Chandigarh: Following the President’s directions to discontinue the use of colonial-era honorifics such as “His Excellency” for addressing dignitaries, the Punjab Governor and the Chief Minister have decided to ensure compliance. As per a fresh set of instructions, the Governor would henceforth be addressed as “Honourable Governor”, while the Chief Minister would be referred to as “Punjab Chief Minister”. Cabinet ministers would simply be addressed as the minister of their respective department. Some Congress leaders are wondering whether the practice of calling Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh “Maharaja Sahib” would continue or not.

Equating doctor with God

Muktsar: A board placed outside the Government Veterinary Polyclinic at Badal village reads: “Our doctor is just like God. If someone in this hospital asks you to buy medicine from a particular chemist, he is doing it for commission.” The hospital seems keen to stick to the Hippocratic oath, but only time will tell to what extent it will succeed.

Artiste takes political turn

Gurdaspur: Film artistes usually test the political waters during the Assembly and parliamentary elections. However, Arjun Partap Singh (25), an alumnus of Lawrence School, Sanawar, took the plunge in the zila parishad polls and was elected unopposed from Cheema. Arjun, son of Congress MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, worked as an assistant director to Prabhu Deva in ‘Singh is Bliing’. He is set to make his acting debut in ‘Band of Maharajas.’ Now, he is in the reckoning for the post of chairman of the Gurdaspur zila parishad. Arjun, who has completed a degree in business administration from a UK-based university, says if he is appointed to the top post, he will leave Bollywood and instead turn to Pollywood so that he can devote more time to his constituency.

Akali MLA ‘guides’ you to his house

Patiala: Sanaur MLA Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra, who has been allotted a government bungalow in the heart of the city, still feels the need to guide his supporters to his residence. The SAD leader has put up flex boards with his photos on electricity and telephone poles. Harinderpal is the son of Akali MP Prem Singh Chandumajra. “The opposition MLA apparently wants to make his presence felt in the neighbourhood,” a resident said.

FM turns up on time, public doesn’t 

Bathinda: Ministers and other politicians usually arrive late for rallies or other functions. However, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal is an exception. Recently, during campaigning for the zila parishad and block samiti elections, he reached Kotli village in Mansa district on the dot at 9 am for a public meeting. In contrast, people took their own sweet time to turn up. When they arrived an hour or two later, they were surprised to see the minister already there. They were overheard saying: “Mantri time da bada pakka hai, hor tan ghanta ghanta late aunde ne (the minister is very punctual, unlike others).”

No EVMs, voters struggle with paper ballot

Jalandhar: Having got used to polling through EVMs, voters seem to be finding it hard to use the traditional paper ballot. As many as 5 per cent of the votes for the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in the district were found invalid by the counting staff. In some booths, the number of invalid votes was even higher than those polled by candidates or NOTA (none of the above).