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Panchayat polls: Violence, chaos mar last day of nominations
Violence erupted during the last day of nomination filings for Punjab's panchayat polls, with clashes reported across multiple districts, injuring several.
Ferozepur/Amritsar/Jalandhar/ Faridkot/Bathinda
Violence and chaos marred the last day for the filing of the nomination papers for upcoming panchayat polls. Clashes were reported in Makhu in the Zira sub-division, Taran Taran and Moga as candidates and their supporters thronged the centres across the state to file nominations. There are 13,241 gram panchayats in the state for which elections will be held on October 15. According to the election schedule, the last date for filing nomination papers was October 4. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on October 5 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 7. Votes will be counted on the same day at the polling station itself.
In Makhu, a rural town, 60km from Ferozepur, the police had to fire in the air to prevent a Zira-like situation as two groups, reportedly from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress clashed. As per reports, the clash started at around 3:15 pm when the nomination process was going on at the local block development and panchayat office. Following a dispute, the activists of both parties started pelting stones forcing police to fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd.
“A case has been registered under Sections 109, 191(3), 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Further probe is on,” said Saumya Mishra, senior superintendent of police, Ferozepur.
Various incidents of clashes were reported across Ferozepur and Fazilka, including gunfire exchange between two groups in Talwandi Bhai and vandalism of vehicles by miscreants in Guru Har Sahai. In Jalalabad, AAP MLA Jagdeep Singh Goldy entered into heated arguments with local Congress leaders.
Punjab Congress unit chief and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring met former MLA Kulbir Zira who was among the three injured in Tuesday’s clash.
The last day for filing nomination papers remained largely peaceful in the Majha region barring a few incidents of clashes in Tarn Taran district that left several persons injured.
At Bhikhiwind, which falls in the Khemkaran assembly segment, the AAP and Congress workers clashed leaving five injured. Simranjit Singh, a local Congress leader alleged, “The goons of the ruling party attacked Congress candidates and workers with sticks, baseballs, stones, bricks etc when the our workers were going to the BDPO office to file nomination papers. AAP did not allow us to file the nomination papers”.
After the clash, Congress workers blocked the Amritsar-Khemkaran national highway. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, former Khadoor Sahib MP Jasbir Singh Dimpa and other leaders later met Tarn Taran deputy commissioner Paramvir Singh Gill and SSP Gaurav Toora regarding the incident.
Tension simmered in the Gaddiwind block of Tarn Taran district when some persons tore nomination papers and pelted stones at the rival party. Faridkot saw a peaceful nomination process, while Moga district reported a few clashes. In Moga’s Landeke, two factions clashed after reports that the nomination papers of a faction were torn by the opposition party. In another incident, the nomination papers were allegedly snatched from a woman in Dharamkot sub-division.
Moga DC Vishesh Sarangal said: “We have not received any official complaint regarding the firing or snatching of nomination papers. We will re-issue them NOCs and accept their papers tomorrow but only if the case is genuine.”
The chaotic scenes were witnessed at all the nomination filing centres across Punjab with long queues seen at the centres.
The candidates arriving at nomination centres complained about mismanagement and poor arrangements at the venues. Mohinder Pal of Bhuja Khurd village of Jalandhar district said earlier, they were harassed mentally for procuring a no objection certificate and now, they had to stand in long queues for hours to file nomination papers. “We arrived at the municipal council, Nakodar, to process our candidatures at 9 am but our turn didn’t come until 2 pm. There are no arrangements for drinking water and toilets,” he said. Another woman Surjit Kaur, who had come to file candidature for the sarpanch post, said it appeared from the chaos that the state government was not at all prepared to hold these elections.
In the Doaba region, Hoshiarpur district has 1,405 gram panchayats, while Jalandhar has 890, followed by Kapurthala 546 and Nawashahr district has 466 gram panchayats under its jurisdiction. As per official data Ferozepur will elect sarpanches for 836 panchayats, the highest number in southwest Punjab, followed by 435 sarpanches in Fazilka and 340 in Moga. In Bathinda, the rural electorate will elect 318 village heads. There are a total of 269 gram panchayats in Muktsar.
