Jind, March 19
Though they are forced to stay behind veils, the 3.83 lakh women electorates of the district can change the result if given a chance to vote as per their wishes.

Jind district has 6.41 lakh females against 7.32 lakh males and the number of women voters is likely to register a sharp increase in the coming years.

The district has five Assembly constituencies, including Jind, Julana, Safidon, Uchana Kalan and Narwana. All five have a considerable number of women. With the figure of 83,994, Narwana has the highest number of women voters, with 83,440 Uchana Kalan is at number two. Safidon with 72,782 women voters stands at number three, Jind comes fourth with 72,754 voters while Julana has the lowest 70,780 women voters in the district. In total, the district has 8.48 lakh voters, out of which 3.83 are women while the remaining 4.65 lakh are male voters.

“I have been voting for the last 20 years, but do not know any candidate. The decision to give our votes has always been taken by our male members. Like me, we all give our votes as per the choice of the male members of our family,” said Sushma, a woman from Ahirka village.

Another woman, Krishna, said usually their husbands disclose the names and symbols of political parties of their choice and direct them to vote.

“I have given my vote to two parties during the last 15 years, but do not know what they have done for us,” she said.

Politicians admit the importance of women voters, but do not take the required steps for women empowerment.

“No one can ignore the importance of women voters. In my victory, they played a major role and in coming elections also, their role will be crucial,” said Jind MLA Harichand Middha.

Interestingly, there are many women voters of the district, who are unaware even about the main political parties of their area, though they know the names of senior politicians of different parties, like Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal and Bansi Lal.

Gurgaon, March 19
The Gurgaon administration, which has been working for months to create electoral awareness, will move a step further after voter registration. Having got more people on the rolls compared to the last elections, the administration is now out to ensure a high voter turnout.

Aware of the fact that a majority of voters are the youth, a large percentage of which are employed in the IT sector, the administration is reaching out to IT firms that employ more than 1,000 employees to encourage their employees to vote during the elections.

The administration has mailed an oath to managements of IT firms, requesting them to make sure that all employees sign it. The oath states that the signee is aware of the duty of franchise and will exercise it to strengthen democracy.

"We made an appeal last week. A majority of employees are registered voters, but owing to busy schedules and lack of sensitisation, they do not vote, defeating the purpose of elections. The administration has worked hard to get maximum voter registration and wants to translate it into a large voter turnout," said Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi.

Though the oath was mailed last week, none of the firms had responded so far. This had not dampened the spirits of the administration, that planned to continue awareness campaigns.

Chandigarh, March 19
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad has said the state has 60 companies of central paramilitary forces, besides six additional companies for conducting the General Elections peacefully in the 10 parliamentary constituencies of the state.

Walgad said as many as 50,000 security forces personnel would be deputed on about 17,000 polling stations. He said as many as 47,829 licensed arms had so far been deposited in the state.

He said 461 nakas have been laid at borders of Haryana, along with various other places in the state. So far, 10,038 bottles of liquor had been seized in the state, he said.

Referring to the election expenditure, Walgad said adequate arrangements had been made to keep a watch on the election expenditure by the candidates and the parties. The Income Tax Department had set up a control room for Haryana having toll free number 1800-180-2252 for the purpose. He said during the elections in the state, any type of information regarding election expenditure could be given on the toll free number.

To ensure fair and transparent conduct of elections, duty magistrate, sector magistrate and supervisors would also be appointed. Each one of them would supervise the work of eight to 10 polling centres. He said micro-observer would be appointed to ensure security during the elections. Besides, videography and web casting of elections would also be conducted, Walgad maintained.

He said 343 highly sensitive and 300 sensitive polling centres had been identified in the state. He said these centres had been identified on the basis of each district and each Lok Sabha constituency. Previous polling held in these areas had been kept into consideration for identifying highly sensitive and sensitive polling centres.

The Chief Electoral Officer said various rallies and meeting organized by the political parties during the elections would be monitored by the Election Department through flying squad and videography team.

