News Analysis India

Tag: Haryana

  • Rajya Sabha polls: EC gives go-ahead for counting of votes in Maharashtra, Haryana

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission Friday night directed Rajya Sabha election returning officers of Haryana and Maharashtra to go ahead with the counting of votes which was held up following complaints about violation of rules.

    The poll panel also directed the returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande.

    The top brass of the EC went through detailed reports submitted by the returning officers of the two states, including video footage, before giving the go-ahead for counting, officials said.

    The counting was held up in Maharashtra after the BJP alleged that three MLAs of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — Cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and Yashomati Thakur (Congress) and Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande — violated the model code for voting.

    The BJP has alleged that Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two different agents. The counting was put on hold in Haryana for identical reasons.

    The BJP and the Independent candidate backed by it have urged the Election Commission to cancel the votes of two Congress MLAs in the state.

    BJP nominee Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma shot off a missive to the EC, alleging Congress MLAs Kiran Choudhary and B B Batra showed their ballot papers to unauthorised persons after marking them and that the episodes were “duly captured” on cameras.

    The Congress has, meanwhile, approached the Election Commission accusing the BJP of trying to defeat the process of free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha in Haryana and demanded immediate declaration of results.

  • Haryana Cong MLAs reach Delhi from Raipur, to arrive in Chandigarh hours before RS polls Friday

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Congress MLAs who were lodged in a resort in Chattisgarh’s Raipur reached Delhi Thursday evening and are expected to arrive here Friday morning to cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha elections, sources said.

    The ruling BJP-JJP MLAs remained lodged at a resort here for the second day as both sides braced for a keen contest on one of the two seats going to the polls.

    #WATCH | Haryana Congress MLAs arrive in Delhi, from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/MT4jNPiox8
    — ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2022
    In a late-evening development, lone Indian National Lok Dal MLA Abhay Singh Chautala declared his support to Kartikeya Sharma, who has entered the fray as an Independent candidate backed by the BJP-JJP combine and most Independents.

    The BJP has fielded former minister Krishan Lal Panwar while Ajay Maken is the Congress nominee. The Congress had shifted its MLAs to Raipur a week ago fearing poaching of its legislators.

    Sources said they left the resort there on Thursday evening and reached Delhi. They are expected to reach Chandigarh in the morning. After reaching Chandigarh, they will have breakfast at Hooda’s residence here and proceed from there to cast their votes, sources said.

    Speaking to reporters in Delhi, senior Congress leader Vivek Bansal, who is the party’s Haryana affairs incharge, exuded confidence that Ajay Maken will win comfortably.

    Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda also said the party candidate will win comfortably.

    Senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had been in Delhi for the past few days, reached here on Thursday evening. It is learnt that both Hooda and party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi reached here in the same flight from Delhi.

    Earlier, Bishnoi, who is the MLA from Adampur in Hisar, did not go to Raipur as he was reportedly upset with the party for ignoring him in the recent reshuffle in its state unit. He had lobbied for the post of the state unit chief, which went to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan.

    Another senior leader, Kiran Choudhary, too, did not go to Raipur reportedly due to health reasons. “We have got sufficient numbers and our candidate will win comfortably with 31 votes,” Hooda had told PTI on Wednesday.

    The BJP-JJP too had shifted their MLAs to a resort in Chandigarh. They are attending a “training session” in connection with the voting process, Haryana BJP chief O P Dhankar had said.

    BJP’s senior leaders, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Dhankar, too had joined them.

    While the BJP with 40 MLAs has sufficient votes to win one seat, the contest has spiced up for the second seat with the entry of media baron Kartikeya Sharma. He is also supported by most Independents and Gopal Kanda, lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party. A candidate needs 31 votes to win the elections.

    Indian National Lok Dal MLA Abhay Singh Chautala on Thursday declared his support to Sharma after a meeting of his party.

    Replying to a question, Abhay Singh Chautala said the media baron’s brother Manu Sharma, who had helped his father in the past, approached him for support. Now, by supporting Kartikeya Sharma, he is repaying the debt, he said.

