16102024-ATR-01.qxd 10/15/2024 11:27 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune SANSKRITI KMV SCHOOL CELEBRATES FOUNDER'S DAY ROADIES, NOW IN ITS 20TH SEASON, STEPPED INTO UT There are no right or wrong answers, only thing that matters is how a contestant, expresses Rannvijay Singha. P4 MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 32°C | MIN 19°C YESTERDAY MAX 32°C | MIN 19°C THE KASAULI HILLS AWAIT PEARLS OF WISDOM Sanskriti KMV School marked its 22nd Founder’s Day by hosting its annual award ceremony. P2 FORECAST The 13th edition of the three-day Khushwant Singh Literature Festival takes off in Kasauli on Oct 18. P4 » » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.56 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6.35 AM » WEDNESDAY | 16 OCTOBER 2024 | AMRITSAR 55% votes cast by 4 pm in dist Panchayat elections: 3 injured in Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 15 About 55 per cent voting for 664 panchayats of the district took place till 4 pm on Tuesday. Barring minor incidents, the voting was completely peaceful. Though the voting time was from 8 am to 4 pm, due to the long queue of voters at many places, the election staff had to give more time to voters. Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney, confirming that nearly 55 per cent votes had been cast, stated that the actual number of votes polled for panchayat elections could be higher. She said the exact figure would be available tomorrow. A differently abled person casts his vote at Pandhori village in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR The DC inspected several villages where voting was in progress. She informed that there were a total of 856 panchayats in the district, out of which 192 villages were elected unanimously while 1,030 booths were set up for the election of 664 panchayats today. The Deputy Commissioner congratulated and thanked the voters of the district for voting peacefully for the grassroots institution of democracy. She said people cast their votes with great enthusiasm, giving evidence of collective wisdom. She said that counting had been completed in some places but was still on at many other. Several in the fray for Sarpanch’s post but fight narrows down to two main groups Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 15 Contrary to expectations of a three-cornered contest in the panchayat elections, mainly two groups have emerged in most villages of the region with differences on the basis of different political parties getting blurred. In the history of panchayat elections, most villages used to be divided into two groups. The Akali Dal and Congress led these groups for decades. With the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party on the political scene, it was expected that a triangular fight would take place. The AAP successfully constituted new groups at the village level and with the support of sitting MLAs, the contestants associated with AAP are in the fight. However, the emergence of a new group saw no previous group getting eliminated from the ground. Influential individuals, families and groups associated with the Congress and SAD still hold their own in the villages. After the announcement of elections, activists associated with political parties staked their claim to fight elections and four to five candidates are contesting for the post of Sarpanch in several villages. But in the end, difference on the basis of political parties gets diluted in most villages and the fight narrows down to two main groups, led by traditional political families. Bachan Singh of Wadala village said, “All the political parties are active in our village but the contest is between two groups. The village is reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates but one group led by an elite political family of the village is not only supporting the SC candidate but contesting on his behalf. All the rival groups of that family formed an alliance and fought against them. Political ideologies and parties got marginalised in this contest.” “The villages were divided into two groups over bloodline and personal alliance. The influential families strongly hold their ground. Yes, political parties are there but people choose one of the two rival groups, organised traditionally in the villages,” said Kuljeet Singh, a political expert. Tarn Taran village firing incident Minor skirmishes in Amritsar, stone pelting at a village in Rajasansi PK Jaiswar & Gurbaxpuri Amritsar/Tarn Taran, Oct 15 Barring a firing incident at Baba Saini Bhagat Sohal village in Tarn Taran and minor skirmishes in Amritsar, the panchyat polls largely remained peaceful till the filing of the reports on Tuesday. Three persons were injured in a clash between two groups outside a polling station at Government Elementary School at Sohal village in Tarn Taran district on Tuesday. One of the injured, identified as Manpreet Singh of the same village, was rushed to hospital where he is undergoing treatment. The incident led to halting of the election process, which was restarted after a heavy police force reached