Walgad said besides police, officials of the Excise and Taxation Department had been appointed to keep a vigil on the sale of liquor. 

Kaithal, March 19
According to an Election Commission directive, no Lok Sabha candidate will be allowed to use vehicle without permit issued by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA).

The Returning Officer of Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency has authorised the RTA to issue such permits. No candidate will be allowed to use more than three vehicles.

This information was given to all Assistant Returning Officers by District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner NK Solanki here today.

He clarified that the respective SDMs would grant permission for the use of loudspeakers which could be used only between 6 am and 10 pm.

He said if any candidate put up dummy candidates to avoid expenditure limits and such a candidate was found using vehicles, his vehicles would be impounded. Anyone found violating these orders would be strictly dealt with.

These orders had come into force immediately and would remain in force till April 8 up to 5 pm, Solanki added. ADC Arvind Malhan, Kaithal SDM Narhari Singh Banger and other officials were present.

Sonepat, March 19
In the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress candidate from Sonepat parliamentary constituency Jagbir Singh Malik today filed his nomination papers with the Returning Officer of the constituency.

Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, sitting MP Jitender Malik and MLA Krishan Hooda were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, while addressing a meeting of the party workers near Hanuman Mandir, Hooda made an appeal to people to vote for the Congress candidate and ensure that the momentum of development works was maintained in the constituency. He reminded people about the development works which had been done and undertaken in the constituency.

Jagbir Malik is the sitting congress MLA from Gohana Assembly constituency. He had also represented the constituency in 1996 general election as well as in 2008 by-election. 

Karnal, March 19
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked people of Karnal to vote for the Congress on the basis of the work done by him in the past nine years.

“See my work and then vote. I have done work in various sectors which could not be done by the INLD-BJP government,” Hooda claimed during an election rally at Sector 12 organised in support of Congress candidate Arvind Sharma for the Karnal parliamentary constituency.

Reminding people of the projects undertaken by his government in Karnal, he said: “I have done a lot of work for Karnal. We undertook the projects like Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and a domestic airport and included Karnal in the National Capital Region (NCR),” said the Chief Minister.

Hooda highlighted the policies initiated by the government for the traders, farmers and women and urged them to support the Congress candidate whole-heatedly.

“If you have any feeling of resentment for anybody, kindly forget that and work together for Arvind Sharma. It is the time to work together,” Hooda said, claiming that the Congress will repeat the history of 2004 and 2009.

Sharma also appealed to people to vote for him. MLA Karnal Sumita Singh and MLA Samalkha Dharam Singh Chhoker also canvassed for Sharma.

Ambala, March 19
BJP candidate Ratan Lal Kataria filed his nomination papers from Ambala parliamentary constituency today. A large number of senior leaders of the party were present on the occasion.

A havan was also organised at the BJP party office in Ambala City, in which his wife Banto Kataria and former party MLAs Faquir Chand Aggarwal, Veena Chibbar and Jasbir Mallour were also present.

Later, a workers' meeting was organised in the ground of sector 8 in which Manohar Lal Khattar said Modi wave was prevailing throughout the country and Haryana BJP would win all the 10 seats.

Kataria said the works which could not be done by former MP Selja would be his priority if people voted him to power.

In his assets declaration, Kataria has announced a house in Mansa Devi Complex worth Rs 4 crore, bank deposits of Rs 4 lakh and cash Rs 1.25 lakh. Besides, he has a Qualis car. He declared that his wife has 200 gm gold ornaments and cash Rs 70,000. He said he had to pay a bank loan of Rs 8 lakh. 

Kurukshetra, March 19
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Kurukshetra Chattar Singh Kashyap filed his nomination papers here today while Sanjiv Kumar filed his papers as the covering candidate.

Chattar Singh has declared movable assets of about Rs 65 lakh and immovable assets of Rs 2.65 crore while his wife has movable assets of Rs 52.66 lakh and immovable assets of Rs 3.47 crore.