    Chautala said there is no question of supporting the Congress, “which has looted the country”. “For me, there is also no question of voting for the BJP candidate as the party pursued anti-farmer policies,” he said.

    He said if he abstains from voting, then it would mean benefitting the Congress candidate in the fray, which he can never do.

    The INLD leader also lashed out at Bhupinder Singh Hooda, saying he can go to “any extent to serve his political interests”.

    Independent MLA Balraj Kundu, who is yet to make his stand clear on whom he will support, was on Thursday evening approached by Sharma’s father and former Union minister Venod Sharma, who sought support for his son.

    Venod, who had also remained a minister in the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government, had floated his own outfit Jan Chetna Party. The media baron’s father-in-law Kuldeep Sharma is a senior Congress leader and a former speaker of the state Assembly.

    On Thursday, Balraj Kundu told reporters that he will reveal his strategy on Friday.

    Kundu took a dig at the BJP, saying its leaders used to take potshots at the Congress for lodging their legislators in a resort over fears of poaching but now they too have done the same thing. “Why the BJP and the JJP are lodging their MLAs in a resort here. One thing is clear from this that both outfits don’t have faith in their MLAs and they fear cross-voting,” he said.

    Haryana Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer for the polls R K Nandal said on Thursday the polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. The votes will be counted soon thereafter.

    The votes will be marked by a special pen provided by the Election Commission. Each MLA after casting his vote will hand over the pen to the officer deputed by the poll body, Nandal told reporters.

    Nandal said that Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer and one central observer, who is Manipur’s Chief Electoral Officer, will be present to oversee the poll process.

    In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31.

    The JJP, which is an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one each and seven are independents.

    Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana will fall vacant in August with the terms of media baron Subhash Chandra and BJP leader Dushyant Gautam expiring.

  • Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi receives death threat, FIR registered

    By PTI

    HISAR: Haryana Congress leader and legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi on Tuesday said he received a death threat on his mobile phone from an unidentified person, following which an FIR was lodged.

    The MLA from Adampur said he has been threatened that he if does not “mend his ways” he will meet the same fate as that of Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala. Moosewala was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Mansa, Punjab, on May 29.

    The threat was received through WhatsApp in the afternoon on Bishnoi’s mobile phone following which the MLA’s personal secretary lodged a police complaint. Police said an FIR has been lodged and investigation is on.

    Bishnoi, the younger son of former Haryana Chief Minister late Bhajan Lal, is currently in Delhi.

    Police said a case has been registered against unknown person at Adampur Police Station in Hisar district under the Information Technology Act and section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

  • Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing: Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi moves Punjab and Haryana High Court

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is suspected to be involved in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing, on Wednesday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

    Bishnoi approached the HC after withdrawing his plea from the Delhi High Court in which he had sought necessary safeguards as he apprehended a “fake encounter” by the Punjab Police.

    Bishnoi was lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with a case lodged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) and was on Tuesday remanded in three-day custody of the Delhi Police Special Cell after it arrested him in an Arms Act case.

    In his petition submitted through advocates Sangram Saraon and Shubpreet Kaur, Bishnoi sought directions that the jurisdictional magistrate in Mansa, Punjab, being restrained from handing over his custody to the investigating agency in Punjab.

    The petitioner sought issuance of appropriate directions for questioning him through online/video conference facility or within the precincts of Tihar Jail, New Delhi.

    The petitioner submitted that there is a serious threat to his life and a possibility that upon being produced or while being brought from custody in connection with the FIR registered by the Mansa police, he can be “put to harm or liquidated by adopting extrajudicial means”.

    Bishnoi, 35, in his petition claimed that he was being falsely implicated in connection with the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala.

    “The petitioner has been named in the FIR no-103 dated May 29, 2022, only to cover up the inadequacies in the investigation. Moreover, the petitioner is being made a scapegoat and is being erroneously held responsible,” the petition said.

