Punjab Congress seeks postponement of panchayat polls by three weeks

Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress has sought postponement of the panchayat polls slated for Tuesday, alleging irregularities in the nomination process and also apprehending irregularities during the counting of votes.

A delegation of the Congress, led by leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly and senior party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, on Monday met the Punjab State Election Commissioner here and urged that the polls be deferred by three weeks.

Elections to 13,229 gram panchayats are slated to be held on October 15.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting here, Bajwa said the delegation has requested the state election commissioner to postpone the panchayat elections by three weeks.

He alleged that "massive irregularities" were committed during the nomination process as nominations of many opposition-back candidates were "wrongfully" rejected.

Many candidates were not given no-objection certificates (NOC) required during the nominations filing, he alleged.

Many people, whose nominations were "wrongfully" rejected, have already approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he said.

"We want the election process to be postponed by three weeks. We do not want cancellation of the panchayat elections," he said.

Bajwa also claimed that the voters' list of January 1, 2023 has been considered for the panchayat elections instead of the voters' list of January 1, 2024 which was considered during the Lok Sabha polls.

Many voters, who voted during the Lok Sabha polls, would not be able to cast votes in the panchayat elections, Bajwa said.

Bajwa alleged that the ruling AAP had printed fake ballot papers in each village for the posts of 'sarpanch' and 'panch' for "rigging" the panchayat elections.

"We demand that holograms should be fixed on ballot papers," he said.

"We also have apprehension of massive irregularities during counting of votes," he further said.