Chandigarh: close contest yet again

The Times of India
18 Apr 2004, CHANDIGARH: It has never been a comfortable cake walk for any of the winning candidates in parliamentary elections here since 1989. While in 1984 elections it was a sweep in favour of Congress in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination after that there has not been much difference between the votes secured by winner and runner up. ...
... Going by the trend of Chandigarh electorate it appears that it will be a close contest between two arch rivals Satya Pal Jain of BJP and Pawan Kumar Bansal of Congress. With Harmohan Dhawan also coming into the fray on Indian National Lok Dal ticket, the election battle has become more tough for all the candidates.
In 1999, Congress and BJP were major players for the poll fight as BSP and SP shared very low percentage of votes. However, this time, Dhawan who had earlier won the elections from Chandigarh on Janta Dal ticket, is giving tough time to both BJP and Congress candidates. ...
... Pawan Kumar Bansal and Satya Pal Jain are facing each other for the third time in this parliamentary elections out of which Jain has defeated Bansal twice with a low margin of 3.66 per cent and 9.26 per cent in year 1998 and 1996 respectively.
While Pawan Kumar Bansal won the election by 7.06 per cent margin when Jain was the runner up in 1991.

Satya Pal Jain ridicules Cong tactics

The Tribune
Chandigarh, April 16
A procession of party workers dancing to the beats of the dhols accompanied Mr Satya Pal Jain of the BJP when he went to file his nomination papers at the Deputy Commissioners office here today.
Office-bearers and party workers from all walks of life in the city reached the BJP office (Kamlam), Sector 33-A, in the morning. Sizeable gathering then moved to the DC office. Mehar Mittal, a well known comedian of the Punjabi films, was present at the party office with Mr Jain. ...
... Later in the evening Mr Jain addressed a Vishal Jan Sabha in Ram Darbar, a corner meeting in a park of Sector 28, another corner meeting at the Auto Mechanics in Sector-28 and a Jan Sabha of the party workers in Mauli Complex...

Jains file papers on first day

The Tribune
Mr Satya Pal Jain of the BJP proceeds with his supporters to file his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections in Chandigarh on Friday. [Image Courtesy: The Tribune]

Chandigarh, April 16
Mr Satya Pal Jain, BJP candidate from the city, filed his nomination papers on the first day of the exercise which began today. The papers say that he is not accused of any offence punishable with imprisonment for two years or more in a pending case in which a charge has been framed by the competent court of competent jurisdiction. ...

Jain boards Vijay Rath

The Tribune
Ms Vidyawati Jain, mother of Mr Satya Pal Jain, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the forthcoming poll, puts a tilak on the forehead of her son at the Vijay Rath Yatra at Kamalam, Sector 33, in Chandigarh on Tuesday. [Image Courtesy: The Tribune]

Chandigarh, April 13
The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party today launched its third phase of campaigning for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The function was accompanied with launching of a colourful Vijay Rath which was presented to Mr Satya Pal Jain, party candidate from the city, by Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, president of the local unit. The Rath is equipped with a stage, mike, projector, display screen and generator. ...

First-time voters more demanding

The Times of India
19 Apr 2004, CHANDIGARH: Candidates for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat will have to do a lot of convincing before they can be sure of the first-time voters' support.
The 50,000-odd voters in the age group of 18 years to 23 years will be raising serious bread and butter issues and expect a commitment from the main contenders to pledge their support.
In fact, the primary concern is employment opportunities and the outfits representing the age group agree on this score.
Candidate speak
BJP's Satya Pal Jain -- "The first-time voters must support PM Vajpayee to fulfil his dream of making India a superpower by 2020. NDA government has generated employment in BPO and IT sectors. Being a PU senate member, I have been actively involved in solving issues of the academic community." ...

Satya Pal Jain: Lawyer turned politician

Hindustan Times
Satya Pal Jain is nominated as the BJP candidate for Chandigarh for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. In what can be called the triangular contest, he will have to battle against the Congress candidate and sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal and INLD candidate Harmohan Dhawan.
Jain was elected from Chandigarh in 1996 when he defeated Bansal by about 25,000 votes. He beat Bansal again to be re-elected in 1998. Jain had earlier lost in 1991 by about 15,000 votes.
A practising senior advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Jain is representing senior party leaders including the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani in a few cases.
Jain was born in Kharar and was quite active in student politics as he headed the local ABVP unit for several years.