NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW, Feb 9: The Uttar Pradesh government has reported compliance with the Election Commission order, debarring Programme Implementation Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh from Pratapgarh district till the elections are over even as the minister has decided to challenge the EC's order in court.``The EC cannot prevent me from exercising my franchise because my vote is there in Pratapgarh,'' he said in Lucknow today.
The Commission had taken exception to the minister's presence in the area, reportedly because it was creating a law and order problem.
The Pratapgarh district magistrate sent a communication today stating that the minister has left the area. Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill said that the UP Home Secretary had confirmed this to the Election Commission.Gill told reporters in New Delhi:``There are some people we wish parties had not thought of as candidates.''
The CEC also announced postponement of polls in Ladakh and Mandi Lok Sabha constituencies and three Assembly seats toJune 21 because of weather conditions.
Gill, who has just finished a tour of Bihar and UP expressed confidence over the pre-poll arrangements in both the States. He said the field officers in the two States are working hard to hold free and fair elections.
Gill said he will visit Andhra Pradesh soon. Election Commissioner G.V.G.Krishnamurty will visit Chandigarh and take stock of the situation in Haryana and Punjab. Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh will tour Rajasthan and UP's Agra division.
The CEC indicated that the Commission is unlikely to agree to the Assam Chief Minister's demand that polling in the State should be held in two phases.
Meanwhile, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya alleges that charges that he and his henchmen clashed with policemen on duty in Pratapgarh are the handiwork of the Congress leaders who are trying to malign his image. ``As a minister I know my responsibilities and the manner in which I should behave,'' he says.
He has represented Pratapgarh in the VidganSabha for the last three terms.
He has won all the elections independently and almost unapposed. His rivals are either frightened to withdraw their nomination papers or face consequences for being in the fray.
Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, during an election meeting in 1996 in Kudna, the Assembly segment from where Raja Bhaiya is the sitting MLA, assured the electorate to free the region of terror. He referred to Raja Bhaiya as the ``goonda of Kunda''. But now that he is a minister in his Cabinet, Kalyan prefers to maintain silence on the issue.
Raja Bhaiya, whose history sheet (163-A), is still open in Hathugaon police station of the district, is facing nearly 40 cases of kidnapping, murder and extortion.
The Congress candidate and the outgoing MP from Pratapgarh, Ratna Singh, had lodged an FIR against him for an attempt to murder by getting a poisoned chutney supplied during a dinner last year. The case is being investigated by the CBI. Supporters of Raja Bhaiya and Ratna Singh clashedduring the recent campaigning. Both factions have lodged FIRs with the police.
``All charges are motivated to malign me,'' he maintains.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
