Receiving reports of miscreants allegedly damaging the EVM (electronic voting machine) in some booths of Patiala district surfaced, Punjab State Election Commission on Monday ordered re-election in one polling booth of Patran Municipal Council and two of Samana Municipal Council in the district.
“The repolling would be held on February 16, from 8 am to 4 pm; and counting will take place on February 17,” said an official spokesperson of the State Election Commission.
The spokesperson said that the Commission has received reports from Patran Returning Officers (RO) that some miscreants had allegedly damaged the EVM in polling booth no. 11 of ward no. 8. Similarly, the Commission had also received reports from RO Samana that unknown persons allegedly damaged EVM in polling booth no. 22 and 23 of ward no. 11.
Taking serious note of these incidents, the Commission has announced to nullify the earlier polling conducted in these booths and ordered to re-poll under Section 59 (2)(A) of Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, said the spokesperson.
On Sunday, 71.39 percent voters, of the total 31.95 lakh, exercised their franchise during the polling for eight municipal corporations, and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state, which was marred by a few incidents of violent clashes, minor skirmishes, EVM snags, besides allegations of booth capturing and bogus voting.
The state’s opposition parties — Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — had accused the ruling Congress of using government machinery and wrong tactics to win the elections, which were considered to be a preview of 2022 state assembly polls.
A total of 9,222 candidates are in the fray for elections to 2,302 wards, and 2,832 among them are contesting as independents, with 2,037 representing the ruling Congress, 1,569 are Akali Dal nominees, 1,003 of BJP, 1,606 of AAP, and 160 are fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The counting of votes will take place on February 17.
A DAY AFTER, OPPOSITION CLAMOUR ON CAPT’s RESIGNATION
A day after the civic body elections, the opposition parties — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — on Monday demanded Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s resignation for his failure to maintain law and order during elections.
AAP’s MLA from Talwandi Sabo, Baljinder Kaur, strongly condemning the violence during the municipal bodies’ elections and the attack on AAP workers, asserted that Capt Amarinder should resign immediately “taking the responsibility of the violence”.
In chorus, AAP MLA from Sunam Aman Arora came down heavily on the Chief Minister for his failure to solve the people’s inconvenience, while accusing him of “asking his goons to ensure violence when the people came out to vote for change preventing them from voting”.
“We demand the immediate resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh for failing in maintaining law and order in the State. He has failed as Chief Minister in protecting the right to vote of the people,” he said.
Also lashing out at the Chief Minister for his “immoral politics”, BJP’s national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that Capt Amarinder had lost moral right to govern Punjab after his dismal failure as a Chief Minister to improve the economy or the law and order in the State.
Baljinder Kaur, who visited the party leader Laljit Singh Bhullar who was injured in the poll violence, said that on the polling day, “Congress goons in Patti resorted to violence and vandalism, trying to sabotage the polling process”.