NEW DELHI, January 29 (Doaba News Service)- Punjab and Uttarakhand will vote on Monday to elect new assemblies with the Congress hoping to oust the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine in the country's grain bowl and the BJP in the hill state.
According to the Election Commission, 1.76 crore voters are eligible to vote in the 117 constituencies of Punjab in the second round of five-state elections that began on Saturday. The voter population is around 6.3 million in Uttarakhand, which has a 70-member house.
In Punjab, the Congress led by former chief minister Amarinder Singh has levelled major charges of corruption against the government of Parkash Singh Badal. Most seats in Punjab will see a triangular contest between the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, the Congress and the Sanjha Morcha, which includes the Left and People's Party of Punjab (PPP) led by Manpreet Badal, a nephew of the chief minister who broke away from the Akali Dal.
The main contestants include Badal (Lambi), Amarinder Singh (Patiala city), Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal (Jalalabad) and Amarinder's son Raninder Singh (Samana). Congress leader and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has been fielded from Lehra.
Two former officials, D.S. Guru, who was principal secretary to the chief minister, and P.S. Gill, a former director general of police, are contesting from Bhadaur and Moga respectively.
In Uttarakhand, Chief minister B.C. Khanduri, who replaced Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank last year after corruption allegations ... Read Full Story
Chandigarh, January 28 (Doaba News Service)- Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal earns Rs 4.58 crore a year and makes the maximum money among all candidates in the election fray. Following him at second position is his father and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, with income of Rs 2 crore.
These facts were made public by the Punjab Election Watch, an NGO, which studied the Income Tax returns of the candidates and released its analysis of 408 candidates belonging to major political parties in the fray.
The father-son duo is followed by Congress candidate Rana Gurjit Singh with an annual income of Rs 1.59 crore, Kewal Singh Dhillon (Congress) at Rs 1.53 crore and Deep Malhotra (SAD) at Rs 1.10 crore, as per their latest Income Tax returns.
As many as 92 candidates (23 per cent), of the 408 candidates analysed by the Punjab Election Watch, have declared that they had never filed IT returns. The party-wise percentage is: Congress, 15 candidates (13 per cent); SAD, 11 candidates (12 per cent); PPP, 20 candidates (22 per cent); BSP, 27 candidates (44 per cent) and the BJP, one candidate (5 per cent).
Top three candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed IT returns are Karan Kaur of the Congress who is contesting from Muktsar. She has assets worth Rs 128 crore, followed by Ramanjit Singh Sikki of the Congress (Khadoor Sahib candidate) and Gurpartap Singh Wadala of the SAD (Nakodar candidate) having assets worth Rs 20.12 crore and Rs 13.71 crore, respectively.
As many as 47 candidates (12 per cent) ... Read Full Story
New Delhi, January 28 (DNS) The campaigning in Uttarakhand and Punjab for the Assembly elections slated for January 30, ends on Saturday.
In Uttarakhand 800 candidates are in the fray for 70-member Assembly seats, while as 1880 aspirants are in the fray for 117-member Assembly seats in Punjab.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polls in both the states slated on January 30.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari will address rallies in Pathankot and Chandigarh while his colleague, MP Shatrugan Sinha is scheduled to campaign in Ludhiana on Saturday.
Amarinder Singh's Congress, the Parkash Singh Badal-headed SAD-BJP combine and the Chief Minister's nephew Manpreet Singh Badal have come out as strong contenders over weeks of campaigning.
Meanwhile in Uttarakhand, Congress veteran ND Tiwari on Wednesday jumped into the race of chief ministerial post in the event of his party returning to power.
Earlier on January 25, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN said that the use of black money during the Assembly elections was a major cause for concern and the EC was trying its best to deal with it.
Across the five states getting ready for the Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, nearly Rs 45 crore of illegal money has been seized so far. Out of that, nearly Rs 30 crore has been seized from Punjab only.
Sources in the Election Commission said that money is just the tip of the iceberg to buy votes in ... Read Full Story
Chandigarh, January 5 (DNS)- The process for elections to the 117-member Punjab Assembly commenced today with Governor Shivraj Patil formally issuing notification for the polling to take place on January 30.
The nominations will close on January 12, scrutiny will take place on January 13 and the withdrawals would end on January 16, an official spokesman said here today.
As per the draft electoral rolls, the total number of voters is around 1.74 crore for whom 19,724 polling stations would be set up. The polling would take place from 8 AM to 5 PM.
The counting of votes would take place on March 4 after the completion of the election process in remaining four states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. The term of the present House ends on March 14, 2012.
In the 2007, general elections 76 per cent of the 1.67 crore voters had sealed the fate of 1,043 candidates against 65 per cent of the 1.58 core voters sealing the fate of 923 candidates in the 2002 elections.
The security deposit of 798 candidates was forfeited in the 2007 polls which returned the SAD-BJP alliance to power with SAD winning 49, BJP 19, Congress 44 and remaining five seats going to the Independents.
Earlier in the 2002 polls, the Congress had returned to power winning 62 seats. SAD won 41 seats, its alliance partner BJP three, CPI two and Independents won nine seats. The security of 655 candidates was forfeited in these polls.
Of the major contestants, the SAD had got a vote share of 37.09 per cent in 2007 as against 31.08 per ... Read Full Story
ਚੰਡੀਗੜ੍ਹ/ਦੇਹਰਾਦੂਨ, 30 ਜਨਵਰੀ (ਦੋਆਬਾ ਨਿਊਜ਼ ਸਰਵਿਸ)-ਪੰਜਾਬ ਅਤੇ ਉਤਰਾਖੰਡ ਵਿਧਾਨ ਸਭਾ ਚੋਣਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਕ੍ਰਮਵਾਰ ਅਤੇ ਫ਼ੀਸਦੀ ਵੋਟਿੰਗ ਹੋਈ। ਦੋਹਾਂ ਰਾਜਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਵੋਟਰਾਂ ਨੇ 1866 ਉਮੀਦਵਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਕਿਸਮਤ ਦਾ ਫੈਸਲਾ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ, ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦੀ ਕੁਰਸੀ ਦੇ ਦਾਅਵੇਦਾਰ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ, ਕੈਪਟਨ ਅਮਰਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਅਤੇ ਭੁਵਨ ਚੰਦਰ ਖੰਡੂਰੀ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਹਨ। ਸਵੇਰੇ ਸਰਦੀ ਹੋਣ ਦੇ ਕਾਰਨ ਦੋਹਾਂ ਹੀ ਰਾਜਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੋਟਿੰਗ ਦੀ ਰਫ਼ਤਾਰ ਮੱਧਮ ਰਹੀ, ਪ੍ਰੰਤੂ ਦਿਨ ਚੜ੍ਹਨ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਲੋਕ ਘਰਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਨਿਕਲਣ ਲੱਗੇ।
ਫਿਰੋਜ਼ਪੁਰ ’ਚ ਅਕਾਲੀ-ਕਾਂਗਰਸ ਦੇ ਸਮਰਥਕਾਂ ਵਿਚਕਾਰ ਝਗੜੇ ’ਚ ਇੱਕ ਮੌਤ ਹੋਣ ਦੀ ਖ਼ਬਰ ਮਿਲੀ ਹੈ। ਲੁਧਿਆਣਾ, ਅਬੋਹਰ ਅਤੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਾਪਰੀਆਂ ਹਿੰਸਕ ਘਟਨਾਵਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡ ਕੇ ...
