Former councillor attacks Ind''s house

Muktsar: Angry at the defeat of his wife by 48 votes in the municipal elections from Ward No. 28 here, a former SAD councillor today allegedly attacked the house of Independent Parven Rani. The latter's husband, Mahender Chaudhary, and two others were injured. The Independent's supporters gheraoed the city police station and demanded that an FIR be registered against the accused. Muktsar DSP, The protesters alleged that SAD activist Surinder Shinda and his 12 supporters had not only attacked Mahender Chaundhary and his brother Raju, but also damaged their motorcycle. They also alleged that the Shinda had fired into the air. Acting on their complaint, the police booked Shinda, his two sons and five others. Shinda's family members claimed that they were thrashed by Mahender Chaudhary and some others. 

Defeated BJP candidates blame party

Malout: Three candidates of the BJP who lost the elections here blame the party leadership for their defeat, saying that they had no support from the party. Kiran Garg from Ward No. 4, Urmil Kamra from Ward No. 22 and Rajinder Rani from Ward No. 25 alleged though the party had given them the ticket, no senior leader had campaigned for them that resulted in their defeat. Archit Watts

Cong candidates may file petition: HC

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court today gave Congress candidates from Mandi Guruharsahai the liberty to file an election petition. They had alleged non-acceptance of nomination papers for the civic poll "in a completely illegal and arbitrary manner and in connivance with their political opponents". As the case came up for resumed hearing today, the Bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Sneh Prashar disposed of the petition as infructuous. Fifteen SAD-BJP candidates have already been declared elected unopposed from Mandi Guruharsahai. In their petition, Aneesh Kumar and other petitioners had sought directions for re-notifying the elections.

Cong's Sangrur block president resigns

Sangrur: Nathu Lal Dhingra, president, Sangrur block Congress committee, today resigned from his post following the party's defeat in the municipal council elections. He has sent his resignation to Sangrur DCC chief Mai Roop Kaur Bagrian and a copy to PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa. Of 27 wards of the Sangrur municipal council, the Congress had fielded its candidates in 26. Dhingra's wife Prabha Dhingra had contested from Ward No. 16 (reserved for women). She lost to BJP candidate Pritam Kaur with a margin of 84 votes. Dhingra said he owned the moral responsibility of  the party's defeat in 22 wards, adding that he would continue to work as a loyal party worker.

Sud's wife mayoral candidate 

Jalandhar: With the ruling alliance set to form the Municipal Corporations in Phagwara and Hoshiarpur, the race for the Mayor's post has begun. In Hoshiarpur, former minister Tikshan Sud's wife Rakesh Sud, who had won unopposed from Ward No. 7, is the likely candidate for the post. Former BJP president Shiv Sood could be the other option for the party. Since the latter is Sud's confidant, he is likely to stake his claim only on Sud's bidding. The third claimant for the post is Neeti Talwar, wife of Sanjiv Talwar, personal secretary of Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna. In Phagwara, the BJP faction led by CPS Som Parkash may hold the key again, especially since his rival former minister Swarna Ram's son Manjit Lal has lost. Som Parkash's PA, Om Parkash Bittu, who has won from Ward No. 10, is among the frontrunners for the Mayor's post.  Among the other contenders are Arun Khosla, Rohit Pathak and Balbhadan Sein Duggal. The latterbelongs to the Swarna Ram camp. 

Bickering hits parties in Fatehgarh Sahib

Fatehgarh Sahib: The SAD-BJP alliance swept the municipal polls in the state, but Independent candidates dominated the list of winners in the district. They won 36 of the 74 seats in three municipal councils and one nagar panchayat in the district. The results indicated that factionalism in the SAD-BJP as also the Congress has hit the parties hard.  Independent candidates thus dominated in all municipal councils in the district. In Mandi Gobindgarh, Independents won 11 of 25 seats. The SAD-BJP got seven, the Congress four and the PPP two seats. In Khamano nagar panchayat, the ruling alliance won just three of 13 seats while the remaining 10 were taken by Independents. In Bassi Pathana, the SAD-BJP won four and the Independents 11 seats.  In Sirhind, the SAD-BJP alliance improved its tally by winning 14 seats while the Congress and the Independents bagged four and three seats, respectively. 

(Inputs by Deepkamal Kaur, Archit Watts, Sushil Goyal and Sanjay Bumbroo)

2 die during celebrations

Moga: Two persons allegedly died of cardiac arrest while celebrating the victory of their close relative Rakesh Kala Bajaj of the SAD soon after the results of the Moga municipal corporation elections were declared on Thursday. Sources said when Bajaj came out of the counting centre, his cousin Shammi Bajaj (50) embraced him and collapsed. He was rushed to a private hospital where he died. Bajaj’s another relative Suresh Kumar Toni (35) who was celebrating the victory of Ashok Dhamija (Independent) collapsed outside a counting centre. He was rushed to a hospital. After medication, he was brought back home but within few minutes he suffered another heart attack and died.

Poor performers

Ropar: Factionalism in the Congress cost the party dear as it managed to win just two seats in the 21-member Ropar Municipal Council. Even worse is the face that seven of its candidates could not even get more than 100 votes. Congress candidate from Ward No. 7 Usha Rani got 21 votes; Sandeep Kumar (Ward No. 20) 32; Kiran Bains (Ward No. 1) 43; Sanjeev Kumar (Ward No. 3) and Neelam Sikka (Ward No. 4) 74 each; Jagdish Chand Kanjla (Ward No. 13) 61; and Navdeep Chauhan (Ward No. 15) got 72 votes. The SAD-BJP alliance got majority by winning 13 seats. While the SAD won nine seats, its alliance partner four.

Oust Tinu chorus

Jalandhar: A day after winning from three wards of the Adampur Municipal Council, the Karwal brothers, who had contested as Independents after allegedly being denied ticket by SAD MLA Pawan Tinu, on Thursday sought the latter’s resignation. The three brothers — Darshan Singh Karwal, Harjinder Singh and Ranjit Singh — who were accompanied by SGPC member Davinder Kaur Kalra and her husband Gurdial Singh Kalra also demanded that the party should remove Tinu and appoint a new constituency in charge. The brothers claimed that they would form the council with the help of seven Independents.