Before filling the nomination, BSP leaders held a workers meeting at the Theme Park. National Secretary Narender Kashyap, who was also here for the workers meeting, criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and said, “a large number of people were killed in Gujarat during riots but Modi did not even offer an apology. There is no wave of Modi or BJP in the country and if it had been the case, then why are the BJP leaders looking for safer seats for them.”

Besides, the BSP candidate, Amit Kumar filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate.

Sirsa, March 19
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate from Sirsa Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria (46) has total assets worth Rs 31,000, which includes Rs 10,000 cash, Rs 20,000 in bank and a mobile phone worth Rs 1,000.

Bahbalpuria’s wife Vidya Devi (42) has 10 gm gold, 100 gm silver and a mobile phone worth Rs 1,000, putting the total worth of her assets to Rs 36,000. Meanwhile, his son Aman Azad (17) has Rs 8,507 in his bank account and owns a mobile phone worth Rs 2,000.

Bahbalpuria, who filed his nomination papers for Sirsa today, also has one fourth interest in one acre land owned by his father in Bahbalpur village of Fatehabad, as per an affidavit submitted by him.

The CPM nominee does not have any FIR or criminal case in court of law against him.

Surender Kumar, an independent, also filed his nomination papers today.

Before Bahbalpuria filed his nomination, the CPM organised a public meeting in grain market where the party’s state secretary Inderjit Singh, former MLA Harpal Singh, Swaran Singh Virk and others addressed people and sought support for Bahbalpuria.

Inderjit Singh alleged that the BJP and Congress were not for alternative policies and therefore, these parties were not an alternative to each other but were rather complimentary to each other.

He said his party would contest the poll on basic issues like land distribution to the landless, implementation of Sawaminathan commission recommendations, permanent jobs, free accessibility of education and health services, curb on the big capitalists, security for women, social justice and independent foreign policy etc. 

Rewari, March 19
As many as 2,085 candidates, who tried their luck in the last 12 Lok Sabha elections held during 48 years after Haryana’s existence, had forfeited their security deposits as they could not manage to get minimum numbers of votes required for securing the security deposits.

As per the record of the Election Commission of India (ECI), as many as 304 candidates were the highest who failed to secure their security deposit in Lok Sabha elections held in 1989, while minimum 33 candidates had forfeited the security deposits in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1977.

The Election Commission has fixed Rs 25,000 as security deposit for a general category candidate and Rs 12,500 for a candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category.

“The provision of security deposits aims at reducing the prevalence of ‘fringe’ candidates or parties with no realistic chance of winning a seat. Many people jump into the poll fray with an intention to get their names printed on ballot papers and to get the media publicity,” said an official associated with the poll process, adding that the system of security deposits had been set to check such sort of people from contesting the elections.

He maintained “Under Section 158 - Return of Forfeiture of Candidates Deposit and sub-section (4) subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) - the deposit will be forfeited where a candidate fails to get a minimum of one-sixth of the total valid votes polled. The deposit then goes to the treasury.”

Sirsa, March 19
Residents of Sultanpuria village in Sirsa have refused to relent on the issue of boycott of parliamentary poll and have rather announced that they would stay away from Assembly polls also later this year, if their demand of a minor irrigation channel from Ghaggar was not accepted by that time.

Villagers who have been sitting on dharna for the past nine days have conveyed their stand to engineers of the Irrigation Department, who requested them to end their stir.

Rajesh Kumar, an executive engineer, and Lal Chand, a sub-divisional engineer in the Irrigation Department, approached the agitating villagers along with tehsildar Abhishek Kumar today and requested them to reconsider their stand on boycott of parliamentary elections.

The officers reportedly told the villagers that due to the model code of conduct they were not in a position to do anything on the issue right now, but their demand would be looked into after the polls.

“After consultation with the villagers, we have conveyed to the authorities that as far as boycott of parliamentary poll is concerned, we are firm on our announcement. We have told them further that if our demand is overlooked after the April 10 polls, we will stay away from the Assembly polls too, which are due later this year,” said Kalu Ram Khichar, sarpanch of Sultanpuria village.

