SAD (Amritsar) announces 5 candidates for Punjab, 2 for Haryana

Chandigarh:  The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) on Thursday announced five candidates for Punjab and two for Haryana for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.  Talking to media persons, SAD (Amritsar) president and Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann said he will fight from the Sangrur seat.  He said his party fielded Mahinderpal Singh from Patiala, Amritpal Singh from Ludhiana, Baldev Singh from Faridkot and  Kushalpal Singh from Anandpur Sahib. Mann further said Harjit Singh has been fielded from Karnal seat and Khazan Singh from Kurukshetra parliamentary seat in Haryana.  Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1, while voting for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will take place on May 25.

Himachal BJP workers welcome Congress rebel, Rajinder Rana, NSUI activists show black flags

Shimla: Congress rebel Rajinder Rana, now the BJP candidate for the Sujanpur assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district, faced black flags from the NSUI activists but he also received a welcome from his supporters on visiting his constituency Thursday.  Rana, a three-time legislator hogged the limelight by defeating former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the 2017 assembly polls. He is one of the six disqualified Congress MLAs who, along with three Independent legislators, had voted in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27. All the MLAs switched to the BJP on March 23 following which the six rebels including Rana, were given tickets from their respective assembly seats. Rana returned to his constituency after a month.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, raised slogans and displayed black flags at the Anu Chowk in Hamirpur as Rana’s vehicle passed by to reach the Kot Village in Sujanpur to attend a welcome ceremony.  Rana was accompanied by former BJP minister Bikram Thakur and was welcomed by the supporters at Kot Village in Sujanpur where the BJP workers raised slogans in his support. The former Congress MLA noted that the workers were enthusiastic and claimed that the BJP would win all the assembly seats going to the bypolls and the Lok Sabha seats of the state.  Referring to the resentment among the BJP leaders after the six rebels were given the tickets, he said small resentments are part of democracy. They will sit and talk with those who are protesting.
   
Himachal Speaker issues show cause notice to 3 Independent MLAs

Shimla: The three Independent legislators who had resigned from the assembly last week have been issued a show-cause notice by the Vidhan Sabha by the Speaker. Their replies have to be submitted by April 10, officials said.  The Congress legislative party had submitted that the three MLAs "resigned under duress", not voluntarily".  The three independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and K L Thakur from Nalagarh had submitted their resignation on March 22, a day before they joined the BJP along with six disqualified Congress MLAs. All nine legislators had voted in favour of the BJP in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections.  Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had maintained that the Independent MLAs have submitted their resignation but they have not cited their reasons. It will recorded and necessary procedures will be followed, he said. Congress legislators and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh have been vocal against the nine MLAs and have accused the BJP of pressurising the legislators. Congress MLAs Sanjay Avasthi and Bhuvneshwar Gaur have also registered a case of electoral offences, bribery and criminal conspiracy against Hamirpur independent MLA Ashish Sharma and Rakesh Sharma, father of Gagret MLA Chaitanya Sharma, who is among the six former Congress leaders. The case against them was registered under sections 171C and 171E (undue influence on elections and bribery) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and sections 7 and 8 (public servant taking undue advantage) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, police had said.  All three Independents had sought BJP tickets during the 2022 assembly polls but they were denied tickets and contested as Independents. Later when the Congress formed the government with 40 legislators, the three Independents had supported the government. However, three Independent MLAs, along with six Congress rebels voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

This election is a fight to save democracy Constitution: Deepender Hooda

Chandigarh: Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Thursday said the 2024 Lok Sabha election is a fight to save democracy and the Constitution in the country.  Addressing the first joint workers conference of the opposition INDIA bloc in Rohtak, he said the alliance will win this battle by fighting with strength.  The conference was organised by Aam Aadmi Party's Haryana state president and Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat candidate Sushil Gupta. Besides Hooda and Gupta, CPM leaders, including Inderjit Singh and Jagmati Sangwan, also participated.  During the conference, various speakers condemned the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Addressing the gathering, Hooda said this election is a fight to save democracy and the country's Constitution. He also said the time has come to compare the work done by the Congress and the BJP. "Despite being in opposition for 10 years, Congress is still seeking votes in the name of its work, while the BJP does not have anything to show, though they have been in power for the last decade. "The BJP only wants to win elections by misusing agencies like the ED and the CBI. But the INDI alliance and the people in Haryana will give a befitting reply to all the political tactics of the BJP," Hooda said.

Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh says will contest from Mandi if high command directs

Shimla:  After announcing her decision to not seek re-election from Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh on Thursday said if the party's central leadership wanted her to contest from the seat, she would follow their directions. Her change in stance came about after a meeting of the six-member committee constituted by the Congress to ensure better coordination, chalk out the strategy and discuss the names of probable Lok Sabha candidates from the hill state was.  "I have always followed what the high command said and now also I will follow what they say," she said. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Congress incharge for the state Rajeev Shukla think that I should contest the Lok Sabha elections, she said, adding "I put my problems and difficulties in front of them."  "We will work as per the directions of the high command," Singh, the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and the mother of Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, maintained. For a long time I have been saying that the workers who worked hard day and night for the victory of the party (in the assembly polls) should be suitably accommodated and now the CM has given  some responsibilities to the workers and I want the message to spread that Congress promotes its workers," she said. Pratibha Singh asserted that in the last assembly polls the people gave the mandate to the Congress and the party-led government would complete its five-year term.