66% of polling booths sensitive, hypersensitive
CHANDIGARH Around 66% (2,600) of over 4,100 polling booths for civic body polls in Punjab on February 14 have been declared sensitive or hyper sensitive.
There are 2,302 wards where the representative would be elected. The State Election Commission (SEC) has declared 1,708 booths as sensitive and 861 as hypersensitive.
Polls will take place in eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, with 1,8000 security personnel being deployed.
As per a pre-poll promise of the Congress, the Capt Amarinder Singh government has implemented 50% reservation for women candidates.
The SEC has accordingly reserved half of total wards in 117 constituencies. Bathinda district has 286 sensitive and hypersensitive booths, followed by Mohali where the total number is 260.
The opposition parties Aam aadmi party (AAP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya janata party (BJP) have accused the ruling Congress of deploying all kinds of tricks to stop their candidates from contesting. SAD has demanded re-election in wards from where Congress candidates have been elected unopposed.
SAD has also complained to the SEC that wards of many voters has been changed in the Batala municipal committee. SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said it was forwarding a complaint in this regard from Batala MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal in which he has alleged that the ruling party trying to change wards of several hundred voters, even after allotment to election symbol to candidates.
HIGH COMMAND INVITING LEADERS FROM DIFFERENT STATES TO GATHER FEEDBACK OVER FARMERS’ STIR, PUNJAB AFFAIRS IN-CHARGE SAYS
CHANDIGARH: Amid the farmers’ stir against the Centre’s three farm laws, former Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi on Monday.
Sidhu, who has been keeping a low profile since quitting the state cabinet over his differences with chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, met the two central leaders at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence in the national capital, according to AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat. While there was no word from the Amritsar East MLA, Rawat, who was also present, said there was no discussion on cabinet reshuffle or state politics.
“As the Centre is trying to weaken the farmers’ protest, the party leadership is inviting leaders from different states to gather feedback on the ground situation,” the ex-uttarakhand chief minister said. The meeting that lasted close to one hour triggered speculations of a “new role” for the former minister.
The Congress circles remained agog with talk that Sidhu met Sonia Gandhi and could be re-inducted into the state cabinet or given an important responsibility in the state unit. However, Rawat denied that Sidhu met the Congress president but remained confident that he would be given an important responsibility soon.