, Digvijay Puri held a press conference here today and demanded a party ticket for himself. He said only a local candidate should be given the party ticket from Dharamsala.

In Jwalamukhi, Block Congress president Nardev Kanwar is also lobbying hard for the party ticket.

However, confusion prevailing over the Congress candidates from Dharamsala and Jawalamukhi has demoralised the party rank and file.

Mandi, October 13
Most of the 27 sitting Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the 68-member Vidhan Sabha who filed their nomination papers in the 2007 Assembly elections, mentioning that they face criminal cases, have once again entered the poll arena.

Five of them, four of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an Independent, face serious criminal charges, revealed the National Election Watch (NEW), an NGO, here today.

The Assembly performed no good as far as the number of sittings is concerned, with 128 sittings of the 140 planned being held. The Vidhan Sabha, on an average, had 32 sittings, which is equal to Goa’s, but better than Manipur’s 24 and Uttar Pradesh’s 22.

National parties are showing no interest in declaring sources of donation and income. The Congress has shown its income to be Rs 2,008 crore in seven financial years, the BJP Rs 994 crore, the BSP Rs 1,062 crore, the CPM Rs 417 crore and the CPI Rs 8.62 crore.

The Congress has shown that its income increased by 125 per cent from 2007-09 in two years and decreased by 34.32 per cent from 2009-11 in two years. The BJP has shown an increase of 77.76 per cent from 2008-10 and a decrease of 34.88 per cent in 2009-11 in two years.

Any donation exceeding Rs 20,000 has to be accounted for as per the Income Tax Act, but all national parties are not open with sources of funds, which is essential for free and fair elections, alleged NEW. It shows three one-minute films featuring Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador for promoting clean elections in the state.

Disclosing an analysis of criminal, financial and other backgrounds of MLAs and sources of party funds to mediapersons, NEW’s national coordinator Anil Bairwal claimed that they had obtained the details from the Vidhan Sabha and government records.

He said 23 of the 41 sitting BJP MLAs declared that they faced criminal cases. Of the 23 Congress MLAs, three declared that they faced criminal cases. Four BJP MLAs and an Independent declared that they faced serious criminal cases.

NEW demanded that the Election Commission make a law to make the disclosure of sources of party funds mandatory for financial accountability. “We will keep on eyes on expenditure by candidates in elections,” Bairwal said.

Mandi, October 13
Even as 11 candidates of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others have filed their nomination papers to contest the elections, none of them has filed an affidavit giving details of assets, which violates the Election Commission (EC) order issued on January 11.

This order says candidates should file the affidavit along with nomination papers and the District Election Officer (DEO) should upload the affidavit on its website within 24 hours.

The EC has directed all Chief Electoral Officers of states and union territories to bring this instruction to the notice of all electoral officers concerned for compliance.

DD Thakur (BJP), who has filed four sets of nomination papers, and Anil Sharma (Congress), both from Mandi, Inder Gandhi (BJP) from Balh (Reserved) and KK Thakur (Independent) from Sarkaghat have have not filed the affidavits.

Mandi Deputy Commissioner-cum-DEO Devesh Kumar said four candidates had filed their nomination papers, but none had filed the affidavits so far.

National Election Watch (NEW) national coordinator Anil Bairwal said candidates were violating the order of the EC. They should file affidavits along with nomination papers, he asserted.

On the other hand, Chief Electoral Officer Narender Chauhan said only 11 candidates had filed nomination papers till today. “We are checking whether candidates have filed affidavits as the last date of filing nomination papers is October 17,” he added.

Solan, October 13
District Election Officer Meera Mohanti said expenditure observers for all five Assembly constituencies of Solan district have started performing their functions and they could be contacted personally or through telephone for any related information.

Ram Kumar Yadav, expenditure observer for Solan and Kasauli Assembly constituencies, is staying at Set No.1, Rest House, Mushroom Research Centre, Chambaghat, Solan. His telephone No. is 01792-230264 and mobile Nos. 98167-06414 and 094067-17769.

Nongothung Jungio, expenditure observer for Arki, Nalagagh and Doon Assembly constituencies, is staying at Set No.1, Circuit House, Solan. His telephone No. is 01792-220319 and mobile Nos. 098167-06430 & 09401991675. They could be contacted from 11 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm for election related issues. — OC

Shimla, October 13
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today advised state Congress chief Virbhadra Singh to introspect instead of blaming others. In his first reaction to the allegation of kickbacks to Steel Ministry officials and a person bearing the initials VBS, he said the Congress leader owed an explanation to the people.

