Election campaign comes to an end
Tribune News Service
Ellenabad, October 27
The heat and dust of campaigning settled in the Ellenabad Assembly constituency, with the canvassing coming to an end at 6 pm today.
The electorate is set to cast vote on October 30 to elect their representative in the byelection necessitated due to the resignation of the INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala.
While Chautala re-entered the fray, the BJP’s Gobind Kanda and the Congress’s Pawan Beniwal are among 19 candidates in the poll battle. Abhay Chautala, who was the lone MLA of the INLD in the Assembly, had tendered his resignation on January 27 in support of the farmers’ demand for the withdrawal of the three farm laws.
The farmers’ agitation is stated to be the biggest factor in this bypoll. Caste equations and factors like the shortage of irrigation facilities in about 20 villages in the Nathusari Chopta region, besides the issue of waterlogging in certain segments are also at play in the bypoll.
Interestingly, the BJP’s ally in the government, the Jannayak Janata Party, led by Ajay Singh Chautala and his son Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, have taken potshots at the INLD candidate Abhay Singh Chautala during the campaigning while holding him responsible for the decline of the INLD.
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Anish Yadav said today asked all political parties and candidates to follow the election model code of conduct and not to hold any procession, rally, roadshow after 6 pm on Wednesday.
He said the political leaders and workers who had come to Ellenabad from outside the Assembly constituency, and were registered as voters of the constituency, could not be present in the constituency, asking them to immediately leave the segment as per the directions of the Election Commission.
“The presence of outsiders could undermine the environment to conduct free and fair elections. If any outsiders are found indulging in campaigning, action will be taken against them as per rules,” he said.