Bhajan Lal Insan, president of the Ghaggar Action Committee that is spearheading the agitation, said the villagers have been getting hollow assurances from those at the helm for the past 12 years and now they had decided that they would not be taken in by mere promises.

Angry at the neglect of their 12-year-old demand of a water channel from Southern Ghaggar Canal, the 1,900-odd villagers of Sultanpuria have announced to stay away from polls this time.

Meanwhile, residents of nearly seven wards of Ratia town, who had announced boycott of polls against the indifference of the authorities in finding a solution to the environment hazards of the polluted water of Ghaggar, have also refused to relent from their announcement. 

Sirsa, March 19
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AICC in charge for Haryana Shakeel Ahmed and co-in charge Asha Kumari will address a rally in Sirsa tomorrow and will accompany state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar to the returning officer when he files his nomination papers for the Sirsa parliamentary seat. Tanwar, who won the Sirsa seat in 2009, is seeking re-election from here this time again. He got support from former minister Ranjit Singh, former OSD to Chief Minister KV Singh and former MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal, as he addressed workers meetings in the Rania, Dabwali and Ellenabad assembly segments today.

Minister Paramvir Singh, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and MLA Jarnail Singh today organised workers’ meetings in their respective Tohana, Fatehabad and Ratia assembly segments, seeking support for Tanwar.

However, former minister Gopal Kanda and former minister LD Arora’s daughter Sunita Setia have been keeping a distance with Tanwar’s campaign. Kanda hinted that he would announce the launch of his Haryana Janhit Party on the occasion of Baishakhi and would decide his strategy for the parliamentary elections only after the withdrawal of nomination papers on March 26.

Chandigarh, March 19
Women and youth may be a major chunk of the electorate this elections but that does not seems to have been on the mind of Haryana’s major political parties when it comes to the allotment of ticket.

While the Congress and the INLD have fielded a woman candidate each, the BJP is likely to announce its Sirsa ticket for a woman, implying that all three parties are happy with just 10 per cent representation to the fairer sex.

The Congress has fielded sitting MP Shruti Choudhry from the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat. Seen at the heart of Jatland, Choudhry (38) is pitted against archrival Dharambir Singh, who recently quit the Congress and got a BJP ticket, and INLD’s 51-year-old Rao Bahadur Singh.

The INLD has given the Ambala ticket to Kusum Bala Sherwal (44), wife of an office-bearer of the party, and will contest against BJP’s Rattan Lal Kataria and Congress candidate Raj Kumar Balmiki.

Though the BJP is yet to officially announce its candidate for the Sirsa seat, Sunita Duggal is likely to get the party ticket. She is the only woman among the candidates for the eight parliamentary seats. The BJP’s alliance partner, the Haryana Janhit Congress, which has the remaining two seats, too, has banked upon men to “deliver”.

If women have got a raw deal, the youth are only a shade better. The Congress is the only party from among the three to have given three of the 10 tickets to candidates under 40 years.

While Choudhry has the dual advantage of being a youth icon and a woman, the other two candidates fielded by the Congress are 36-year-old Deepender Hooda from Rohtak and state party chief Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, both sitting MPs from their respective constituencies.

While the INLD had fielded the youngest candidate, 26-year-old Dushyant Chautala, son for party secretary general Ajay Chautala, all other candidates chosen by the party are well above 40 years. The average age of candidates works out to be 51.7 years. Among the candidates fielded by the BJP-HJC alliance, none of the candidates fall in the under-40 category.

Sources in the party said the “winnability” was the main criterion in the allocation of party tickets, efforts were made to accommodate as many women and youth as possible while keeping in mind the caste equations. Also, given the large number of women and youth who will vote in this election, party sources said the representation to both the categories would go up by the next election, since they would get time to spot and groom “talent”. For now, however, the parties seem confident of being able to woo the youth and women with their present set of “winnable” candidates.