“Virbhadra Singh has an old habit of blaming others for his deeds. This time, he is putting the blame on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he claimed.

The Chief Minister said the disclosure made by a television channel was on the basis of authenticated documents of the Income Tax Department and not of the BJP. “How can he accuse the BJP of something the party is not even remotely associated with?” he asked.

Dhumal said the latest allegation against Virbhadra Singh would become an issue in the elections as well. “Even in the compact disc (CD) case, he denied that the voice was his. On the contrary, the forensic science laboratory report established that the voice was his,” he said.

Dhumal added that Virbhadra Singh owed an explanation to the people for the compromise with Vijai Singh Mankotia, who was responsible for releasing the CD.

“Everyone is curious to know the compulsion which forced Virbhadra to join hands with Mankotia,” he said. He pointed out that Mankotia, who had levelled serious allegations against Virbhadra, was given the Congress ticket from Shahpur.

Shimla, October 13
Wanting to cash in on the latest controversy involving state Congress chief Virbhadra Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded that the issue of the alleged kickbacks given by ISPAT Industries be probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Addressing a press conference here today, BJP’s national general secretary JP Nadda demanded that a thorough probe be ordered into the matter by a SIT and not the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He added that the Income Tax Department, in raids conducted on various offices of the company, had found documents which made mention of cash payments made to politicians, bureaucrats and other officials of the Steel Ministry.

“Virbhadra Singh owes an explanation to the people of the state as to who are the persons with the initials VBS and APS in the Steel Ministry headed by him who allegedly received cash payments from ISPAT Industries,” he said.

He said the total payment made in cash to persons with the initials VBS and APS (personal staff) amounted to Rs 2.28 crore, paid on five occasions between December 23, 2009, and August 24, 2010.

He said Virbhadra Singh’s reaction that he had no knowledge of the documents seized by the Income Tax Department was strange as he was the minister during that time.

“The authenticated documents regarding kickbacks received by officials of his department were sent by the department to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Steel Ministry in 2010,” he remarked.

He said it was strange that neither the department, nor the CVO of the Steel Ministry pursued the issue of kickbacks, which raised doubts about the involvement of high-ups.

With one scam after the other coming out, it had been established beyond doubt that the Congress was not just the mother of corruption, but it nurtured it and shielded those involved in it as well, Nadda alleged.

“It is strange that a person who had to resign from the Union Cabinet following the framing of charges against him by a local court was made the state Congress chief to lead the party in the elections,” he said.

He also took exception to Virbhadra Singh’s attempt to blame the BJP for defaming him by making false allegations. “The documents about the alleged kickbacks are from authentic records and have not been released by his party,” he said. He added that Virbhadra Singh should prove his innocence instead of blaming others.

He dismissed allegations of corruption against the PK Dhumal regime by stating that those were mere allegations, with not even a single document being produced in support of the allegations.

Palampur, October 13
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Virbhadra Singh said here today that if the Congress was voted to power, it would cancel all benami land deals in the past five years of the BJP regime.

Addressing a public meeting at Dehan, near here, he said the BJP government in the state had failed to meet the expectations the people.

He said faulty policies and poor governance of the BJP government had brought the state on the verge of financial bankruptcy as the total debt of the state had gone up to Rs 28,000 crore.

He alleged that development activities in the state during the BJP regime had come to a standstill. The condition of state and national highways had gone from bad worse, he added.

Despite getting huge financial assistance from the Centre, the BJP government failed to deliver the goods, he claimed. He regretted that the state failed to utilise Rs 10,000 crore given under Centre-funded projects.

He claimed that 10,000 hectare was given to outsiders in violation of rules. He alleged that rules were not framed for the allotment of land to private universities and no provision was made for vesting the land with the state if the universities were closed or became defunct.

Talking to this correspondent here this morning, he said the news report pertaining to the alleged cash payments made to him was motivated and planned to coincide with the upcoming Assembly elections.

Virbhadra Singh pointed out that he did not write his initials as VBS, but as VS. He claimed that the timing of the news report was questionable.

He added that he had heard the allegation for the first time through media reports. He categorically stated that false propaganda was launched against him by his detractors merely to affect the elections.