Lambasting Punjab State Election Commission (SEC) for failing to hold free and fair elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday said that the complete hijacking of the panchayat elections by the Congress party amounted to murder of democracy.
“Congressmen not only incited violence during polling today but also resorted to booth capturing even as the civil administration remained mute spectators and the State police facilitated rigging at various places by proceeding against Akali workers,” said the former minister and SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema.
Cheema said that Akali workers were prevented from casting their votes at various places with Congressmen resorting to indiscriminate firing. “Such firing incidents were reported from Deena village in Moga, Bosarkalan in Patiala and at places in Ferozepur and Amritsar. Booths were also captured at all these places by Congress goondas. Large scale booth capturing was also reported from Mullanpur Dakha,” he said.
The Akali leader said that in a shocking incident, one person was killed in Mamdot in Ferozepur after he was overrun by a car in a stampede after Congress workers set a ballot box to fire.
“Large scale violence and booth capturing was also witnessed in Patiala, the home district of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. In Sanaur, shots were fired and there was a large scale stone pelting. Similarly in Rajpura, SGPC member Surjit Singh Garhi was roughed up by Congress hoodlums,” he alleged.
Asserting that the State police had also become a “stooge” in the hands of the Congress party, Cheema said that in Naushera in Amritsar district, police personnel indulged in lathi-charge on Akali workers to facilitate Congressmen.
Stating that the State Election Commission had failed in its duty to hold free and fair elections, Cheema said that despite complaints, no action was taken against the wrong doers.
He said that the atmosphere had been vitiated by Congressmen before the elections with Akali leaders being intimidated and threatened with dire consequences in case they took active interest in the polls.
Cheema said that today, on the polling day, Congress goons did not allow Akali workers to approach polling booths and pelted them with stones and even fired into the air to intimidate them.
“All this proved that the Congress party did not have the courage to face the people. Congressmen realise that their government has not done anything for the people and failed to keep any of the promises made to them. This is why they have resorted to goondaism to hijack the democratic process,” he added.
