Chandigarh: Two incidents of firing were reported on Tuesday as counting of ballots for panchayat polls, is underway in Punjab. Four people were injured in Tarn Taran and two were injured in another incident in Patiala during voting. Also, two government employees died owing to poor health as polling for over 13937 gram panchayats was underway.
The polling for approximately 1.05 lakh candidates contesting for the posts of panch and sarpanch was held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with voting happening through ballot boxes, officials said. The State Election Commission cancelled the polling at Dalla and Pona villages in Ludhiana’s Jagraon sub-division due to technical reasons.
Now, the counting of ballots is underway amid tight security arrangements despite calls for postponement by the Congress over alleged irregularities in nominations. The panchayat poll proceeded after the Supreme Court on Tuesday decided not to put a stay, saying there would be “chaos” if courts started staying elections on polling day.
“If polling has started today, how can we intervene at this stage? Probably the high court realised the gravity of it and vacated the stay on the elections,” the bench, comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said.
One of the deceased government employees has been identified as Lakha Singh, 53, a senior sub-inspector with the Punjab Police. Lakha was on poll duty in Dhilwan village of Barnala. Another employee was Amarinder Singh, a 36-year-old government school teacher from Fazilka, who was on poll duty in Jalandhar. As many as 3,798 candidates have been unanimously elected for the position of sarpanch, while 48,861 candidates have been selected for the panch.
Elections in 28 gram panchayats have been cancelled, and one has been halted. As a result, voting took place for 9,398 gram panchayats. Candidates have been barred from using symbols of political parties, in keeping with the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024, passed last month by the Legislative Assembly. There were 1.33 crore registered voters in the state, including 70.51 lakh men and 63.46 lakh women voters.
On Monday, a Congress delegation, led by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, met with the Punjab State Election Commissioner, seeking a three-week postponement of the panchayat elections. Bajwa said there were “massive irregularities” in the nomination process, with several candidates’ names being “wrongfully” rejected. He said many Opposition-backed candidates were denied the necessary no-objection certificates during the filing of nominations.
The Congress has also raised concerns over the use of the voters’ list from January 1, 2023, instead of the updated list from January 1, 2024, which was used during the Lok Sabha elections. However, the state-ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has welcomed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Monday decision to dismiss the petition regarding panchayat elections and expressed gratitude to the High Court.
Voting for the Panchayat elections in Punjab is going on from 8 am today (Tuesday). 44 percent voting has taken place till 2 pm. There are a total of 13,937 Gram Panchayats in the state. Elections are being held using ballot papers instead of EVMs. There is also a NOTA option on the ballot paper.
96 thousand employees have been deployed for the Panchayat elections. There are also strong arrangements from the police side. Voting will continue till 4 pm. After this, the result will be declared today itself.
Incidents of violence reported at different places
There was a dispute as soon as voting started in Kotha Athchak village of Jagraon. There was a difference in the voter list inside and outside the booth. Voting has been stopped here after the uproar by the people.
There is a report of firing outside the polling booth in Sohal Sain village of Tarn Taran district. One person was injured due to the bullet. The dispute took place between the people standing in the queue to cast their vote outside the polling booth.
The villagers of Lakhmir village of Mamdot town of Ferozepur have not started voting yet. Here the voters are sitting on a dharna outside the booth. For the last five years, they have been demanding to get their 441 votes made.
The atmosphere got heated in the middle of the Panchayat elections in Babbehali village of Gurdaspur. The villagers objected to the arrival of some outsiders in the village. The villagers have informed the police and administration team about this.
Voting stopped in Amritsar after Ballot papers missing
Earlier the ballot papers were complete, now many ballot papers are missing. About 100 votes are missing out of total 425 votes. The administration will come and complete the slip of the ballot paper and then start the voting. SDM Ravinder Singh sought a report on the disappearance of post ballot paper in village Kot Razada of Amritsar. Naib Tehsildar will be sent to the spot and will be investigated. Elections will be started after the party candidates are fully satisfied. People stopped voting due to missing post ballot papers.
Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian casts his vote at a polling booth in his village Khudia during the ongoing gram panchayat elections in the state today.
#WATCH | Lambi | Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian casts his vote at a polling booth in his village Khudia during the ongoing gram panchayat elections in the state today pic.twitter.com/SjfBKCIaqt
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2024
Voting underway for the Punjab gram panchayat elections; visuals from a polling centre in Sri Muktsar Sahib Voting for sarpanch and panch posts is taking place through ballot boxes from 8 am to 4 pm.
#WATCH | Voting underway for the Punjab gram panchayat elections; visuals from a polling centre in Sri Muktsar Sahib
Voting for sarpanch and panch posts is taking place through ballot boxes from 8 am to 4 pm. pic.twitter.com/fAwJXGS9CL
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2024
Voters in Punjab are casting their votes for panchayats today. Polling parties arrived at their designated polling stations late yesterday to prepare for the elections. The voting has commenced at 19,110 polling stations in the state from 8 am today. The voting process will take place from 8 am to 4 pm, and the results will be announced in the evening.
Tight security measures have been implemented in all districts of the state in light of the elections. It’s worth noting that some political parties, through their leaders, submitted around one thousand petitions from different panchayats to the High Court, requesting the cancellation of the panchayat elections.
They accused the Punjab government of not allowing nominations to be filed under pressure and canceling those filed by the opposition by raising objections. Allegations were made that a consensus was being forced in the panchayats. Upon receiving the petitions, the Punjab High Court stayed the elections for approximately 250 Panchayats.
However, during the hearing held yesterday, 700 petitions were dismissed, and the stay on them was lifted. Following the court’s decision yesterday, the polling parties departed for their respective stations.