A polling station at booth number 2 of ward number 44 in Ludhiana. Re-polling will be held in booth two and three of this ward from 8 am to 4 pm Monday. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)
THE Punjab election commission Sunday ordered re-polling in two booths of ward number 44 (Dugri area) of Ludhiana after allegations of bogus voting and booth capturing during the Municipal Corporation polls Saturday.
Re-polling will be held in booth number 2 and 3 of ward number 44 from 8 am to 4 pm Monday, said Pardeep Aggarwal, deputy commissioner, Ludhiana. The venues of the two booths are Ram Lal Bhasin Public School and Senior Citizens Bhawan.
On Saturday, there were allegations that Congress MLA from Gill constituency Kuldeep Singh Vaid ‘influenced’ voters in favour of his son Harkaran Singh Vaid who is contesting from the ward. Opposition candidates alleged that MLA was allowed to move inside polling booths and even had conversations with polling staff.
At one of the polling booths at Ram Lal Bhasin Public School, the booth doors were closed and voters were made to wait outside for at least 40 minutes. Then, a group of men allegedly barged inside the polling booth and polled bogus votes in presence of polling staff and policemen, sources claimed.
Congress MLA Kuldeep Singh Vaid said, “It is, in fact, the fallout of hooliganism by Akali Dal workers that re-polling has been ordered.”
“It is on my complaint to the Election Commission that re-poll is being done. Akali Dal workers indulged in hooliganism, not us. We are ready for re-polling,” he claimed. There are around 1,500 voters registered in two booths where re-polling will be held Monday.
Several videos of voters from this ward went viral on social media, with many claiming that they were not able to cast their votes and were “eyewitnesses” to booth capturing and bogus voting.
SAD candidate Meetpal Singh Dugri even alleged that policemen picked up his videographers whom he had called after getting permission from the district administration. “SHO Dugri and SHO Ladhowal were on duty there and everything was done at the behest of the present MLA, whose son is also a candidate. He was going inside polling booths. My videographers were picked up by police. There was brazen booth capturing and people complained that they were not able to vote. We complained to the election commission. We are hoping for fair polling Monday,”
said Dugri.
The ward also has Jai Prakash Mittal, son of former MLA Prem Mittal, as one of the candidates (from Lok Insaaf Party). Mittal too alleged that Congress workers created trouble and bogus voting was done. Pardeep Aggarwal, deputy commissioner, Ludhiana, said, “There was a difference in the number of signatures of voters and actual votes polled. Thus, re-polling has been ordered.”
He added, “We get signatures of every voter before polling is done. There is a difference of at least 80 signatures. Votes polled are more whereas manual signatures are less. One of our employees who was responsible to get signatures was having lunch. Polling staff has claimed that suddenly there was a complete chaos due to which some signatures were missed. So we are getting repoll done to eliminate any doubts in results.” He, however, denied that ‘bogus voting’ took place.
Several videos of alleged booth capturing in ward number 44 surfaced Sunday, too. LIP leader MLA Simarjit Bains has demanded that police officers who were on duty Saturday should not be deputed during re-polling Monday.
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