A day after BJP released a list of its 40 star campaigners for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, the ruling Congress on Monday released a list of equal number of star campaigners for the hill State.
The list of Congress’ star campaigners includes Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Besides this, the list also includes the names of senior Congress leaders like Ambika Soni, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit and former Union Ministers Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The list also includes Sunil Jakhar, who had recently registered a big win over the BJP candidate in Gurdaspur. The voters in some constituencies will also witness the oratory of Cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has also been included in the star campaigners list.
Other star campaigners are Sushil Kumar Shinde, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Selja, Bhanwar Jitender Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Randeep S Surjewala, Raj Babbar, Ranjeet Ranjan, Pramod Tiwari, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Sunil Jakhar, Manish Tiwari, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amrinder Singh Raja Brar, Vijay lnder Singla, Gaurav Gogo, Sushmita Dev, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Ashok Tanwar, G.S. Bali, Kaul Singh Thakur, Kuldeep Sharma, Pritam Singh, Charanjit Singh Channi, Manpreet Singh Badal, Madan lal Sharma, Akbar, Jaiveer Shergil Road, and Kailasho Saini.
With just over two weeks remaining for the day of polling, with 40 start campaigners, both the parties seem to be organising a series of political public rallies in the coming fortnight.
Congress fields octogenarian Stokes from Theog in Himachal polls
After dilly dallying, senior Congress leader and Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes on Monday filed her nomination from Theog seat in Shimla district for the November 9 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.
Stokes, 89, submitted her papers from Theog -- the seat she represents in the outgoing assembly — on the last day of filing of nominations. The eight-time legislator is the oldest candidate in the fray.
Earlier, the Congress high command had cleared Deepak Rathore’s name for Theog after a lot of deliberation on Sunday. He too filed his nomination from Theog on Monday, and would be Stokes’ covering candidate.
Vidya Stokes is daughter-in-law of American missionary Satyanand Stokes, who is credited with the apple revolution in the hill state. She is known for her proximity to the Gandhi family. She was hospitalised on Sunday after complaining of a respiratory problem.
She had earlier declined to re-contest from Theog as Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had expressed a desire to contest from the seat. later, the Chief Minister decided to contest from Arki in Solan district.
“The party has decided to field Stokes from Theog as she expressed her desire to re-contest after the Chief Minister’s decision not to contest her seat. She was adamant that she had left the seat only for the Chief Minister and since he is now contesting from Arki, she will fight from Theog,” State Congress president Sukhwinder Sukhu told reporters here. He said Rathore would be the covering candidate of Stokes.
Born on December 8, 1927, Vidya Stokes is known in political circles for her clean image. She has never taken any salary, be it as a legislator or as a minister, throughout her political career. It’s a different matter that she hails from a landed family. She entered state politics in 1974 after the death of her husband lal Chand Stokes.
BJP writes to ECI for removal of blue eyed officers
Himachal BJP on Monday sought removal of blue-eyed officers of the state government, including retired IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia who is serving as media advisor to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as per the directions of Election Commission of India. He is drawing salary from the Information and Public Relation department.
In a letter shot to Chief Election Commissioner A K. Joti, State Co-ordinator election of BJP, H.N. Kashyap has alleged that such officials were misusing their official position and using state machinery for influencing certain departments to favour Congress.
Kashyap said several officers were sticking to their respective posts despite BJP apprising about them to the ECI in writing during the visit of the Commission to the state. He said that despite directions by the ECI to the state government such officers have not been removed from the elections related assignments.
The letters says that a number of blue-eyed officers were detailed in departments like Public Works, State Electricity Board, Irrigation and Public Health etc. while the code of conduct had been in force in the state.
Kahsyap has pointed out that as many as 3000 officers and officials were still enjoying the patronage of Congress party. They were either re-employed or given extensions or appointed in the state governments on higher posts for taking political gains through their clout during the polls. He has demanded removal of all such officers from the services for free and fair elections in the state.
Nodal Officer appointed by Income Tax Department for Assembly elections
Manish Sareen, Additional Director of Income Tax Chandigarh has been appointed as State Nodal Officer of Income Tax Department for Assembly Elections in Himachal Pradesh.
A spokesperson of the Directorate of Income Tax, Chandigarh said a 24x7 control room has been set up by the Department in Shimla for monitoring of illegal cash, valuables movement and related activities during election period in the state. The control room can be contacted on the toll free no. 1800-180-8089 and telefax no. 0177-2621567 or E-mail ID dditinvshimla@gmail.com