Haryana Assembly dissolved

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The Hindu : Front Page : Haryana Assembly dissolved

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Vidhan Sabha was dissolved on Friday by Governor Jagannath Pahadia on the recommendation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, according to highly-placed sources here.

Earlier in the day, the State Cabinet headed by Mr. Hooda had unanimously recommended to the Governor dissolution of the Vidhan Sabha with immediate effect thereby paving the way for early elections in the State seven months ahead of schedule.

The Hooda Government would have completed its five-year term in March 2010. According to political observers here, the Election Commission of India is now certain to announce polls in Haryana in October along with those in Maharashtra. The elections in Haryana were otherwise scheduled to be held in February next year. The just-dissolved Assembly was constituted on March 20, 2005.

Mr. Hooda told media persons earlier on Friday that the State Cabinet which met here had unanimously passed the resolution to recommend immediate dissolution of the 90-member House.

He said the Government had decided to go in for early polls as it was “the wish of the people” and the Opposition parties also “wanted so”.

Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Parkash Chautala welcomed the decision of the Hooda regime to go in for early elections. Talking to media persons at his residence here, he asserted that the Hooda regime had no option but to recommend dissolution of the Assembly as it had “no money in the State coffers to implement the several false announcements made by it in the past”.

Haryana Janhit Congress leader Kuldip Bishnoi also welcomed the move of the Hooda regime to go in for early polls.

Haryana BJP chief Krishanpal Gujjar also welcomed the decision saying that now the State would be rid of a “corrupt and inefficient regime” as the people would now have the democratic opportunity to throw out the Congress Government.

According to political observers, the ruling Congress had decided to advance the Assembly polls after the landslide victory of the party in the Lok Sabha polls held in May this year. The Congress won nine out of the ten Lok Sabha seats from the State; the fledgling Haryana Janhit Congress was able to win the Hisar seat thanks to former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, while the INLD-BJP alliance was totally routed.

It was being felt in Congress circles that the victory could be described as a mandate for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the national level and the pro-people and development-oriented policies of Mr. Hooda as well as their “clean image”. It was also felt that since the Opposition was virtually in a shambles and the new alliance between the Haryana Janhit Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party was yet to prove its mettle, the political scenario was in favour of the ruling party and it could once again sweep the polls.

A senior Congress leader said on point of anonymity that the Congress high command had agreed to the suggestion of Mr. Hooda to advance the polls by almost seven months especially after senior Opposition stalwarts including former Finance Minister Sampat Singh joined the Congress unconditionally recently.

 

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fullstory

INLD demands President's rule in Haryana
Chandigarh, Aug 23 (PTI) Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today demanded imposition of President's rule in Haryana, alleging that the official machinery was grossly misused by the Hooda government.

"In view of the gross misuse of official machinery... it has become imperative to take away the charge from the caretaker government and bring the state under the President's rule," INLD secretary general and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Singh Chautala said.

"The partisan attitude of the present government has clearly shown that free and fair elections are not possible under this regime," Chautala alleged.

"Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has realised that the Congress would not return to power so all offices were made to function even Saturdays and Sundays and files were being cleared in back dates to benefit the favoured people," the INLD MP alleged.

 

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Chandigarh, August 21
Governor Jagannath Pahadia dissolved the 90-member Assembly to pave the way for early elections in the state on the recommendation of the Haryana government.

It is learnt that the Governor signed on the recommendation of the Cabinet this evening. With this, the Hooda regime has been reduced to the status of a caretaker government. Information regarding the dissolution of the House will be sent to the office of the President of India and the Secretary, Election Commission of India, tomorrow, while the state government has already received it. Elections in Haryana are expected to be held in October along with Maharashtra and other states.

Earlier in the day, the Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, unanimously recommended the dissolution of the House, six months ahead of its term which ends in February next year. The present Assembly was constituted on March 20, 2005. Five seats were at present vacant in the House, which had 64 Congress MLAs. The Chief Minister, who briefly addressed the media after the meeting, said, “The decision was taken in view of a growing public demand for holding early elections”.

“INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, too, was demanding an early poll. We decided to accept his suggestion,” he said in a lighter vein.

This meeting of the Cabinet was earlier slated for August 18 but had to be postponed owing to the death of state’s Cabinet Minister Kartar Devi. The move is on expected lines since the Congress is keen on cashing in on the “wave” that helped it virtually sweep the recent General Election in the state. The party ended up winning nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats and has been keen on an early poll since then.

Another “provocation” for an early poll has been the disarray in the Opposition. Though the BJP and the INLD are in alliance since the Lok Sabha elections and the HJC and the BSP joined hands post-poll, the two alliances are still in the process of organising themselves.

Congress leaders feel that giving more time will only give an opportunity to the Opposition to get its act together. Also, the party wants to cash in on the setback to the Opposition after some of its senior leaders joined the Congress in the run-up to an early poll.

Meanwhile, INLD leader Om Parkash Chautala welcomed the decision of an early poll which, he said, would go against the Congress. Interestingly, in Haryana, only two governments have completed their full term of five years while all other Assemblies have been dissolved earlier for various reasons. The two governments to be able to complete a full term were of the sixth Assembly from 1982-87 (first under Bhajan Lal and then with Bansi Lal as the Chief Minister) and the 10th Assembly from 2000-2005 under the chief ministership of Om Prakash Chautala.

 

[Yusuf]

Good political decision considering the recent election result. Hoods gov has done a good job there. But recently some controversy had come up with regards to a police cover up of a rape case. But that should not have a bearing on the election.