CONGRESS MISUSED STATE MACHINERY IN PUNJAB CIVIC BODY POLLS: SAD

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday slammed the Congress for misusing civil and police machinery to capture booths besides unleashing violence against the opposition to intimidate voters during municipal bodies in Punjab.

“The SAD had already cautioned the State Election Commission (SEC) about how democracy had been murdered in the runup to the municipal polls and how Congress goons were expected to indulge in booth capturing and other unfair practices today,” said Daljit Singh Cheema, Former Minister and SAD spokesman in a statement. Cheema also said that despite the warning, no concrete steps were taken to control the situation and ensure free and fair elections in the state.

Describing the law and order situation in the state, the SAD leader said that the Congress goons not only captured booths but also attacked opposition candidates and their supporters.

He cited incidents and said that gunshots were fired in Patti in Tarn Taran district, the party supporters were injured with sharp weapons in Ropar and Fatehgarh Churian. Booths were captured in Mukatsar, Rajpura, Samana, Sultanpur Lodhi, Dinanagar, Ferozepur, Bhikiwind.

“An FIR was registered against Gauravdeep Singh Valtoha, son of senior SAD leader Virsa Singh Valtoha, and five others,” Cheema said. Similarly, police raided the house of SAD candidates, Jaswinder Kaur, in ward number 26 in Khanna and registered a case against 13 members of the family including her husband. He said that the same was done with Tej Chand Batra, the SAD candidate from ward number 18 in Mukatsar who was booked in an abduction case, as per the statement.

The SAD leader also added that Congress goons openly tossed turbans of SAD workers and let loose a reign of terror but cases were registered against the victims. The police also opposed permission for videography in polling booths and no one was allowed to depute videography teams.

“The SEC also failed to ensure videography at sensitive places which resulted in large scale booth capturing,” the leader alleged. Cheema said that the SAD had filed a complaint with all details with the SEC and had demanded countermanding of elections at all places where there had been large-scale booth capturing and violent incidents.