Connect with us

Submit Urnewz

Theog Constituency drama leaves Congress perplexed as Stokes’ nomination rejected

Published

on

Theog Constituency congress candidate
 
Shimla: The Returning officer of the Theog Constituency has rejected the nomination filed by the veteran Congress leader Vidya Stokes (89) on the last date. Now, she won’t be able to fight as an independent candidate either. 
 
The set-back came following an intense drama over the Theog seat. Not only Congress faced distress in one section of party workers, but also exposed the party’s internal politics and miscommunication.
 
Here is what happened
 
A day before the last date for the filing of nomination, the list of final candidates included the name of Deepak Rathore as the ticket-holder from Theog, while the Chief Minister were seen congratulating Mr. Khachi .
 
As per the political critics and experts, Stokes had vacated the seat for the Chief Minster who had sacrificed Shimla-rural constituency to introduce his son. However, after Virbhadra Singh moved to Arki, Stokes expressed her right to nominate a candidate of her choice, which was Vijaypal Khachi, son of late Congress leader JBL Khachi,
 
However, the high-command and state committee gave the ticket to Deepak Rathore, who even filed the nomination.
 
At the same time, Virbhadra Singh tweeted a photo in which he was congratulating Khachi for securing a ticket. The tweet was later deleted, however.
 
Stokes had even announced her retirement but on the last date, she files her nomination as a Candidate representing Congress party. It was speculated that Rathore would contest as an independent candidate as Stokes would take back the charge as the official candidate from Theog.
 
Congress was left red-faced after her nomination was rejected today. As per the rule there could be only one official claimant for the party symbol. Moreover, she had failed to produce 10 proposers, as mentioned in the RO handbook. Also, Rathore had filed the nomination with party authority letter first.
 
As per critics, it is a blunder that could affect the results because Stokes had won past three elections successively.
 
 

News

Gudiya Case: Ex-SP Shimla joins 8 other accused at Model Central Jail Kanda

Published

on

Gudiya Gangrape Case

Shimla: The former Superintendent of Shimla Police, D.W. Negi, finally joined eight other police officials including the ex-Inspector General, Southern Range, Zahur H. Zaidi, and the ex-Deputy Superintendent, Theog, at the Model Central Jail, Kanda.

The Court of Judicial Magistrate Ranjeet Singh Thakur on November 21, sent Negi in a judicial custody till November 23. He will be produced in the  court along with eight other accused on the same date. 

As per the report, the Central Bureau of Investigation sought his remand for five more days, which was denied by the court. 

The CBI had arrested Negi on November 16 in case relating to the custodial killing of a Nepalese laborer, who was arrested by State Police SIT in relation to the rape and murder of  a minor and was on remand till November 21.  

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, gangraped, and murdered savagely in the Halaila woods of the Kotkhai region in Shimla district. Her naked dead body was found in the woods on July 6, 2017. 

The HP Police SIT claimed a breakthrough on July 13 after arresting six accused including the deceased Suraj. Suraj was killed at the Kotkhai Police station under mysterious circumstances. 

On August 29, the CBI arrested eight police officials for the alleged killing of the accused. Negi was arrested for forging FIR in custodial killing of Suraj.  As per this FIR, local police had framed a co-accused Raju for he killing of Suraj.   

Continue Reading

News

Candidates in Shimla (U) served notices for defacing public property

Published

on

Defacing public property in Shimla

He removed the promotional material along with his team. He said the political parties will have to pay the expenditure made by the district administration on removal of the posters/flyers/banners.

Shimla: With the elections come usual visual pollution and defacing of the public property because the political parties or the candidates are ignorant and possess little or no respect towards the rules. Neither they care about maintaining remaining beauty of Himachal’s towns. 

As an appreciable step, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Shimal (Urban) Ajit Bhardwaj on Wednesday issued a notice to candidates of various parties who are defacing the public property in the city by pasting their posters, flyers, banners etc.

