Chandigarh: Serious revelation by Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Moga Jagwinder Singh Grewal that three Congress legislators had threatened him with dire consequences as he refused to succumb to their pressure for rejecting the nomination papers of the rival Shiromani Akali Dal candidates in fray for ensuing Zila Parishad and Block Samiti polls are alarming.
In a hard hitting statement issued here today, SAD spokesman and former minister Dr.Daljit Singh Cheema said the ADC Grewal ’s has not only divulged the details to the media but even shot a complaint to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) amply vindicate SAD accusation of large-scale rejection of its nominees across the state.
“What is revealed is just tip of an iceberg. This has happened all over the state and the Congress MLAs and other leaders had persuaded, cajoled and threatened the officials to obey their dictates to reject the potential winning candidates in their areas. In fact, the majority of officials submitted to dictates while a few did resist and at least one Grewal dared to expose the nefarious designs of the Congress”, averred Dr. Cheema.
The SAD spokesman said the party had already provided details of 249 aspirants whose nomination were wrongly rejected by the returning officers without any rhyme or reason at behest of Congressmen bossing around who have reduced the poll process to a mere mockery.
The ADC has accused the three legislators-Dr. Harjot Kamal of Moga, Darshan Singh Brar from Bagha Purana and Kaka Sukhjit Singh Lohgarh from Dharamkot had stormed along with their supporters in his room and he had run for his life. Besides, Youth Congress Kanwaljit Brar tried to stop his vehicle on way to office and threatened him.
Dr. Cheema said the not only the poll process has been vitiated but the incident is reflective of failure of the law and order machinery. If the returning officers are vulnerable to the threats from ruling party’s goons, how can one expect free and fair elections in the state”, he asked.
Urging the SEC to probe the incident immediately and take prompt actions against defaulting legislators and till then order to extern them from the state till completion of poll process. This would prove deterrent and re-establish the credibility of the Commission which has been seriously eroded following arbitrary large scale nominations.