    “In fact, even before the FIR was registered, the top most police official of Punjab Police had virtually declared the petitioner responsible for the gruesome murder on the basis of which FIR no 103 dates 29.05.2022 has been registered. In fact, the petitioner is lodged in Tihar Jail, New Delhi,” said the petition.

    The petitioner has been falsely and erroneously named in the FIR without any tangible evidence, based on unreliable claims made on social media platforms, it further said.

    Moreover, the petitioner does not have access to social media platforms or communication devices, said the petition.

    On May 29, Moose Wala was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district, a day after the state government curtailed his security cover.

    His cousin and a friend, who were travelling in a jeep with him, were also injured in the attack.

    Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced setting up a judicial commission headed by a sitting high court judge to probe the killing of 28-year-old Moose Wala.

    Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known as Sidhu Moose Wala, was among the 424 people whose security was withdrawn or curtailed on May 28 temporarily.

    Punjab police chief V K Bhawra had claimed that prima facie, it seemed to be an inter-gang rivalry between the Lawrence Bishnoi group and Lucky Patial group.

    Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, who is the member of the Bishnoi gang, had allegedly claimed responsibility for the murder.

  • No coercive step to be taken against BJP leader Tajinder Bagga: Punjab and Haryana HC

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court Saturday night directed that no coercive step be taken against Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga after the Delhi BJP leader sought a stay on the arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court earlier in the day.

    Justice Anoop Chitkara took up Bagga’s petition in an urgent late-night hearing at his residence.

    “No coercive steps till May 10,” said Bagga’s counsel Chetan Mittal on the high court order.

    He said that the court stayed the arrest warrant.

    The hearing took place for around 45 minutes, said Mittal.

    Earlier in the day, the court of Judicial Magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh issued the arrest warrant against Bagga in connection with a case registered last month.

    The Punjab Police had booked Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on the charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.

    The case was registered on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali.

    The FIR registered on April 1 referred to Bagga’s remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

    Bagga was booked under relevant sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place etc), 505 (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report) and 506 (criminal intimidation), of the Indian Penal Code.

    Bagga was arrested by the Punjab Police from his Delhi home on Friday, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later.

  • HC turns down plea to keep BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga in Haryana, next hearing on Saturday

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday turned down the Punjab government’s request of not giving BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s custody to the Delhi Police and keep him in Haryana.

    The court will now hear the matter on Saturday.

    The Punjab government had moved a habeas corpus petition in the High Court on Friday.

    Bagga’s counsel Chetan Mittal raised a question on his arrest by the Punjab Police and also asked how the state government could file a habeas corpus against Haryana.

    In a high-voltage drama, a Delhi Police team took the custody of Bagga in Kurukshetra after Punjab cops arrested him from his home in the national capital on Friday.

    The Punjab Police team was stopped in Kurukshetra’s Pipli, with a Haryana Police official saying they received information that Bagga was “forcibly” picked up from his residence.

    In the petition, the Punjab government accused the Haryana and the Delhi Police of illegally detaining its police officials at the Delhi’s Janakpuri police station and in Kurukshetra.

    Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police, said the Punjab government made a request to the court that the custody of Bagga should not be handed over to the Delhi Police.

    It demanded that either Bagga be handed over to the state police or be detained where he was, said Jain.

    “The court did not accept the request and also did not pass any interim order,” Jain told PTI.

    Jain also rejected the charge of the Punjab Police that their officials were detained by the Delhi Police.

    “We told the court that we have not apprehended, arrested or detained any police officer anywhere in Delhi,” said Jain.

    Jain said an FIR of Bagga’s kidnapping was lodged on the complaint of his father in Delhi after some “unknown” persons came to their house and misbehaved with the family members.

    After the FIR was lodged, the Delhi Police obtained a search warrant from the Dwarka district court, said Jain.

