Nominations begins sans preparations: SAD

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday urged Punjab State Election Commissioner to ensure that the candidates aspiring to contest from seats reserved for the Schedule Caste and Backward Classes (SC, BC) for Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samitis are issued required caste certificates within 12 hours so that no aspirant is deprived of his right to contest.

“The elections were announced on August 29 in the afternoon and publicised the next day through newspapers only. Since then, the Government offices in the State are closed and would open tomorrow on September 4, when the process of nomination would begin, leaving the aspirant with no time to obtain mandatory certificates,” said SAD spokesperson and vice-president Daljeet Singh Cheema, in a letter written to the Commission.

Cheeema said that all concerned officers from district magistrate down to Kaungo and patwari be directed to ensure that such certificates are delivered instantly but not later than 12 hours.

If this is not possible, the candidates should be allowed to file nominations along with an affidavit with an explicit provision to submit such caste certificate later, he demanded.

Expressing shock and surprise, Cheema said that district administration notified the reserved SC/BC seats for the ensuing polls only after announcement of the polls schedule. Moreover, the voting lists are not available till date to political parties. “How can anybody file without cross checking his name on the voters’ list?” he asked.

This hasty action only smacks of a conspiracy of the ruling party Congress to deny opportunity to the rivals to contest the polls by denying their candidate the mandatory certificates, and the Commission has willy-nilly become a partner in this nefarious game of the ruling party, he alleged.

Cheema said that these suspicion is reinforced as the poll dates were announced a day after the “drama” in Punjab state assembly where the ruling party, in league with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), did its best to tarnish the fair name of SAD and its leaders.

He said that the Commission had announced the poll schedule in gross violation of established precedent of convening an all party meeting to have their inputs on the poll arrangement and instead totally relied on the reports of the ruling Congress or state administration.