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Delay in issuance of no-due certificate: Punjab CEO seeks report on Bittu’s complaint
Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) Sibin C has written to the department’s principal secretary to conduct a swift inquiry and submit the findings so that the election commission can be apprised.
The Punjab poll official on Sunday sought a report from the local government department’s principal secretary regarding a complaint by the BJP candidate and sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu that the Ludhiana municipal commissioner flouted election commission (EC) guidelines by not issuing him a no-due certificate within the stipulated time.
Bittu on Saturday had accused the AAP government in Punjab of sending him a rent arrear notice for his official residence to thwart his nomination process for the Lok Sabha elections. The three-time MP recently switched over to the BJP from the Congress. The saffron party has nominated him from Ludhiana, from where he had won the elections in 2014 and 2019.
Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) Sibin C has written to the department’s principal secretary to conduct a swift inquiry and submit the findings so that the election commission can be apprised.
Bittu, in his complaint to the CEO, said that Ludhiana’s municipal commissioner failed to give him a no-due certificate within 48 hours of submitting an application, impeding his ability to participate in the elections.
Bittu had to mortgage his ancestral property to pay house arrears to the tune of ₹1.82 crore at midnight, hours before filing the nomination. Bittu said he had to borrow money from his relatives, and friends and arranged the rest by mortgaging a part of his ancestral property in Kotla Afgana village of Payal. Bittu said he was issued the notice at midnight under a “planned conspiracy” to thwart his nomination process. He also alleged that AAP and the Congress are “hand in glove” to stop his march to victory.