    “The FIR lodged by the Delhi Police and search warrant issued by Dwarka district court, we have submitted both these to the High Court. We also submitted before the High Court that the Delhi Police has not arrested any Punjab Police official or detained anyone. Two or three Punjab police officials are in the Janakpuri police station and sitting on their own will,” Jain later told reporters outside the court.

    The information related to the search warrant was flashed by the Delhi Police in the region, after which the Haryana Police stopped a car at Pipli in Haryana in which Bagga was being taken by some people in plain clothes, said Jain.

    Thereafter, the search warrant was executed and the Delhi police took back Bagga to the national capital, said Jain.

    “We told the court that if a police officer of any state goes in the jurisdiction of any other state to make an arrest they have to give intimation to them. But Punjab Police did not involve Delhi Police nor gave them any prior information. So, the Delhi Police had no information why he was arrested and by whom,” Jain said.

    Punjab Advocate General Anmol Rattan Sidhu said the state police followed a proper procedure for making the arrest while accusing the Delhi and Haryana Police of illegally detaining its officials.

    “A proper FIR has been registered against Bagga. He has not filed any anticipatory bail. We gave him proper notice to join the investigation on five occasions but he disobeyed and did not come,” Sidhu said.

    “We sent the team to his house and a team also went to the Janakpuri police station. Deputy Superintendent of Police Kuljinder Singh was still sitting there along with his team for giving intimation since morning but the Delhi Police did not record it,” claimed Sidhu.

    The Punjab AG said the police videographed all events, including Bagga’s arrest from his home.

    “None of our police personnel pushed any family member as is being alleged,” said Sidhu.

    “Everything is digital recorded. We brought him in a proper way,” said Sidhu.

    “But when the Punjab police team was on its way back, the Haryana Police in connivance with Delhi Police stopped our police team. Three SPs and one IG along with the accused were taken to the Pipli police station,” he said.

    “We had no other option, but to move habeas corpus in the High Court,” said Sidhu.

    After the Punjab police officials were detained, the Delhi police got Bagga released from our legal custody inside the Pipli police station, Sidhu alleged.

    On search warrants, Sidhu said they will tell the court that he was under our arrest.

    Bagga’s counsel and senior advocate Chetan Mittal accused the Punjab Police of trying to project as if Bagga was a terrorist.

    Mittal said Punjab filed a habeas corpus against State of Haryana because they knew Bagga was illegally picked.

    “We will show it is totally illegal custody. How can the State of Punjab file habeas corpus,” asked Mittal.

    A counsel representing Haryana said,”We told the court that it was not an illegal detention. VT (wireless) message was flashed by the Delhi Police in the morning regarding the abduction of Bagga. We told the court that on the basis of that, intimation was flashed in all districts of Haryana.”

  • Stadium to be built in Neeraj Chopra’s native village: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced that a stadium will be built in Olympic gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra’s native village in Panipat.

    Making the announcement after inaugurating a cooperative sugar mill in Panipat, the chief minister said Neeraj Chopra, who belongs to Haryana, has made the country and the state proud by winning an Olympic gold medal last year.

    “A stadium would be built in Neeraj Chopra’s village for Rs 10 crore,” he announced.

    Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s native village Khandra is in Panipat.

    Last year, Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal in Olympic track and field.

    Khattar said that Haryana has become a sports hub and players from the state have brought laurels at various national and international level sporting events.

    Haryana is also giving the highest prize money to its players, he said.

    Khattar also said the Khelo India Youth Games-2021, which had to be postponed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be organised in the state from June 4 to June 13.

    Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the sugar mill, Khattar said Haryana’s biggest sugar mill has been made functional and farmers will not have to transport sugarcane to neighbouring states.

    Ensuring the well-being of each farmer is the utmost priority of the state government, the chief minister said.

    Haryana is the only state to procure 14 crops at minimum support price and is paying the highest procurement rate of sugarcane in the country, he added.

  • Congress revamps Haryana unit, appoints Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Udai Bhan as president

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday revamped its Haryana unit, appointing former legislator Udai Bhan as president of its state unit, replacing Kumari Selja, and naming four working presidents.

