SHIFT OFFICIALS FOR FAIR CIVIC BODY POLLS, SUKHBIR URGES STATE POLL PANEL

: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday requested the state election commission (SEC) to transfer all officers who have been posted in the poll-bound municipalities for more than three years.

After inaugurating the party’s election office in Bathinda, Sukhbir said the political dispensation in the state intends to misuse the officials for electoral gains. “Elections for the local bodies have been announced and it has been seen that a number of officials considered close to the Congress continue to stay posted for longer durations. All of these should be identified and transferred by the SEC for fair polls,” he said.

The former deputy chief minister accused the Congress government of not spending enough in the last four years to strengthen civic amenities in the urban areas of the state.

“The Congress candidates would be taken to task by the electors on development issues. Cities like Bathinda have not seen any new project in the last years of the Congress regime,” he claimed.He also addressed meetings in various municipal wards and alleged gross misuse of official machinery by the ruling Congress. “We will soon announce our candidates of the ten more wards and the party would comfortably win from all 50 seats,” the SAD chief said.

On the farmers’ announcement to hold a tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day, he said the agrarian community should be given a go-ahead as monthsold agitation in Punjab and Delhi remained peaceful.