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Go ahead with March 11 Beas poll, says SC
New Delhi, February 23 The apex court restored the EC order fixing March 11 for polling in Beas constituency which was deferred, according to Commission’s counsel K.K. Venugopal, due to the violence triggered by the kidnapping of a woman Congress activist, death of a person and the tense situation. Prima facie, accepting Venugopal’s contention that the EC has “sole discretion” to fix the date of election under the Constitution and no other authority, not even the court has the power to interfere, a Bench of Chief Justice K.B. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran, in an interim order, stayed the High Court’s direction while issuing a notice to the Punjab Government seeking its reply. The notice was also issued to Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Dimpa, who had filed a petition on behalf of his party in the High Court. EC counsel Venugopal in a swift move, filed an appeal in the apex court against the order in which, he said, a deadline of February 26 has been fixed for the poll.Congress party’s counsel A.M. Singhvi insisted that the polling in Beas be held before the declaration of the result. If it was not possible due to some reasons then it be held on March 3 and till then the counting of votes be deferred. The court refused to entertain any such plea. Singhvi said each seat in Punjab was crucial for the party in view of the closely fought electoral battle between his party and the SAD-BJP combine, therefore, the High Court order should not be interfered with. He also contended that the courts have powers of judicial review of EC orders. The main question raised by the EC was if the courts could interfere in election arrangement related matters, including fixing of the polling date.
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Valtoha sealed, polling today Valtoha, February 23 The polling had to be postponed due to the death of CPI candidate Kulwinder Singh in an accident. The CPI has now fielded his widow Bibi Kiranjit Kaur. Though there is a direct fight between Gurchet Singh Bhullar seeking re-election on the Congress ticket and Virsa Singh Valtoha of the SAD, three other candidates- Mr Swaran Singh of the BSP and Mr Harchand Singh, an Independent, are also in the fray. “The orders are clear that no outsider will be allowed to stay in the constituency till the completion of the polling,” said Mr Manmohan Singh, SP (Headquarter). As many as eight companies of the PAP Commandos, apart from 1,500 police personnel had been
deputed to ensure a free and fair election. As per the official record, out of 111 polling stations, as many as 87 are sensitive. As many as 37 polling stations have been identified as “very sensitive.” Poll observer Srikant Patil personally monitored the poll arrangements. The total number of voters is 1,18,788. As many as 57,537 are women. The district police has already booked Mr Tarlok Singh Chakwalia, who contested the Assembly election last time unsuccessfully, and the Congress sarpanch of Bhai Ladhu on charges of intimidation. As many as 46 persons have been booked under the Arms Act. |
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