Welcoming the initiatives of the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair polls in the state, the Punjab Congress on Sunday again urged the commission to impose model code of conduct without any delay to curb the growing criminalisation.
In a complaint to the EC, state Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh said the possibility of holding a free and fair election in the state was becoming more and more remote in view of the government’s failure to abide by the commission directives.
“Despite your explicit instructions to check the police-criminal nexus and to put an immediate stop to the misuse of official machinery to promote vested political interests, the Badal government continues to indulge in anti-people activities, negating all possibility of holding a fair and free election in the state,” he said in the complaint.
The complaint referred to the arrest of a BJP leader from Mansa in an illicit liquor case as well as the murder of an ex-serviceman in Moga following an argument over illicit liquor sale. The Punjab Congress chief also highlighted the increasing “atrocities” against the Dalits to underline the importance of urgent EC intervention.