Candidates go door to door to seek votes
Dehradun, April 27
With the cacophony of election campaign coming to an end on Friday evening, candidates of various political parties went door to door on the eve of the civic poll in the city.

21,200 decides fate of 9 presidential candidates of Mussoorie MC today
Mussoorie, April 27
The administration has completed its arrangements for the civic polls to be held tomorrow in Mussoorie as the polling parties reached 24 booths today.

Bisht predicts big win for Cong
Dehradun, April 27
Former Uttarakhand minister Hira Singh Bisht has claimed that the Congress would register a huge victory in the forthcoming civic bodies' polls.

Dehradun, April 27
Uttarakhand Congress mayoral candidate Suryakant Dhasmana has pledged to make Dehradun number one city of the country.

Addressing lawyers at Dehradun courts, Dhasmana said if elected he would ensure that Dehradun becomes number one city of the country. He said Dehradun has a high potential to become number one city and only sincere efforts were needed.

Dhasmana yet again accused the sitting BJP Mayor, Vinod Chamoli, who is seeking re-election, of doing little for Dehradun city.

“The BJP Mayor only made announcements but did not work for the betterment of the city," he said.

He added Dehradun city needed immediate measures to curb rising traffic congestion. He appealed to the people to vote for the Congress in the civic elections.

Congress leadeVivekanand Khanduri said the people were acknowledging commendable works being done by the Congress-led government in the state.

He added a Congress Mayor could ensure better development of Dehradun city as the Congress was in power in the state.

Later, Dhasmana also held public meetings at Mannu Ganj, DL Road, Karanpur and in other areas of the city.

Dehradun, April 27
With the cacophony of election campaign coming to an end on Friday evening, candidates of various political parties went door to door on the eve of the civic poll in the city.

Most of the mayoral candidates today confined their activities to hold indoor meetings and going from door to door in smaller groups to seek votes. Most of the candidates, specially independents, seeking election from a total of 60 wards in the city also went from door to door to seek support and votes.

BJP mayoral candidate Vinod Chamoli went in various areas and held closed door meetings to chalk out the election strategy while Congress candidate Suryakant Dhasmana also visited various localities to consolidate his votes.

Interestingly, a large number of eunuchs from various parts of the country, particularly from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, spread out in various slum colonies of the city to seek votes for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Rajni Rawat, a eunuch.

They also went from door to door and sought votes. Most of the candidates deployed their women teams for the door-to-door campaigns and tried to influence the women voters.

Mussoorie, April 27
The administration has completed its arrangements for the civic polls to be held tomorrow in Mussoorie as the polling parties reached 24 booths today.

With only a day left for the poll, uneasy calm prevailed in Mussoorie leaving around 21,200 voters to ponder overnight and decide the fate of nine presidential candidates and 65 ward members for the prestigious Municipal Council of Mussoorie.

However, the candidates in the fray feeling the heat continued to convince the voter through door-to-door campaigning till late night to garner the support in their favour.

According to sources, the voters had a field day as the free flow of liquor and other eateries were also being offered to entice the voters by most of the candidates in the town.

According to the Super Zonal Magistrate Hansa Dutt Pandey, Mussoorie has been divided into one zone and two sectors, one in Jharipani and other in Kulri Bazaar. He further said there were 24 booths in the 14 polling centres of the town. The administration had installed two safety barriers considering the security of the booths here.

Out of the 24 booths, four booths have been declared as sensitive and four have been declared as most sensitive booths in the town. He also informed the media that one SSI and one head constable has been deployed along with four constables for the sensitive booths.

Home Guard and women police constables have been deployed to assist the police for the poll.

Out of around 21,200 voters 12,403 are males and 9,264 are females who would cast their ballot in the elections. The Kacheri ward with 2,775 voters has the highest number of voters while Happy Valley has the lowest number with 887 voters.

