Avtar Henry unlikely to contest polls

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 6

In all probability, it has now become quite unlikely for former Congress minister Avtar Henry to contest for the forthcoming Assembly elections from his Jalandhar North constituency.

Having lost his voting rights since a case of violation of 125A of the Representation of Peoples Act against him by the son of his first wife Gurjeet Sanghera, he does not currently have the mandatory vote to contest the elections.

Tomorrow is the last date for anyone in Punjab to fill the form 6 of Election Commission of India to get the vote made ahead of the elections. Since Henry’s case is still pending and the next date in the court is on October 17, he will not be able to apply for getting the vote made afresh and hence will not be able to contest.

Election Tehsildar Raj Kumar Tangri confirmed the same, “For anyone to get the voting right ahead of the elections, tomorrow is the last date to apply. The scrutiny work will be done in a month and the final voter list will be printed by January 2. Since Henry’s case is still pending, he cannot come to us without getting it absolved. Without a vote, he will not be able to contest”.

Even though he is without a vote, Henry has applied for his candidature with the party to contest for the seventh time. He has earlier contested the elections in 1986, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012. Henry has been moving at all party events, including a Congress Express programme held in Jalandhar North yesterday.

All the hoardings and publicity material that he has been using have a picture of his son Bawa Henry. Bawa has been attending all events with him and even addressing the gatherings. He too has applied for a party ticket pre-empting the legal issues.

On the junior Henry has his take, “It will be dad who will contest elections. He will soon get absolved in the court case. We will also be able to get the vote made for him moving a special case for him even as the last date for applying lapses.”