Dhumal and Vir Bhadra Singh attacks each other during Himachal bye election rallies

By: Chander Shekhar Sharma

HAMIRPUR: The election campaign for the by election to Hamirpur Parliamentary seat ended today with all the polling parties left for their respective polling stations to conduct the poll slated for June 2nd. They were flagged off by the various Assistant returning Officers this morning.

There are six candidates are in field. However, the main contest is between Prem Kumar Dhumal of BJP and Ram Lal Thakur of Congress.

The election has become necessary due to unseating of Suresh Chandel of BJP in the cash for query scam issue.

As many as 11,75, 238 voters will exercise their right of franchise on 1,372 polling stations spread across seventeen assembly segments of the constituency in the districts of Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Dehra revenue sub division of Kangra.

While the government agencies did exercise for the smooth conduct of the election and to maintain the law and order in the respective areas, the leaders and workers of various parties did their final round of campaign by addressing election meetings. Congress leader and chief minister, Vir Bhadra Singh and BJP leader and party candidate, Prem Kumar Dhumal spent their maximum time in the Hamirpur district for garnering support for their respective parties.

The chief minister told the people that each of their votes for the Congress would be a vote for the stability and unity of the state, the BJP leader blasted the Congress party for all ills the nation and the state was facing at present.

Chief minister defended himself on the CD issue and told the gathering that CD was the result of a hatched conspiracy between the BJP and suspended Congress MLA, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia. He said that the version in the CD was concocted one and he had no role in any graft issue as mentioned in the audio CD. He said that he would file criminal case against Mankotia and BJP leaders for trying to harm his mage and reputation in the masses. He claimed that he was for the eradication of corruption from public and would continue with his tirade on this issue.

The BJP candidate, Dhumal on other hand told the people that the Congress and the chief minister had no right to seek votes on issue of corruption as the chief minister and his wife were found indulged in the corrupt measures as per the audio CD released by the Congress leader, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia. He told the people to vote for the BJP for all round development and to expose the nefarious designs of the Congress and its leaders who were all set to sell the interests of the state to the big business houses.