Faridabad, March 19
With the notification on the Prevention of the Defacement of Property Act coming into force, the candidates and their supporters seem to have started booking their slots in various parts of the constituency.

“Supporters of some of the candidates have started contacting private property owners, seeking their approval and consent for putting up hoardings, banners and posters for the election campaign, claimed a local political activist. He said with the authorised public places falling short or not located at the preferred spots, it was likely that many of the parties or their candidates would chose densely populated areas such as markets. This, he said, was not possible without the permission of the building owners.

“Activists of a party had recently asked me for a written permission to put up a hoarding on top of my shop,” said a shopkeeper in the sector-7-10 market here. Admitting that many of the owners could demand money for the permission, Prem Kumar, a resident, said posters and photographs were often pasted on the walls and gates of private buildings without permission. He said the violation of the model code of conduct and the Act had gone scot-free or had invited a little penalty if the history of the elections was taken into consideration. “The pattern and demand of outdoor publicity was the most formidable way of campaigning for the majority of the parties or candidates. Now it has changed,” said an official.

He, however, said the Election Commission was stricter in the matter of implementing the provisions of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, as complaints of putting posters, pictures and banners at public places, including sign boards and electricity poles, became common as campaigning picked up.

With the authorities already issuing directions in this regard, various departments and corporations of the state government had been directed to remove the photographs and messages of political executives from their respective websites, said an official.

New Delhi, March 19
Facing a general perception of being less popular among non-Jats, the principal opposition party in Haryana, the INLD, got a boost yesterday, with the All-India Punjabi Jagriti Manch announcing its support in the Lok Sabha elections.

Former Haryana Home Minister and manch head Subhash Batra announced that the manch had decided to support the INLD as it had nominated Punjabis to contest the elections.

“While no political party nominated even a single member of the community, the INLD gave the ticket to its members at Faridabad, Sirsa and Karnal,” he said.

Batra had resigned from the Congress a few days ago in the wake of his campaign for political empowerment of the Punjabi community.

At a rally in Rohtak on December 15 last year, the manch declared supporting any political party which gave the ticket to Punjabis from two Lok Sabha and 25 Assembly seats.

Support from any organisation related to Punjabis would be welcomed by the INLD, especially when it was considered to be at an ebb.

Former Chief Minister and party supremo Om Prakash Chautala had been convicted and jailed in JBT recruitment scam. A positive election result was a must for future prospects of the INLD.

In the 1987 Nyay Yudh Movemement launched by Devi Lal, following which the Lok Dal formed the government in coalition with the BJP, the Devi Lal clan had the best of political relations with Punjabis.

Many credited it to Mangal Sein. In the subsequent elections, 12 Punjabi MLAs were elected on the BJP ticket in alliance with the Lok Dal. Sein was made the Deputy Chief Minister.

After the death of Sein, Punjabis became virtually rudderless. A large section of the community were of the view that they got a raw deal from the Devi Lal clan.

Kurukshetra, March 19
Science and technology are most important for the development of the economy of any country in the age of knowledge economy, said Prof RC Sobti, general president, ISCA, and Vice-Chancellor, Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He was here to inaugurate a new chapter of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) at Kurukshetra University.

The ISCA is the oldest and largest organisation of scientists in the country and the chapter at Kurukshetra is the only chapter in Haryana which will work for the advancement and promotion of science in remote and rural areas by involving various schools and colleges of the state.

Lt Gen Dr DDS Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor, said unless a country had a strong scientific base, there could not be prosperity. “The need of the hour is to develop scientific temper among the youth and to have inter-disciplinary courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for cross-fertilsation of ideas. The universities all over the world are hubs of innovation and we in India need to give greater emphasis to this fact by giving more funds and attention to research and development,” said Sandhu.

The ISCA appointed Prof Dinesh Kumar, Director, UIET, as the convener of the Kurukshetra ISCA chapter.

Kurukshetra, March 19
Seven students and the principal of Technology Education and Research Integrated Institutions (TERII) School, Kurukshetra, who were detained by the US Immigration Department following incomplete documents, are expected to return to India soon.