The Super Zonal Magistrate also said he had physically inspected all booths and found arrangements fool-proof. The percentage of poll will be announced every 2 hours on the polling day and after 5 pm the ballot boxes will be sealed in front of the agents of respective candidates and will be opened on the day of counting.

Meanwhile, the candidates will have to spend the sleepless nights till the announcement of the result on April 30. 

Dehradun, April 27
Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the outgoing board of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation Ashok Verma has accused BJP mayoral candidate Vinod Chamoli of doing little for the betterment of the city.

Addressing a press conference here today, Verma said the outgoing Mayor, Vinod Chamoli, had failed to work for the betterment of Dehradun city and thus had no right to seek votes from the people for a second term.

Verma said there were several development proposals pending with the Dehradun Municipal Corporation but outgoing Mayor Vinod Chamoli took no initiatives to ensure that these proposals saw the light of the day.

Spokesperson for the state unit of the Congress Dhirendra Pratap said the Congress would register a big win in the civic bodies' elections.

Referring to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Uttarakhand, Dhirendra Pratap said people like Modi and Ramdev were symbols of aristocracy and keep little concern for the poor and needy.

He said the Nehru-Gandhi family, on other hand, had always believed in sacrifices. 

Dehradun, April 27
A day ahead of polling for the civic elections, polling parties along with materials in Dehradun today left for their respecting polling booths.

District Election Officer Dr BVRC Purshottam disclosed that all polling parities had reached their destinations. He said while the entire polling male staff would be spending the night in their respective booths, women polling staff had been asked to be present at the booth positively by 7 am tomorrow. He also apprised that legal proceedings had started against those polling staff, who failed to report today.

District Election Officer Purshottam disclosed that orders had been issued to ensure that the model code of conduct for the elections was strictly followed. He said only voters should be present at the time of polling. He said the polling would start at 8 in the morning and continue till 5 pm. He apprised that Hindu National Inter-College booth of Indreshnagar Ward had been declared as highly sensitive polling station.

Dehradun April 27
District Election Officer/District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam yesterday gave letters to 2,200 employees who were put on duty on polling day in the district. The employees were also apprised of the location of their duties.

The polling groups were handed over the election material. He said reserve personnel had been readied to take charge in case the employees were absent. On April 27, all employees will leave Rangers College with their EVMs and election material for their respective election sites.

They will stay there overnight. They will also not accept food or lodging facility extended by any political party. Sector Magistrate will stay in their sector headquarters at night and pass on the election-related information to control room.

He said women employees will, however, be given relaxation from staying overnight at polling sites. They will reach the polling sites on April 28 with all paraphernalia. 

Mussoorie, April 27
Zonal Magistrates discussed problems being faced by candidates for the Municipal Council elections at a meeting held on the Kacheri premises here.

On the occasion, the candidates raised the issue of bogus voting. They demanded that the furnishing of ration card or voter ID card by voters should be made mandatory to check bogus voting.

Zonal and sector magistrates told them that the administration would be directed to remain vigil and no candidate would be allowed to use fraudulent means. They also discussed arrangements for sensitive and most-sensitive booths in Mussoorie.

Zonal Magistrate Rajendar Singh Keda, Magistrate Jeet Singh Rawat, Ajay Gupta, police station in charge BS Rawat, sub-inspector Santosh Tiwari, Praveen Panwar, Nirmala Kant, Rekha Chaturvedi, RP Badoni, Aslam Khan and others were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, April 27
Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun, and Lawrence School, Sanawar, entered the final of the 27th All-India Golden Jubilee Basketball Tournament being played at Welham Boys' School here today.

In the first semifinal, the Welham team defeated The Asian School 61-5. Prithvi scored 17 points for the Welham team while Asif scored 16 baskets for The Asian School.

In the second semifinal, Lawrence School, Sanawar, defeated Punjab Public School, Nabha, 53-43. Jaideep scored 15 points for the winners while Arshdeep scored 14 points for Punjab Public School, Nabha.