Mankotia denies booth-capturing

CHANDIGARH, March 1: Himachal Tourism Minister Major (Retd) Vijay Singh Mankotia, has, in a communication, referred to the report, " Violence, booth-capturing in Baijnath, Shahpur" (IE, March 1) and said that no incident of booth-capturing or violence had taken place in Shahpur.

The presiding officers of all the 93 polling booths in Shahpur had submitted reports that the entire polling process had been completed peacefully without any complaint of booth-capturing from any party.

Mankotia has blamed the BJP candidate for spreading the rumour that three workers had been beaten up by Congressmen at his behest outside the Machhial polling booth. The entire drama had been planned and was a farce, he added.