It’s not over yet as far as the elections are concerned as the supporters from the camp of independent candidate Simarjeet Singh Bains have been deployed outside the strong rooms to guard the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Though paramilitary forces are already present at the strong rooms, the independent candidate is in no mood to take chances by trusting the administrative machinery.
While Bains was not available for comment, his personal assistant Jaswinder Singh Khalsa, while elaborating upon the “parallel vigil” of the strong rooms, said, “It’s a 24x7 process wherein we have deployed 15 persons outside five strong rooms. Each strong room is guarded by three persons and the shift changes after every 12 hours. They will continue to maintain vigil until counting of votes on May 16.”
When asked for the reason behind this act, Khalsa said it was the right of every candidate to monitor the security arrangements without disturbing the set up of the administrative machinery.
He also referred to some incidents from assembly elections wherein there were some issues pertaining to the strong rooms, adding that if anything went wrong, the candidates should be in a position to pass on the infor mation to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
{{/usCountry}}He also referred to some incidents from assembly elections wherein there were some issues pertaining to the strong rooms, adding that if anything went wrong, the candidates should be in a position to pass on the infor mation to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
{{/usCountry}}In addition to the three persons guarding the strong rooms, there are vehicles that carry the supporters who replenish the food and beverages for the “guards”.
The tussle between SAD candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali and Bains came to the fore from the day Bains, a SAD rebel, announced his candidature as an independent contestant for the Ludhiana Lok Ssabha seat.
In addition to being a four-cornered contest, the duo are locked up in a dual contest of “Who will get more votes?”