This is an archive article published on November 16, 2021

Opinion November 16, 1981, Forty Years Ago: Garhwal repoll

Opposition party leaders met the President Sanjiva Reddy to protest against the cancellation of the repoll in the Garhwal parliamentary constituency scheduled for November 22.

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They also submitted a memorandum to the President demanding a judicial enquiry by a serving judge of the Supreme Court to look into the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the repoll. (File)

By: Editorial

November 16, 2021 03:30 AM IST First published on: Nov 16, 2021 at 03:30 AM IST

Opposition party leaders met the President Sanjiva Reddy to protest against the cancellation of the repoll in the Garhwal parliamentary constituency scheduled for November 22. They also submitted a memorandum to the President demanding a judicial enquiry by a serving judge of the Supreme Court to look into the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the repoll. They wanted responsibility to be fixed on those bent on subverting the Constitution. The memorandum urged the President to take steps for holding the Garhwal repoll immediately. It alleged that the cancellation was a direct attack on democracy. They alleged that even without an Emergency there was a constitutional breakdown.

UP jail strike

With the UP government succeeding in getting the Garhwal repoll postponed, the prospects of the 18-day strike coming to an end has brightened. The government has made the jail strike a crucial issue and contended before the Election Commission that the strike and the deployment of 48 companies made it impossible to spare the police force necessary for monitoring polling in Garhwal. The Jail Minister, Ram Singh Khanna, was hopeful of an early end to the strike. He said that if the strike was called off unconditionally, the government would not be vindictive.

Punjab CM’s warning

Punjab CM Darbara Singh has alleged that the majority community in the state was making attempts to dominate the minority issue. Nobody would be allowed to create such a situation, he warned. The government, he said, will not remain a spectator and allow extremists to create terror. Such extremists, he alleged, were strengthening the hands of Pakistan, which was receiving arms from the US. Terrorism is not a religious activity he said.