Alleging police excesses and apprehending attacks on its workers, Punjab Congress on Thursday demanded deployment of paramilitary forces along with the videography of the polling process during forthcoming civic body polls.
Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa, in a memorandum submitted to the State Election Commissioner SS Brar, said that this was imperative in the wake of increasing lawlessness as “the brute force of the ruling SAD-BJP combine and its hooligans and goons are playing havoc with the democratic process”.
“The fear and terror created by them at the ground level is tremendous, as they want to win the elections by hook or crook. The voters and Congress party candidates are being openly threatened and intimated. The threats to frame the Congress party candidates and workers have not only remained threats, as false cases are being registered daily,” read the memorandum.
Bajwa said that the demand was being made in view of the number of “untoward incidents” that happened in the ongoing process of the civil elections including in the process of nominations.
listing out the several cases of excesses and violent attacks, Bajwa said that the party is apprehending that such incidents would increase with the elections drawing near and that was why the party is demanding deployment of central forces, besides videography.
To support his contention, Bajwa pointed out cases of excesses at Guru Har Sahai, Kapurthala, Rampura Phull, Malout, Faridkot, Kurali, Qadian, Patti, among others.
The state Congress chief also asserted that the wards, from where the Akali Dal candidates have been elected unopposed would be the ones where they were pressurizing the people and abusing or threatening them.c