Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, and former deputy CM OP Soni, on Saturday met state election commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri and urged him to extend the last date for filing nomination papers, given the widespread violence, alleged intimidation, and ‘systematic obstruction’ of opposition candidates during the nomination process for the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections.
Bajwa also drew the attention of the commissioner to a widely circulated ‘audio clip’ in which Patiala SSP Varun Sharma is allegedly heard instructing cops to disrupt the nomination process, including encouraging the snatching and destruction of papers. Bajwa said that such deliberate obstruction constitutes a violation of Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.