Info that may come in handy for you

Polling hours: 7 am to 6 pm

What you need to carry to the polling booth (any one of these)

• Voter ID card
• Voter slip
• Identify proofs such as passport, driving licence

Model polling booths in city and facilities available

• Live telecast: All polling stations in the city will be equipped with two cameras each, one inside and the other outside the booth, to telecast live images on official portals
• e-poll monitoring system: Residents can get information about the polling percentage throughout the day by logging on to the official website -- ceochandigarh.ni.in
• Pick-and-drop facility: Senior citizens will get the pick-and-drop facility free of cost in case they have nobody at home to take them to the polling station. They need to call the helpline numbers of the Election Department.
• Wheelchairs: The physically challenged will have to call on the helpline numbers in advance and ask for wheelchairs at polling booths, which will be privided as per the demand
• Volunteers: NSS volunteers will be available at all polling stations to assist voters
• Waiting rooms for senior citizens: In case there are long queues, senior citizens will get the waiting room facility
• Signage: Signage will be displayed at all polling stations to guide voters

Chandigarh, April 9
Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal has topped the chart of expenditure incurred on the election campaign in the city for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. According to the records submitted by the Congress, Bansal spent Rs 26.65 lakh on the campaign.

Of the 17 candidates in the fray, 14 candidates have declared their expenditure on the campaign.

Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gulkirat Kaur Panag has spent Rs 18.86 lakh in the campaign, including the road show that cost her Rs 50,000 only. BJP candidate Kirron Kher spent Rs 18.64 lakh on the, including Rs 4 lakh spent on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally in Chandigarh.

The national parties have spent a major part of the money on printing election-related material, including pamphlets and banners. A large amount has also been spent on petrol and hiring vehicles.

Independent candidates managed their campaign by spending less than Rs 1 lakh.

Deepak Shukla, an Independent candidate who preferred to walk across the city to woo the voters, spent only Rs 6,650 on the campaign apart from Rs 25,000 as security for contesting the poll.

Similarly, Dharmender Singh, contesting from the Bahujan Mukti Party, spent Rs 14,979 on the campaign, besides the security amount.

The vend being sealed after checking the stock

Chandigarh, April 9
Waking up from slumber, the UT Excise Department today conducted surprise checks at the “erring” liquor vends to track down the coded slips and currency notes of similar series allegedly used by political parties to distribute liquor free of cost among voters.

Though officials failed to get hold of the coded slips, major discrepancies in the stocks of liquor at the vends came to light. Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer RC Bhalla said all four vends in Sectors 19, 27 and 34, and Colony No. 4 had been challaned under the Punjab Excise Act, 1914.

The officials began the raids at 10 am at the vends, including those in Sectors 34 and 27, Mani Majra and Colony No. 4. They reopened the liquor vends, which had been sealed at 6 pm yesterday due to the Lok Sabha elections, to check the stocks and discrepancies, if any. The stock was found short as compared to the other days. The officials, however, failed to find the coded slips and currency notes allegedly used for the distribution of liquor as the evidence was reportedly destroyed after the distribution of the stock.

"Officials of the Excise Department are on the job. Once they submit their report, action will be taken against the owners of the vends concerned. The officials have been asked to submit their report by Friday," said Anil Kumar, Home Secretary, UT.

Chandigarh, April 9
On the eve of the Lok Sabha elections, candidates for the last time appealed to voters for their support. While Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal sought votes for being “accessible”, BJP’s Kirron Kher and AAP’s Gulkirat Kaur Panag appealed to voters to vote for change and for better development. Meanwhile, BSP’s Jannat Jahan sought votes for being clean, honest and hardworking.

Mohali, April 9
The Mohali district authorities have involved cricketers of Kings XI Punjab, to create awareness about the right to vote during the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held on April 30.

The players, who had come to the PCA Stadium here today for practice sessions, participated in a signature campaign launched by the Deputy Commissioner.

