Govt intimidating voters to win Assembly byelections in Himachal: Jai Ram Thakur

Shimla, July 9

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today accused the state government of misusing power to intimidate employees and voters to win the three Assembly bypolls in Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh.

“We are seeing for the past few days that the state government is intimidating people to win the byelections. BJP leaders and supporters are being threatened,” he alleged. He said some people, reportedly CID personnel in civvies, were following BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh, which was very wrong.

Thakur urged the Election Commission to take note of the alleged attempts made by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the government to influence the voters. “The Election Commission should not remain a mute spectator and ensure free and fair byelections in the three Assembly segments,” he added.

Thakur said that the Congress had tried to create fear among people to win the byelections by hook or crook. “Where is the need kfor such a behaviour as Himachal is ‘Dev Bhoomi’ where no incident of poll violence has ever happened in the past,” he claimed.

He said that the results of the Lok Sabha elections had shaken the Congress as even the Chief Minister and most of the Cabinet ministers could not secure a lead for the party candidates in their Assembly segments. “The situation in Dehra is particularly bad from where the Chief Minister’s wife is the Congress candidate. The Chief Minister is giving people all kinds of allurements to win their support,” he alleged.

He claimed that if fair and impartial elections were held, the BJP would win all three Assembly constituencies.