Elections to more than 13,000 gram panchayats of Punjab were held on Sunday with nearly 80 per cent polling, amidst sporadic incidents of violence claiming one life, clashes, alleged attempts of booth-capturing and fake voting.
About 1.27 crore rural voters used cast their votes to elect 13276 sarpanchs and 83831 panchs amidst tight security arrangements. Out of these, 4,376 Sarpanchs and 46,754 were elected unanimously.
Despite cold weather and dense fog at few places, long queues of voters were witnessed across the state at various polling booths to exercise their franchise. The voting started at 8 am, and by 4 pm, the polling process was completed at most of the places, and the counting started soon after.
Till the time of filing the report, the ruling Congress was heading for a clean sweep, with the Opposition parties, including SAD, accusing large scale booth capturing by the Congress workers.
Though the final tally of the winning candidates is not yet notified by the State Election commission, the reports indicated that the Congress has managed to secure win in 90 percent of Panchayats. The SAD and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have also claimed victory in many village panchayats.
The incidents of firing and scuffle between the Congress and Akali Dal workers were reported, while at many places, the different groups of Congress workers also clashed.
Throughout the day, reports of violence, booth capturing, continued to pour, largely from the districts of Ferozepur, Faridkot, Moga, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Mohali, Barnala, among others.
One person was reportedly died in Lakhmir Ke village in Mamdot of Ferozepur district. The deceased was identified as Mohinder Singh who died while chasing the miscreants, who entered the polling booth and set the ballot box on fire.
At Duluana village of Gurdaspur district, villagers hold a massive protest as the name of one of the contesting candidates went missing from the ballot paper. A similar protest was held after the name of one of the candidates was missing from the ballot paper at Batala Bitewad village in Attari of Amritsar district. The officials concerned have recommended re-polling on these booths in written to the State Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the polls for panchayat were postponed in Mandayala village in Nakodar as a candidate for the post of panch, Tarsem Lal, died after he suffered heart attack.
A firing incident was reported from Khunder Uttad village if Ferozepur district after a clash rook place between two groups. As no causality was reported, the Police remained a mute spectator.
In Kothi Rai Sahib village, another case of firing was reported in which a person was seriously injured.
In Faridkot, the residents of Pakka-Chaar village blocked the road leading up to the Deputy Commissioner's residence to stage a protest against “fake voting” by the Congress-backed sarpanch candidate, in opposition to another candidate also hailing from the Congress party.
A clash between two factions was reported in Behram village of Moga district, following which the polling was stopped for about two hours. Besides, an incident of firing in the air was reported from in Dina village of Moga.
In Gurdaspur’s Bujurgwal village, about 20-25 masked youths captured the booth. Election Officer Prashotam Lal said that he saved himself after hiding. “I have informed the higher officials about the incident. And the voting for this booth has been cancelled on the orders of the officials,” he said.
Another incident of booth capturing was found in Shakri village. The chief of the election staff Malvinder Singh said that a large number of masked men break into iron gates of the polling booth by using a sharp weapon and started casting votes by stamping the ballot papers. Later, former Akali Minister Sucha Singh Langah staged a dharna with the support of villagers.
In Fatehgarh Churian’s Khanfatta village’s polling booth, supporters of two Congress factions clashed with eachother during which two were reportedly injured.
Another incident of booth capturing was reported from Ladeh village in Rajasansi of Amritsar district. Some unknown persons tore apart the ballot papers. The voting was reportedly cancelled, and will be held again.
As many as dozen incidents of violence were reported from various villages in Patiala—the home district of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
After an alleged booth capturing attempt by outsiders in Fatehpur Garhi village in Rajpura, villagers vandalised vehicles of electoral officers. The villagers also reportedly locked the outsiders in a room.
