CHANDIGARH: The Punjab BJP, citing law and order problems, demanded that elections to local bodies be held under the supervision of central forces. It has approached the state election commissioner alleging intimidation of voters and raising doubts about the state’s ability to hold free and fair polls. On Wednesday, a BJP delegation had met the governor and requested him to defer the elections in view of the law and order situation. The party’s response has come in the wake of its poor performance in Haryana civic polls and amid the ongoing farmers’ stir that has turned the public sentiment against it in Punjab.
The state election commission has initiated the process for the polls, tentatively scheduled in the first week of February. A BJP memorandum submitted to state election commissioner J S Sidhu on Friday suggested a review panel should be formed to prepare the ground for free and fair poll. The panel should consider “deployment of central forces such as the CRPF and ITBP to build confidence among voters and candidates,” it added.The BJP delegation led by state party chief Ashwani Sharma that had met Governor VP Singh Badnore on Wednesday and raised concern over the law and order situation, said the local body polls should be held only when the state had a favourable atmosphere.
The party’s former ally Shiromani Akali Dal also asked the state poll panel to requisition paramilitary forces, besides demanding measures to ensure the Congress does not “hijack the entire process as it did in the case of the zila parishad and panchayat polls”. In a letter to the state election commissioner, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema also demanded that videography be conducted both inside the booth as well in the office of the returning officers to ward off booth capturing and other malpractices. He also demanded that online filing of nominations be allowed and candidates issued ‘no dues’ certificates on the basis of self-declarations pending verification.