These candidates include Suresh Bhardwaj, Harish Janartha, Harbhajan Singh Bhajji, and Sanjay Chauhan.

The SDM visited some localities of Shimla and found that parties are not adhering to the places specifically marked for placement of such posters/banners.

He removed the promotional material along with his team. He said the political parties will have to pay the expenditure made by the district administration on removal of the same.

On Tuesday, the district administration and the Municipal Corporation of Shimla had asked these candidates to remove their promotional material from the public property.

The candidates were warned of appropriate legal action as per the rules related to defacing of the public property.

It is an ethical duty of all the political parties and candidates that they show respect to laws and refrain from creating cluttered scene in their respective constituencies.

There is no justification for defacing public property if the administration has already marked specific zones or places for this purpose. 

Photo: Representational/HT

Continue Reading

Submit Urnewz

50000 youths of Himachal given jobs in private sector during current tenure, claims Govt

Published

on

Technical education in Himachal Pradesh

E-governance has been implemented in technical education and counseling for admission is completely online, claimed the government. 

Shimla: While opposition criticises the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh of fooling youth on the name of employment and allowances, the government claims it has provided employment to as many as 50000 youths of the state in private sector. 

It is the result of special emphasis laid on the technical and vocational education in the state, it said. 

It is impossible to offer government job to every youth in the state, therefore, the government is offering technical education to help the remaining to get jobs in the private sector and industrial houses, the government said in an official statement. 

The government said the state has 335 technical education institutions. The list of government institutes comprises of five engineering colleges, two pharmacy colleges, 15 polytechnics, 122 ITIs and one motor driving & heavy earthmoving machinery operator training institution.

Other institutes in the private sector include 14 engineering colleges, 13 pharmacy colleges, 17 polytechnics, two D-pharmacy institutions, and 144 ITI.

These institutes have a capacity of over 61000 students.

The government said that out of these, 42 new ITIs & 8 polytechnics have been opened during last four and half years. E-governance has been implemented in technical education and counseling for admission is completely online, claimed the government. 

Institutions like IIIT Una, IIT in Mandi, NIT Hamirpur, NIFT in Kangra, IIM in Sirmour, Plastic Manufacturing in Baddi and RVTI in Shimla are preparing the students to compete at the national and international levels.

Hydro Engineering College Bilaspur is expected to help students fetch jobs in Hydro-power sector, said the statement.

Further, it was informed that the classes of Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Nagrota Bagwan have been started from the session 2014-15. A five years degree in Architecture with intake capacity of 40 has been started in this institution from 2017.

In the 2015-16 sessions, classes of civil and mechanical engineering (of Mahatma Gandhi Government Engineering College Rampur) have been started in Jawahar Lal Nehru Government Engineering College Sundernagar.

Similarly, the classes of Civil and Electrical Engineering Government Hydro Engineering College Bandla (Bilaspur) have been started in Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Nagrota Bagwan from this session.

The classes in Government Pharmacy College Nagrota Bagwan have been started from the last year. The classes in government Polytechnic Institutions of district Kinnaur, Sirmour, Bilaspur, Kullu, and Lahaul-Spiti have been started from the session 2013-14.

A Hotel and Catering Information Institution will come at Paror in Kangra district. The NITI Ayog has given its recommendation for an Advance Training Institute that will come up in Kangra district, said the government.

With the help of Asian Development Bank, the government is strengthening 50 government ITIs. The machinery and equipment are being purchased as per the NCVT standards for these institutes, it said.

Special facilities are being provided to promote private Industrial Training Institutions in tribal or remote areas and backward panchayats.

In Technical Education Department, as many as 1495 posts of various categories have been created. All colleges now have principals, claimed the government.

The government also informed that as per the 2013 notification of the HP Education Board, Dharamshala, if a candidate has passed his/her matriculation and have a training of 2 years or more from ITI, his qualification will be considered equivalent to higher secondary.

Photo Courtesy: Neil Dunne Welding

Continue Reading

Trending