The players who took part in the signature campaign were Virender Sehwag, Murali Kartik, L Balaji, Shiv Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mandeep Singh and others. By participating in the signature campaign, they sent a message to the voters to exercise their franchise.

Parveen Kumar Thind, additional electoral officer-cum- additional deputy commissioner, said the awareness created through the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme will bring good results.

Mohali, April 9
This election campaign is special, indeed. Rehat (6) is seeking vote and support for her grandfather Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, SAD candidate from the Anandpur Sahib constituency.

With support pouring in from a number of residents, the child's efforts seem to have paid off. Rehat accompanies Chandumajra on campaigns. She has been addressing residents at various places in the town.

Chandumajra said Rehat does not know much about politics but that does not matter to her. "She enjoys meeting people and has learnt the art to convince them," said Chandumajra, adding that she had entered politics.

Rehat is a student of Class I at Yadavindra Public School.

Chandigarh, April 9
As many as 25 senior citizens and physically challenged residents today lodged their request with the UT Election Commission for wheelchairs and pick-and-drop facility to reach at polling stations to cast their vote for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled tomorrow.

As per records of the UT Election Department, there are about 10 per cent voters who fall under the category of senior citizens.

Officials of the Election Department said that they had received calls from urban voters about the wheelchair facilities while there was not much demand for these from the villages and colonies.

Sanjay, a resident of Dadu Majra, who is afflicted with paralysis on the left side of his body, said that he was clueless about the wheelchair and pick-and-drop facilities being provided at the polling stations. Even though the Election Department officials turned up at his place to give him the election slip yet nobody told him about any such facility.

An official said that through the helpline number, residents could inform the officials about the timing of their visit to the polling station so that the department could make the wheelchairs available before their arrival at the booth.

UT Joint Chief Electoral Officer Tilak Raj said the helpline was working round-the-clock for lodging the requirement for wheelchair and pick-and-drop facilities to the residents. He said that these facilities would be open to the voters tomorrow. He further said they should inform about their requirement an hour before they needed them so that the arrangements could be made before their arrival.

He said that the Election Department had tied up with Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, and Government Medical College, Sector 32, for assistance if they needed more wheelchairs. The UT Election Department has set up a helpline for the physically challenged and senior citizens who due to their health reasons or physical disability are unable to vote.

Chandigarh, April 9
The great north-south divide in the city is not only restricted to infrastructure, even political parties have followed the divide while wooing voters during campaigns that ended last evening.

Guided by the voters strength, the four major political parties during their month-long campaign focused more on the colonies, villages and urban areas in the southern and eastern parts of the city.

Analysis of the public programme conducted by the four major contestants —the Congress, BJP, AAP and BSP clearly indicate that their visits to the elite areas were restricted to road shows and few padyatras. Incidentally, the voters in low-density areas like Sectors 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11 were never contacted by any of the political party.

On the other hand, the parties concentrated on areas like Mani Majra, Mauli Jagran, Hallo Majra, Colony No, 4 and different rehabilitation colonies.

Justifying their strategy, insiders in the parties point out that in Sectors 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10, the number of voters are 1,249, 5,305, 3,332, 1,719 and 1,332, respectively, dissuaded the candidates from concentrating there.

On the contrary, area like Kajehri village, Maloya colony, Dhanas, and ManiMajra have 14,034, 11,408, 28,721 and 48,103, respectively.

Political analysts reveal that the colonies and villages in the periphery of the city account for 57 per cent of the total votes.

Not only the local party leaders and candidates, even Bollywood and political figures who came from outside the city to campaign for their candidate focused on the southern sectors.

Panchkula, April 9
As Panchkula goes to polls tomorrow, voters are all set to choose their MP from the Ambala constituency.

Of the total 375 polling booths in the district, 180 have been set up in Panchkula and 195 in Kalka.

Polling will start at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. A total of 3, 50,258 voters from Panchkula and Kalka legislative constituencies would cast their vote. There are 194,080 voters in Kalka and 1,56,178 in Panchkula. In Kalka and Panchkula, there are 72,522 and 90,623 voters, respectively.