School principal Poonam Rani and seven students - Devender, Ashish, Harikirat, Manpreet, Ajay, Rohit and Mukhwinder - had gone to the US on an educational trip to NASA but were detained by the immigration officers on the airport following incomplete documents.

School principal’s husband Mukesh Kumar said: “I had talked to my wife on Tuesday evening and everything is fine there. The matter has almost resolved and they will reach India within three to four days.”

While six students were sent to a child care centre, the principal and her son Devender were kept in New York.

The group had left for the US on March 5 and was scheduled to return on March 13. 

Chandigarh, March 19
The Finance Department has issued fresh directive on the expenditure by various departments as the financial year is about to end.

According to an order issued by the Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), no bill should be presented before the treasury unless the money can be spent before March 31.

“Similarly, the parking of funds either with the corporations, societies or bank accounts of the field offices is strictly prohibited,” the order said, warning that the violations of these instructions would amount to financial irregularity.

The order said no account should be operated without the specific permission of the Finance Department and all existing accounts should be closed unless permission was granted after April 1, 2013.

And only such advances should be drawn where the amount will be utilised within the financial year. “If the work against which the advance is given is not completed by March 25 the funds should be deposited back in the treasury by the last working day of the financial year,” the order stated.

Meanwhile, the expenditure under any state plan scheme in the last quarter of the financial year will not be more than 25 per cent, if the expenditure incurred up to December-end is less than 50 per cent of the total budget.

On the prioritisation of the plan expenditure, the order said: “The Plan Budget should be used only for the ongoing projects and not for any new project without the approval of the Finance and Planning Departments.”

In case of centrally-sponsored schemes, expenses from the state share should be incurred only after the receipt of the Central share, the order added. 

Chandigarh, March 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the quantum of professional income in tax returns reflects an advocate’s standing in the profession. The ruling came as the High Court upheld income criteria prescribed by the Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-cum-Selection Committee for appointment to the posts of president in District Consumer Disputes Redressal Fora.

An advocate, Satish Kumar Sangwan, had filed a petition for quashing the criteria on the ground that it was illegal, irrational and without nexus with the object sought to be achieved. His counsel Sukhvinder Singh Nara argued that on January 20, seven posts of president in different District Consumer Disputes Redressal Fora were advertised.

The advertisement stated that the selection committees had decided that “only those candidates shall be considered who have filed their income tax returns showing their professional income not less than Rs 5 lakh per annum and are income tax payee for at least three years”. Nara asserted that the selection committee had no jurisdiction to prescribed income criteria as no rules in this regard had been framed by the state legislature.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Augustine George Masih asserted: “Such a criterion cannot be termed as irrational. The reflection of the professional income and the criteria laying down the same would be a reasonable way of assessing the sufficiency or otherwise of the practice of the candidates to be called for interview.

“Income from profession ensures and gives a clear indication of the volume of practice of an advocate. Merely being an advocate for several years without active and adequate practice will indicate the suitability or otherwise of a candidate to be considered for appointment, where judicial functions have to be performed.

“Legal knowledge and experience as a practitioner of law are absolutely necessary for being selected to the post of president. Although the quantum of income need not necessarily always reflect the calibre and capacity of a practising advocate, there can be no doubt that generally, it reflects and indicates a reasonable amount of practice as an advocate.

“Thus, income from profession is linked to practice and practice is linked to knowledge and experience, which is a good indicator of calibre and capacity of a practising advocate who aspires to be the president of a District Fora. There is, thus, a clear rationale and reasonable nexus between criteria of income prescribed by the Selection Committee with the object sought to be achieved, i.e., the selection of best candidates.”

Sirsa, March 19
A married Dalit woman was allegedly raped when she had gone to the fields to fetch fodder for cattle at Khairekan village of the district.

The police booked the accused Hans Raj under Sections 376 of the IPC and under the provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The police said after receiving the complaint, the woman was taken to hospital for medical examination and a case of rape was registered. —TNS