there and brought the situation under control. The clash broke out after arguments over the queue at the polling station. The two groups were headed by Tarsem Singh having the backing of several groups of the village and AAP-supported Gurdev Singh, aka Fauji. Paramjit Singh, SHO, Chabal, said the incident took place when workers of both the groups were issuing voter slips to their respective supporters at polling booths installed outside polling stations. While Manpreet Singh suffered a bullet injury in the Voters stand in a queue to cast their votes during the panchayat elections at Noshera village in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR stomach, two others, including Buta Singh, sustained injuries by a sharp-edged weapon. Manpreet Singh said the supporters of the opposite group were armed with revolvers and they fired at him taking shelter in a parked car. The SHO said the statement of the victim was being recorded and a case would be registered. Meanwhile, two groups indulged in a clash and threw bricks and stones at each other during a dispute at Bala- gan Sidhu village falling under Rajasansi constituency here. The incident led to panic among the voters who had come to cast their votes. The police had to use mild lathi-charge to scatter those involved in the clash and brought the situation under control. The polling was disrupted for some time. Besides, minor scuffles were also reported from Dode and Ramrauni village in Tarn Taran. The district administration and senior police officials remained on toes during the whole day. Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney visited many polling stations and interacted with people and polling staff. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar along with other senior police officials visited various polling stations in the district. SSPs Charanjit Singh Sohal of Amritsar Rural and Gaurav Toora of Tarn Taran also remained in the field. Voters’ views divided on choice of Cong alleges rigging EVMs & ballot papers for polling at polling booths Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 15 Amid the ongoing controversy over the authenticity of EVM machines as polling for the panchayat elections is being held through ballot papers, the opinion of voters is divided on whether ballot papers are more reliable or EVMs? While casting votes using ballot papers is more time consuming than EVMs, many villagers believe ballot papers are more secure. Paramjit Singh from Khurmania village said, “Machines can be manipulated, but no one can ever change stamps marked on ballot papers.” Though voters have the opportunity to use both methods to exercise their franchise in different elections, they are able to make comparisons well. In General Elections, they had used EVM machines and now in panchayat elections, they are casting votes with ballot papers. While casting votes using ballot papers is more time consuming than EVMs, many villagers believe ballot papers are more secure. Others like Baldev Singh from Bhittewad village argue that EVMs are more efficient. “EVM is better than ballot papers as a voter takes only one or two minutes to cast his vote,” he says. With EVMs, voters simply press a button, hear a beep, and their vote is recorded. In contrast, using ballot paper requires reviewing candidates, making choices, folding and submitting the paper, making it a more tedious process. People have to stand in queues for long,” said Baldev Singh. “I advocate the use of ballot papers for voting process in all the elections, not just panchayats. There is a section in society that always suspects that the ruling party is manipulating the results. Even in the recent Haryana assembly elections, there were voices alleging misuse of EVMs. We can count the ballot papers any time someone has doubts about counting,” said Ravinder Singh of village Mahal. Amritsar, October 15 MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla on Tuesday met Election Observer Harpreet Singh Sudan and DC Sakshi Sawhney regarding poll rigging that happened at a few places during the panchayat elections. He was accompanied by former MLA Sunil Dutti. MP Aujla filed a written complaint mentioning the names of the villages where it happened and said if action is not taken according to the law, then he will meet the Congress high command and approach the High Court. MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla said there was open rigging during the panchayat elections. In many villages, Congress supporters were thrown out of the booth, there was a fight and even gunshots were fired. “At the time of counting of votes and announcing the results in the evening, atmosphere was deliberately made tense. At places where Congress supporters were leading, they were being harassed and were not being given certificates,” he claimed. — TNS MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla talks to Election Observer Harpreet Singh Sudan in Amritsar on Tuesday. Polling for 1,279 panchayats remain peaceful in Gurdaspur Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, October 15 Contrary to