Ballot papers for visually impaired

Chandigarh: Visually challenged voters will be able to exercise their franchise as the Election Commission is providing 26,773 ballot papers in Punjabi Braille script. The ballot papers will be available at all polling booths. On the orders of the Chief Electoral Officer, the Institute for the Blind here is printing the papers. Institute chairman Maj Gen Rajendra Nath said they had been printing the papers since 2009. A total of 1,900 papers are being prepared for the Amritsar Lok Sabha byelection and 24,873 for the Vidhan Sabha elections. TNS

Canadian ex-MP campaigns for Cheema   

Nurpur Bedi: Former Canadian MP Ruby Dhalla addressed a rally in favour of Education Minister and SAD nominee from Ropar Daljit Singh Cheema here on Saturday. CM Parkash Singh Badal was scheduled to address the rally, but he could not reach the venue. Cheema said the SAD-BJP alliance would form the government for the record third time. Lashing out at AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Dhalla said Punjabis would never allow ‘topiwalas’ to rule Punjab. TNS

Ex-servicemen body backs Cong   

Gurdaspur: The All India Defence Brotherhood (AIDB), an organisation looking after the interests of ex-servicemen in the region, has pledged support to the Congress. Its state president, Brig Kuldip Singh Kahlon (retd), said the decision to support the Congress was taken after evaluating the performances of all political parties in the last five years. He said during the run up to the 2012 elections, some parties had promised to get exemption to ex-servicemen from toll tax barriers, but nothing had been done. “Besides, the CM had promised to set up two police stations exclusively to cater to the grievances of ex-servicemen and those still serving the armed forces. But it remained only on paper,” he said. TNS