    As part of the reorganisation of the state unit, which had been on the cards for the past few weeks, the Congress appointed Shruti Choudhary, Ram Kishan Gujjar, Jitender Kumar Bhardwaj and Suresh Gupta as working presidents.

    “Honb’s Congress President has accepted the resignation of Kumari Selja from the post of the President, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect,” according to a statement from party senior leader K C Venugopal.

    Selja told PTI that she had submitted her resignation to the party high command a few days ago and described herself as a “true soldier of the party”.

    “I am a true soldier of the Congress party. I have full faith in my high command and we will all work together. My congratulations to the new state unit president and the working presidents,” she said.

    Bhan, who is from the Scheduled Caste community and is a former MLA from Hodal, is considered a close confidant of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

    Hooda, Leader of the Opposition in Haryana, termed Bhan a hard working leader who has worked at the grassroots.

    “His appointment will further strengthen the Congress,” Hooda told PTI.

    Referring to the appointment of the four working presidents, Hooda said, “All will work together and strengthen the Congress.”

  • Centre writes to Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Mizoram on spiking COVID cases

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The center has written to five states, including Kerala and Delhi, on the rise in Covid cases and has advised them to continue monitoring the spread of the infection and undertake required steps for prompt and effective management of Covid-19.

    In the letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that “a sustained and significant decline in the number of Covid-19 cases had been observed in India over the past two months, with the country reporting less than 1000 daily new cases for the past few days. Weekly positivity rate has remained below 1 percent.”

    However, he said a few states are reporting a higher contribution to India’s daily new cases.

    He said that as the states are taking various measures to reopen economic and social activities, there is a need for continuous follow-up of a risk assessment-based approach for Covid-19.

    In separate letters to these five states, Bhushan told them to continue the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination, and adherence to Covid appropriate behavior needs to be followed.

    The ministry also listed steps to follow, including monitoring new clusters, adequate testing, monitoring influenza-like illness, conducting genomic sequencing for prescribed samples of international passengers, and vaccinating all eligible people.

    “It is essential that the state maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required in any areas of concern to control any emerging spread of infection. Testing and surveillance remain important to treat the virus, its spread and evolution.” 

    The ministry said laxity would nullify the gains in pandemic management so far.

    The ministry said Kerala is reporting 31.8 percent of India’s new cases, and the state also has seen an increase in positivity in the last week from 13.45 percent to 15.53 percent. Mizoram accounted for 11.16 percent of all new cases, and the state also saw an increase in positivity in the last week from 14.38 percent to 16.48 percent.

    Maharashtra also saw a spike in new cases as it accounted for 10.9 percent of India’s recent issues. The State has also seen an increase in positivity in the last week from 0.39 percent to 0.43 percent. Delhi accounted for 11.33 percent of India’s new cases, with the state seeing an increase in positivity in the last week from 0.51 percent to 1.25 percent.

    Haryana also accounted for 5.70 percent of all new cases in the country, with the positivity rate increasing in the last week from 0.51 percent to 1.060 percent.

  • Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar withdraws ‘VIP’ registration numbers of four vehicles of his convoy

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday announced withdrawing “VIP” registration numbers of four vehicles of his convoy to make them available to the common public.

    The chief minister made the announcement during a discussion on the amendment in the Haryana Motor Vehicles Rules-1993 in a Cabinet meeting held here Tuesday evening, according to an official statement.

    He said that from today all “VIP” registration numbers of vehicles will be available for the general public.

    Such numbers will be allotted through e-auction.

    “After this announcement, many among the general public who are fond of buying fancy numbers for their vehicles will be able to purchase these VIP numbers currently allotted to 179 state government vehicles…,” said the statement.

    According to the statement, it is estimated that a revenue to the tune of Rs 18 crore will be earned through e-auctioning these 179 “VIP numbers”.

    The Cabinet approved the Haryana Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules-2022 to put in place a system of preferential registration numbers to non-transport vehicles through e-auction, the statement said.