popular belief that violence would rock the polling process, elections to panchayats remained peaceful much to the relief of the district administration. Police and civil administration officials had gone all out to ensure that no untoward incident takes place even as 2,000 cops kept guard at various places. Polling took place across 1,090 booths spread across 882 villages. There are a total of 1,279 panchayats out of which unanimity was reached in 397. Based on historical parameters, 77 villages were declared hypersensitive and 431 as sensitive. At stake are the reputations of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and two-time MP Partap Singh Bajwa, sitting Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and ex-Cabinet ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Aruna Choudhury. Elections to panchayats in Dera Baba Nanak Vidhan Sabha seat were viewed with particular interest as the assembly by-election to this seat is scheduled to be held on November 13. The Dera Baba Nanak Vidhan Sabha seat has 252 panchayats. Congressmen and SAD leaders have steadfastly been claiming that the administration was “unjustly” rejecting the nomination papers of candidates being supported by them. This allegation, howev- er, was vehemently denied by Deputy Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta. “Everything has been done in a transparent manner,” he said. There were rumours that at the directives of AAP leaders, duplicate ballot papers were put in circulation. This was again denied by the DC. “No such thing has happened,” he maintained. The BJP was virtually out of contention even before the first vote had been cast. The party does not have a base in rural areas c m y b of this border district following which the BJP showed little or no interest in the polls. The fight for supremacy is between the Congress, SAD and AAP . Bajwa claimed that AAP candidates were being covertly supported by officials of the state government. He had even met the DC a few days ago along with senior Congress leaders to inform the officer that the papers of Congress backed candidates were being “rejected on totally frivolous and flimsy grounds”. Nirmal Kaur (fourth from right) after winning the election for the post of Sarpanch of Kotli village in Tarn Taran on Tuesday. PHOTO BY WRITER Gurbaxpuri Tarn Taran, October 15 Except for the firing incident at Baba Sain Bhagat (Sohal) village which left two persons injured and reports of verbal duel or minor altercation at Dode, Ram Rauni and other villages, polling passed off peacefully in the district. The total turnout reached 52 per cent while polling had begun at a slow pace, registering a low turnout of 24.92 per cent till 12 noon. Though some results have been declared, most are still awaited as voting was on at most polling booths. Out of the total 569 panchayats in the district, 341 sarpanches have already been elected unopposed and polling for 228 panchayats was held on Tuesday under tight security arrangements. The voting started at 8 am but the turnout picked up gradually, from 24.92 per cent at noon to 37.57 per cent at 2 pm. Manjinder Singh Lalpura, MLA from Khadoor Sahib and Sarwan Singh Dhunn, MLA from Khemkaran, cast their votes from Lalpura and Dhunn villages, respectively. Though the deadline for voting to end was at 4 pm, at certain polling booths, the voters were still awaiting their turn. Under the set norms, the voters who enter the polling booth complex are entitled to cast their votes. Nirmal Kaur has been elected Sarpanch of Kotli village, Sujan Singh from Bodal Kiri village, Sharanjit Kaur from Gill Kaler village, Kashmir Kaur from Ghariali Dasuwal and Jaspal Singh Bhutto from Nagoke Mour village were elected as Sarpanch. Man dies after Chinese string slits throat Amritsar, October 15 Haramritpal Singh, aka Rajan (43), a railway employee and resident of Verka, lost his life after a dangling Chinese kite string slit his throat on the Verka-Batala road BRTS flyover here on Tuesday. The incident occurred on Monday morning while he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday. He was posted at the engineering block of Northern Railway here. He was going to his office on the motorcycle when a stray dangling kite string got entangled around his neck. As a result, he lost his balance, fell on the road and got critically injured. He was rushed to the hospital by passersby, but he succumbed. According to information, he was a prominent member of the National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU). On receiving information, the association members immediately reached the hospital. Mandeep Singh, a friend of the victim, said he also ran a gym in Verka. The incident has left the family and friends shocked. On the other hand, the administration has failed to check the sale of the banned synthetic string despite the occurrence of such incidents over the years. Sarabjit Singh, a lawyer and human rights activist, who was known to the victim, has demanded a murder case in the instance, besides holding a probe. — TNS
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