CEC took note of reports of 'dead militants' masquerading as political leaders in some of the districts and wanted a probe into the cases.
CHANDIGARH: The Assembly election scene in Punjab is fast gaining heat as the Akali Dal announced its candidates on Tuesday. The Congress and the BJP are still giving final touches to their list of nominees.
Chief election commissioner(CEC) N Gopalaswami along with other members of the commission, took stock of the administrative preparedness and served a stern word of caution to Punjab DGP, SS Virk, against playing a partisan role in the forthcoming Assembly elections. This after a series of complaints against him by the Opposition parties. He, however, turned down the demand of the Akali Dal-BJP combine to remove him from the office after it alleged that the DGP was behaving more like "a Congress agent".
The CEC took special note of reports of some "dead militants" masquerading as political leaders in some of the districts and wanted the police to probe into the cases. While the police rubbished such elements in Punjab, the Akali leaders expressed apprehension during the course of their interaction with the Commission members saying the DGP was seeking help of former and "dead" militants to whip up a sense of insecurity among voters.
They cited an instance in which the police had seized more than 20 kgs of RDX and arrested three people, including Jasbir Singh Rode, brother of Pakistan-based militant, Lakhbir Singh Rode. Jasbir was let off by the police within hours of his arrest.
Jasbir has been politically active in the recent past to forge an alliance with other radical Sikh groups.
The Akali leaders expressed apprehension that former radical elements might create law and order problems. This, in turn, might help the Congress.
The commission took special note of past incidents of large-scale distribution of liquor and narcotics among voters close to the election. It demanded that the district police chiefs should remain vigilant against such acts.
Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal has taken a lead over other political parties by declaring his team of candidates for 94 seats in the 117-member house. Rest of the seats has been left for the BJP to forge an alliance with it.
Amarinder Singh and PCC president, Shamsher Singh Dullo, had a prolonged meeting with AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday. They discussed the party's electoral prospects.
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