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Chandigarh MC elections: Day before polling, row over ‘fake’ voter IDs
Returning officer moves complaint by AAP to Chandigarh police, asks for immediate probe; earlier in the day Congress and BJP workers came to blows in Sector 34
After complaints over distribution of “fake” voter ID-cards in Sector 34, the returning officer of the area asked the police to investigate the matter and report on it “immediately”.
Returning officer Harjit Singh Sandhu forwarded a complaint, made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), to the station house officer of Sector 34 here on Thursday.
Satish Kumar Sahini, state joint secretary, AAP, in his complaint stated that a private person, who is the driver of a BJP covering candidate, was distributing voter cards in Sector 34.
Congress, BJP workers come to blows
Earlier in the day, high political drama was witnessed at Sector 34 after Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers came to blows over the allegations of distribution of “fake” voter ID-cards.
Senior leaders, including BJP’s state president Arun Sood and Congress city chief Subhash Chawla, also reached the location of the incident.
Rajiv Sharma, the spokesperson of Congress’ Chandigarh unit, in a letter to EC, alleged, “A BJP worker was caught by local residents in Sector 34 C while distributing over 150 fake voter IDs of local voters. On confronting, he admitted on camera that he was given these fake voter ID cards by a BJP leader, with directions to distribute these in the area.”
The complaint further read, “Residents handed over the BJP worker to the police but no action has been taken by the police or the election commission to our knowledge.”
Dr Anish Garg, chief spokesperson of the Chandigarh Residents’ Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED), who is a BJP supporter, alleged that he was thrashed by Congress workers. A video of the incident was also circulated on social media.
Garg said, “The block level officer (BLO) was not feeling well, so one of the party members living here tried to help in distribution of the cards. Former mayor Poonam Sharma and I only went to enquire what had happened, but the Congress workers started attacking us.”
“I lodged a complaint with the local police after Congress goons beat me up,” he added.
On the incident, MP Kirron Kher, tweeted, “I am ashamed of what they have done to our leaders! It’s shameful to see what level the Congress party has stooped to! AAP are the B-Team to Congress.”
Sharing a video of the BJP leaders who alleged that they were beaten up by the Congress workers during the incident, Kher further stated, “Listen to what the Congress goons did to our leaders who have been working so hard with honesty and patience. The voters are not going to forgive Congress and AAP. Let no one create a false perception of our leaders.”
‘Sector-34 polling station declared sensitive’
Returning officer Sandhu, said, “We have declared the polling station as sensitive. It is located Government School, Sector 34. We have appointed a micro-observer for the station. Police deployment and the videography of the entire voting process will be done as per the norms of the “sensitive booth”. We have also written to the police to submit a report to us too after investigation into the matter as per law.”
