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Punjab Police won the election for AAP in Majitha: SAD MLA Ganieve Majithia
Says state repression led to a record low voter turnout, forcing Congress to boycott the elections even as SAD remained steadfast in opposing AAP.
Majitha legislator Ganieve Kaur Majithia on Thursday said that Punjab Police had won the zila parishad and block samiti elections for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in her constituency by riding roughshod over the will of the people amid a record low voter turnout and a boycott by the Congress.
Thanking the voters for standing with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the face of state repression, Ganieve Majithia said despite the lowest voter turnout of 40% since 1992, the SAD won one of the four zila parishad seats and five of the 12 block samiti seats that had gone to the polls.
She said certificates for the Bhoma and Pakharpura seats that were won by the SAD had been given to Aam Aadmi Party candidates to reduce the party’s count to three even as the party was shown defeated by six votes on another seat.
Asserting that the people had stood with the Majithia family and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been jailed on “false charges”, the SAD MLA said: “Large-scale rigging has resulted in the AAP stealing the election.”
Sharing details of how this had been done, she said: “First of all officers were changed starting from the SSP to SHOs as well as the deputy commissioner and the sub divisional magistrates. Then handpicked officers were deputed to prevent the opposition from contesting that resulted in AAP candidates being declared elected unopposed in 22 of the 33 block samiti seats.”
Asserting that the AAP government was not content with this, she said: “On December 14, voting day, large-scale rigging was done by AAP goons who turned cameras away from ballot boxes and stuffed them with ballot papers of AAP candidates. She said in the Tarsika zila parishad zone, 12-13 boxes were even sent to a different counting centre without giving notice to the candidate. Even women were not spared with a woman lawyer being slapped. The aim was simple. To loot the elections by hook or by crook.”
Stating that the SAD decided to remain in the field despite a boycott by the Congress, Ganieve Majithia said police threatened SAD supporters with false cases. “I salute the candidates and supporters who stood up to the police oppression and voted for the SAD in large numbers.”
She said the fact that the AAP took such desperate measures to steal the elections proved that the ruling party knew that it would suffer a humiliating defeat in case of a free and fair poll. Asserting that the Majithia family would continue to take up people’s issues forcefully, the MLA said: “Punjabis have never tolerated tyranny and will give an appropriate answer to the AAP when the assembly elections are held in a free and fair manner in 2027.”
