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Friday, Jan 21, 2005

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Over 1 crore to cast vote in Haryana Assembly polls

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, JAN 20: As many as 1,27,35,067 electors including 69,03,254 males and 58,31,813 females would cast their vote for the Assembly Elections in Haryana, the polling for which is scheduled to be held on February 3. Mewla Maharajpur constituency has a maximum of 3,36,587 electors and this constituency also has the highest number of 1,86,341 male and 1,50,246 female electors. Ambala Cantt constituency has the lowest number of 85,131 electors. It also has the minimum number of 44,731 male and 40,400 female electors. The total number of electors in the state include 77,090 service electors including 50,112 males and 26,978 females. Salhawas Assembly Constituency has a maximum number of 3,535 service electors including 2,258 males and 1,277 females, followed by Dadri which has 3,357 service electors, Badhra 3,180 service electors and Bawal (SC) having 3,136 service electors. Ratia (SC) Assembly Constituency has the lowest number of 84 service electors including 60 males and 24 females.

Claiming that people in Haryana were fed up of both INLD Government in the state and UPA at the centre due to "misrule" and "steep hike in prices of essential goods", BJP today said they were looking towards the party to provide an alternative. Stating this while releasing the party's final list of 10 candidates for the Assembly polls, BJP general secretary Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan claimed the saffron party would emerge as a "better alternative and form the next government in Haryana by obtaining absolute majority on its own". The Congress on Wednesday presented a united face in Haryana ahead of Assembly elections with the party candidates calling on their chief Sonia Gandhi to seek her blessings in the backdrop of severe factional feud and row over distribution of tickets. HPCC chief Bhajan Lal and senior leader Birender Singh, chief ministerial aspirants, as also BCCI chief Randhir Singh Mahindra and several former PCC chiefs and ministers met Gandhi individually in the exercise which lasted for nearly 90 minutes.

The Congress, buoyed by its spectacular performance in the state in the Lok Sabha elections in which it won nine out of 10 seats, is contesting all the 90 Assembly seats. Bhajan Lal, emerging out of the meeting at 10 Janpath, sidestepped questions on the leadership issue, maintaining that the next chief minister would be elected by newly elected party MLAs with the "blessings" of the high command.

The AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi, in-charge of Haryana, disputed suggestions that the exercise was an attempt to make a show of unity and expressed confidence that party rebels in the fray would withdraw their candidature by Thursday.

Mahendra, who defeated Union Minister Sharad Pawar in the BCCI polls, dismissed queries that his nomination in the Assembly elections was a pointer to the Congress backing him in the polls for the Cricket body. Denying that the BCCI issue cropped up during his brief meeting with Gandhi, he said, "it was just a meeting between a party worker and his leader."

Mahendra and his brother Surender Singh, sons of former Union Minister Bansi Lal, who merged his Haryana Vikas Party in Congress recently, met Gandhi so also Chandra Mohan, son of Bhajan Lal. Dwivedi said Gandhi would campaign in Haryana, but the dates for it have not yet been finalised. The party's manifesto for the elections is likely to be released on January 22 in Chandigarh and the campaigning will start thereafter.

There had been demonstrations in front of Gandhi's residence and adjacent AICC headquarters in the last few days by Haryana leaders who were denied tickets. There were charges over the issue as the Haryana list contains close relatives of some senior leaders.

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