Fourteen candidates are in the fray. The four main candidates are -- Congress candidate Raj Kumar Balmiki, Indian National Lok Dal candidate Kusum Sherwal, BJP candidate Rattan Lal Kataria from BJP and AAP candidate SP Singh.

Food for thought: Election officials give money to Home Guards volunteers and students of Government College for having food at Sector 14 in Panchkula on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Nitin Mittal

Duty Magistrates have been appointed to check untoward incidents. Security has been stepped up. Police personnel from Gujarat Border Wing (176 officials) will be deployed at sensitive areas.

Police Commissioner Ajay Singhal said 50 nakas would be set up in the district tomorrow. As many as 1,200 police personnel would be deployed in Panchkula and Kalka.

Around 54 criminals, who were out on parole, have been taken into custody. In the Panchkula-Ambala Commissionerate, 4,403 were seized.

The police said they they seized four pistols, nine countrymade pistols, three knives and 45 cartridges. They also seized 9,973 bottles of liquor.

Panchkula, April 9
Poor Internet connectivity in remote areas of the district may hamper web casting at 51 polling booths of Kalka and Panchkula segments of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat.

The Haryana election department had introduced web-casting at 1,000 polling booths. In Ambala, 100 booths were selected and out of them 51 were set up in Panchkula district (30 in Kalka and 21 in Panchkula segments). "For the first time, the state election department has introduced web-casting for the convenience of people who can watch the polling process on its official website (www.ceoharyana.nic.in)," the chief electoral officer hadstated.

Sources in the department said remote areas had poor connectivity.

Manju Aggarwal, in charge of the web-casting team, said web-casting had been introduced in polling booths set up in urban areas only.

Panchkula, April 9
As all parties are focusing on rural areas, the urban population says it has not even seen the faces of candidates.

"They didn't even bother to visit us," said Vikas Verma, a resident of Mansa Devi Complex (MDC), Sector 5, Panchkula.

Prabhu Sharma, a resident of Sector 6, said, "Not even a single candidate came to our sector."

He stated: "I have just seen banners. All candidates are based in Panchkula, still we have not seen them."

Vishal Singh, a resident of Sector 15, said: "Hoardings convey nothing."

Areas such as Bir Ghaggar, Kharag Mangoli, Rajiv Colony, Indira Colony, Budanpur, Devinagar and Kalka have more than two lakh voters.

Raj Kumar Balmiki, Congress candidate, said: "We have covered all areas."

Vikas Paul, BJP's spokesperson, said: "In urban areas, it is difficult to go door to door. We were given only 25 days to campaign."

"There are more than 100 societies in Mansa Devi Complex and Sector 20 of Panchkula. Our volunteers visited the areas,"said Anand Prakash, senior AAP leader.

Panchkula, April 9
The Kalka Assembly segment has the lowest number of voters even though records of the chief electoral officer (CEO), Haryana, and the district election officer (DEO), Panchkula, differ.

The records of CEO Shrikant Walgad show that 1,56,328 voters in Kalka segment (83,761 men and 72,567 women) will exercise their franchise. However, the total number of voters in the segment is 1,56, 178 (83,656 men and 72, 522 women) in the DEO's record.

Similarly in Panchkula segment, the CEO's record shows 1,94,392 voters while there are 1,94,080 (1,03,457 men and 90,623 women) voters as per DEO's record.

In Kalka, the first timers (3,653 voters aged between 18 and 19) will outnumber oldies (33,551 voters who are 80 plus) while in Panchkula segment 4,135 first timers and 3,297 elderly persons will cast their vote tomorrow.

The Ambala Lok Sabha constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, covers Panchkula and Ambala and part of Yamunanagar districts. The constituency covers 10 segments, including Kalka, Panchkula, Naraingarh, Ambala Cantonment, Ambala City, Mullana (SC), Sadhaura (SC), Jagadhari and Yamunanagar.

