Chandigarh – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asserted that chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the State Election Commission (SEC) had failed in their duty to conduct free and fair Panchayat elections and demanded that the entire process be notified afresh to ensure a level playing field for everyone.
Addressing a press conference here, senior party leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Legal Cell head Arshdeep Singh Kler while thanking the Punjab and Haryana high court for giving relief to 48 petitioners who had submitted that they had been forcefully kept out of the Panchayat election process, said another 300 petitions were likely to be filed tomorrow.
A large number of complainants gathered at the party head office here and were assisted in filing their petitions which will be submitted in the high court tomorrow. The complainants, while speaking to the media on the occasion, said their nominations were either not taken or were rejected later or even misplaced after the scrutiny process. A complainant disclosed how her nomination papers were rejected because she had allegedly not paid her water bill when there was no water connection in her house. Similarly other applicants disclosed how their nominations were not accepted despite standing in lines while many others disclosed how their nomination papers were torn. One applicant also disclosed he was beaten up by the police when he insisted his papers be accepted while another said a false report of a Patwari was appended to reject his papers.
Dr Daljit Cheema highlighted how the party had approached the Station Election Commission on numerous occasions but its Commissioner had refused to take action on any of the complaints submitted to him. He said the SEC also failed to depute any Observers even when it was highlighted how Sarpanches were elected unopposed in 25 villages in Gidderbaha after rejecting the nomination papers of all other candidates in the fray.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Arshdeep Kler said it was for the first time in the history of the State that the high court had stayed petitions regarding elections during an ongoing process. “This has been done following presentation of videographic proof to the court about how applicants were denied their fundamental right to contest the Panchayat elections”.
Mr Kler said both chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the State DGP had failed in their duty to conduct free and fair elections. He appealed that a high court monitored probe could be ordered into the entire affair so that responsibility for throttling the voice of democracy could be fixed and appropriate action could be taken against the guilty. He also appealed to all those who had been denied an opportunity to participate in the Panchayat elections by AAP functionaries to approach the SAD’s Legal Team which would assist them in filing their petitions in the high court. Legal Cell secretary general Jaspreet Singh Brar oversaw the collection of complaints at the party office. Gurpreet Singh Raju Khanna was also present on the occasion.