Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday termed the allegations of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on rigging of civic polls as a typical case of crying foul in the face of their imminent defeat in the elections, results of which will be announced on Wednesday.
“It’s a panic reaction to their inevitable wipeout in these polls,” said the Chief Minister, adding that the BJP and AAP, as well as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), are all set to be completely trounced in these municipal polls, whose results will be the precursor of worse to come for these parties that have totally lost the confidence and trust of the people of Punjab.
All these parties have worked together to ruin Punjab, with the black farm laws the latest in the long line of their anti-people and anti-Punjab actions, Capt Amarinder said, adding that the shock of their total rejection have unnerved their leaderships, who are desperately seeking refuge in lies and excuses to cover up their impending failure.
“Why would my Government or my party try to sabotage an election that we are clearly winning?” asked the Chief Minister, urging the opposition parties to stop whining and start introspecting on their policies and programmes.
As in the case of the Republic Day violence in Delhi, any instances of violence in the Punjab municipal polls were the handiwork of BJP and AAP working in collusion to seize the polls by hook or by crook, he added.
Ridiculing BJP’s Tarun Chugh over his remarks that the people of Punjab were living in terror and fear, Capt Amarinder said that the people of the whole country were, in fact, “living under the dread of the tyrannical Central Government, which has given up even the pretense of being a democratic regime”.
He said that the BJP-led Government at the Centre has become so despotic that it cannot tolerate the minimum of dissent, even on social media, which is why they probably believe that other parties are also running repressive regimes where ever they are in power.
The Congress has always upheld the Constitutional principles of democracy and the freedom of the citizens, and continues to do so in Punjab and other states where it is ruling, he said.
As for Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, that party is nothing more than a tool of the BJP to spread misinformation, and promote its anti-people agenda, said the Chief Minister, adding that the lies of these parties are clearly motivated by their petty political agenda.
Capt Amarinder called upon the opposition parties in Punjab to stop trying to mislead the people with their deceitful statements and actions.
DEMANDING REPOLLING, AAP CLAIMS CONG “GOONS” CAPTURED BOOTHS AT OVER 200 PLACES
Demanding from the State Election Commission to conduct re-polling in the places where violence and “booth capturing” incidents were reported during the municipal bodies’ elections on Sunday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that the Congress “goons” captured booths at more than 200 places in the State on the polling day.
“The Congress goons carried out violence and captured booths in over 200 places in the state.
The reports of violence and booth capturing by the Congress goons were reported from Samana, Abohar, Patti, Ferozepur, Rajpura, Bathinda, Moga, Dhuri, Patran and many other municipal bodies. At many places, AAP workers shared photos and videos of the Congress goons, forcibly entering and capturing polling booths,” said AAP MLA and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema.
Cheema said that the pictures and videos clearly show how the Congress goons looted polling booths by intimidating the people and tried to snatch their right to vote.
“But it is a matter of shame that instead of stopping those goons, the police were assaulting AAP workers who were opposing hooliganism and were getting the booths captured from the Congress goons by giving them a free hand,” said Cheema.
AAP leader maintained that a team collected reports from the party workers across the State on Monday about booths where incidents of violence and booth capturing were recorded.
“The results of the reports turned out to be shocking. More than 200 booths witnessed incidents of violence and booth capturing,” he claimed, adding that booth capturing and violence were reported in almost all the wards of some municipal bodies.
Questioning the election commission’s attitude, Cheema said: “Surprisingly, the Election Commission decided to get re-polling at only three polling stations to declare the election as independent. The Commission’s attitude is completely one-sided during the entire elections. It seems as if the Election Commission is the Congress’ election wing.”