With the highest number (2,25,199) of voters in Ambala City, the constituency has 1,69,22,27 in all out of which 9,09,708 are men and 7,82,519 are women, claims the CEO.

Apart from this, Naraingarh has 1,68,353 voters, Ambala Cantonment 1,70,991, Mullana 1,92,065, Sadhuara 1,93,986, Jagadhari 1,93,286 and Yamunanagar 1,97,627 voters.

Panchkula, April 9
Fake voters will play a major role tomorrow. Reason: The district administration has not bothered to cancel votes made on addresses that do not exist in Mansa Devi Complex at Sector 4.

Despite bringing the matter to the notice of the authorities, nothing has been done. The issue was published in these columns two days ago.

As per list, Sant Prakash and Satinder Pal reside in house number 157(K) while the address given by Raman Chopra is house number 153. The addresses are wrong.

Around 22 votes have been made on an address in Sector 17. Later, it was found that only two persons stay there.

Davinder Mahajan, president, Resident Welfare association, MDC, Sector 4, said: "An FIR should be lodged against such people. The administration should cancel all fake votes."

The residents alleged that the authorities did not verify facts.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Gurmeet Singh said: "The complaint was filed with booth-level officers. We will keep a check on such voters tomorrow."

A few residents, who could not find their names on the voter list, raised a hue and cry this evening. They said election campaigns were eyewash and the ground reality was different.

Mahender Kumar Bhardwaj, a resident of Sector 6, said his wife and daughter had filled in Form 6 twice but when they asked officials concerned about their voter cards, they were told that their forms had been misplaced.

"Why should we face a tough time getting our voter cards made? In September, we submitted all documents to the booth-level officer. When we enquired about our votes, he said he could not find the papers. Each time, we get the same reply," said Bhardwaj's daughter Nidhi Bhawani. A complaint has been forwarded to the Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana.

Mohali, April 9
To ensure a good turnout in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 30, the authorities are roping in cinema houses, radio stations and industrial houses. They are even distributing T-shirts among residents exhorting them to exercise their franchise.

To promote voting, two-minute video clips are being screened at PVR cinemas near Kharar. The clips have been video-graphed at different places. Students, lawyers, sanitation workers, singers, doctors and housewives are shown expressing their views. These will be shown to moviegoers till April 30.

Sources said the district administration had tied up with 92.7 Red FM, which has 26 lakh listeners, to create awareness about the voting right. The campaign, which will start tomorrow, will involve 10 radio jockeys who will visit different parts of the district, meet people and hold events. They will also distribute gifts among winners.

Parveen Kumar Thind, Additional District Electoral Officer-cum-Additional Deputy Commissioner, said chopper would be hired to distribute poll-related pamphlets. In Mohali district, 20,000 such pamphlets will be distributed.

He said T-shirts with 'Vote on April 30' written on them were being given to auto-rickshaw operators and safai sewaks. As many as 3,000 such T-shirts will be given under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign.

Thind said industrial houses such as Philips, Mahindra & Mahindra, Vodafone, Ranbaxy and Godrej had been approached for election awareness purposes. Their workforce had been addressed by officials concerned encouraging them to actively participate in the poll.

Chandigarh, April 9
The Chandigarh consumer courts will now again start entertaining mobile phone service and billing disputes.

In what may be termed as a sigh of relief to hundreds of mobile phone subscribers across the city, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which governs the consumer courts, has in a communiqué to the courts and state governments, clarified that the consumer fora were competent to entertain consumer disputes involving telecom service providers and consumers.

Earlier, the consumer courts had stopped entertaining disputes relating to billing and services provided by mobile companies following a National Commission order in year 2010.

With this, the aggrieved subscribers, who were left with a little remedy in case of billing disputes, will again be able to approach the consumer court against the deficiencies and malpractices of the mobile service providers, said advocate Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Bar Association of Chandigarh Consumer Forum.

