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Chandigarh: The Punjab State Election Commission has cancelled panchayat elections in 20 villages at Giddarbaha in Muktsar district where candidates were elected unopposed as sarpanchs following complaints of irregularities in the nomination process for the October 15 polls.
A fresh date for elections in these villages will be announced later, the state poll panel said in an order.
The election programme for 20 gram panchayats -- Assa Buttar, Daddu Mohalla Mallan, Khirkian Wala, Wara Kishanpura, Lohara, Buttar Sarih, Kothe Hazure Wale, Kothe Dhaba, Kothe Kesar Singh Wala, Bharu, Daula, Kothe Himmatpura, Bhunder, Lundewala, Smagh, Mannian Wala, Sekha, Khunnan Khurd, Madhir and Buttar Bakhuan -- stands cancelled with immediate effect, the order read.
There is a strong probability that the candidature of the complainants for the post of sarpanch in these gram panchayats were wrongfully shown to be withdrawn, thus indirectly leading to their inability to contest the elections, thereby negating the democratic process, it added.
Any declaration of candidates elected unopposed in these villages is declared null and void, the order said.
The poll panel also summoned seven officials, including an additional deputy commissioner and a sub-divisional magistrate, in this matter.
The state election commission had received complaints from political parties alleging "irregularities and illegalities" in the nomination filing processes conducted by the returning officers of Giddarbaha block.
It was alleged that certain nominations which were found to be correct during scrutiny were wrongfully rejected after the allotment of symbols in an illegal manner.
The complainants also alleged that the returning officers rejected the nominations of several candidates by issuing revised lists even though they had been already accepted.
The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal had accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab of "misusing" the state machinery for rejecting the nomination papers of opposition-backed candidates for the October 15 polls.