Poll Pot

The Moga district police chief8217;s desperate signals to stop were ignored, but the poor man ran into the SPG. A senior and high-ranking SPG officer first requested him to stop moving towards Sonia, but when the Congress leader did not oblige, threatened that he and his fellow commandos would shoot him down. Even a Congress leader couldn8217;t risk that for Sonia, and the former minister turned back.Senior leaders on the spot like PCC chief Captain Amrinder Singh, Harcharan Singh Hero and party candidate Jagmeet Singh Brar could do little besides watch.

BANGALORE: The Election Commission may be taking its role a bit too seriously right now, but in some cases, its crackdown has worked. Thanks to its efforts to curb 8220;non-serious8221; candidates, only 130 nominees remain in the fray for the two phases of polling in 28 constituencies in Karnataka, the lowest in the past six elections. There has been a steady decline, especially in the number of Independents. Just last year, there were 200 candidates. Before that, in 1996, there were as many as 978, including a record 456 in Belgaum. The record number of candidates fielded by the Karnataka Rajya Ryotha Sangha had even forced the commission to postpone the elections.

8212; AMAR SINGH AND AGENCIES