Mohali, April 9
A general body meeting of the Punjab Government Pensioners Association will be held at the Rose Garden in Phase 3B-1 at 11 am on April 10. This was decided at the meeting of the executive of the association.

General Secretary of the association Mohan Singh said the meeting has been convened to discuss the future strategy for issues of delay in payment of third installment of arrears, non-release of DA installment announced and other unmet demands of the pensioners. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 9
The departments of Medicine and Microbiology, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, will organise the 4th Biennial National Conference of gastrointestinal infection society of India- ‘Gisicon 2014’ on April 11 and 12 at the college auditorium.

Professionals from the field of Gastroenterology, Medicine and Microbiology will bring an insight into the growing complexity of the disease and the latest strategies for their successful management.

Mohali, April 9
Ten budding engineers of Rayat and Bahra Institute of Engineering and Biotechnology are all smiles as an 'all-terrain vehicle ' (off-road) designed and fabricated by them has been selected to compete in "Baja SAE Race Event" at Texas, USA.

As many as 100 teams will be taking part in the race, which is scheduled to be held from April 24 to 27 at El Paso, Texas. A total of seven teams have been selected from India.

While unveiling the vehicle, the Rayat and Bahra Group chairman Gurvinder Singh Bahra, said the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) was organising the competition on the grounds of the University of Texas at El Paso.

The team members from the Rayat Bahra institute are Abhinav Sharma (captain), Aakaash Bose, Ankit Girdher, Paras Bhardwaj, Navdeep Dimri, Gurbir Singh Benipal, Kartik Dogra, Abhishek Choudhary, Parminder Singh and Hitesh Sharma. Dr Jujhar Singh and Ashwani Kumar are the faculty advisers.

The team captain Abhinav Sharma said, "The project, costing Rs 35 lakh, was funded by the management and students of the institute, and various industrial groups. It took us one year to develop the vehicle."

The vehicle weighed 235 kg and is powered by a 10 BHP, 305 CC Intek engine donated by Briggs & Stratton Corporation, USA. The frame of the vehicle has been made using AISI 1018 tubular steel pipes. The vehicle has hydraulic disc brakes and independent suspension.

Chandigarh, April 9
The Joint Action Committee of Teachers, UT, today asked its members to vote for the candidate of their choice.

A meeting of 31 members of the committee was held wherein it was decided that union members would be allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice.

The convener of the meeting, Bhag Singh Kairon, said the committee had appealed to the teaching community not to get be mislead by any statement and cast their vote to the candidate of their choice.

Kairon said there were around 5,500 teachers in the UT. He added that under the model code of conduct, government employees could not directly favour or disfavour any political party. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 9
A mega Canadian education fair will be held at a local hotel on April 13.

The event to be organised by Charms Education and Immigration Services (P) Ltd will see as many as 25 Canadian colleges and universities providing consultancy service to the students interested in studying aboard.

Charms Education and Immigration Services (P) Ltd. CEO Manish Paitka said new Canadian rules for students and plans to promote international education would come into effect from June 1, 2014, under which students would get right to do part-time work for 20 hours per week off campus. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 9
Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, has changed the date of entrance test for the LLB 3-year course - 2014.

PU Controller of Examinations Prof Parvinder Singh said the entrance test will now be held on June 9 instead of June 8.

Recently, the ABVP had submitted a memorandum to the PU Vice-chancellor demanding that the seeking date of the entrance test for the LLB 3-year course should be changed as it clashed with the date on which a Delhi university was holding the entrance exam.

Chandigarh, April 9
A two-day workshop on biorisk management concluded at Panjab University (PU) here today.

Dr Cecelia V Williams of Sandia National Laboratories and associated with International Biological Threat Reduction and Global Security Programs addressed the workshop. The workshop laid emphasis on protection of immediate environment and community while dealing with biological and infectious substances.

The Head of Department of Microbiology, PGI, Dr A Chakorbarty, said doctors and residents as well as PhD students should get hands on training in biorisk management.