AAP MLA arrested for breaking code in Jalandhar

JALANDHAR: The four-cornered Jalandhar bypoll battle saw 54.5% overall turnout in largely peaceful polling amid a string of complaints about the presence of AAP MLAs and party workers from outside in the constituency.
Out of 16,21,800 eligible voters, 8,84,627 turned up to elect the new MP. The complaints led to the arrest of AAP's Baba Bakala MLA Dalbir Singh Tong in Rupewal village of Shahkot assembly segment for violating the model code of conduct. Shahkot segment saw the maximum polling at 57.4%.
Confirming this, Punjab chief electoral officer Sibin C said, "Former Congress MLA from Shahkot Hardev Singh Laddi had detained Baba Bakala MLA Dalbir Singh Tong. On getting the information, the police went there to arrest the MLA and he was later released on bail. Overall it was a peaceful election except for one or two scuffle incidents. Polling percentage was less than average but it was higher than last year's Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll."
The seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary due to a cardiac arrest during his party's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in January. The ruling AAP, the Congress, BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal are vying to outdo each other in the Dalit stronghold. Counting of votes will take place on May 13. The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat had registered 63.04% polling in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In another outsider sighting, Ludhiana East MLA Daljit Singh 'Bhola' Grewal was stopped by BJP leader Sarabjit Singh Makkar while riding pillion on a bike, but he managed to get away.
Apart from this, photographs of AAP MLAs Jasbir Singh Sandhu from Amritsar West, Ajay Gupta from Amritsar Central, Gurpreet Gogi from Ludhiana West, at polling booths, were posted by opposition leaders and other Punjabi netizens. Akali Dal also sent out a video claiming that Ludhiana North MLA Madan Lal Bagga was made to flee from Kartarpur.
In the afternoon Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur's election agent sent an email to the Chief Election Commissioner of India seeking immediate action against outsiders and to ensure that they were made to leave the constituency. Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary also caught two outsiders in Phillaur town near a polling booth and handed them over to the police. However, they claimed that they had come to the town to purchase seeds. The MLA said that around four of their associates had fled when he accosted them.
Adampur Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Kotli live-streamed from an AAP booth in Kotli Than Singh village alleging presence of outsiders. Former Adampur SAD MLA Pawan Teenu found outsiders at a booth and when he accosted them at least one of them revealed that he was from Attari, Amritsar.
Congress leaders posted a video from Malsian where party workers confronted AAP workers from outside Jalandhar. A similar video emerged from Lohian town. There were a few videos in which AAP workers ended up revealing that they were from other districts. BJP state president Ashwani Sharma sent a complaint to ECI seeking action against five AAP MLAs and market chairmen Sham Sunder for openly violating the election code and accused them of wrong doings in the constituency.
Shiromani Akali Dal alleged that the AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann indulged in "gundagardi" to influence the bypoll today and its MLAs and workers were seen influencing votes during the whole day. In the evening, former SAD minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema demanded action against AAP leaders who were found in the constituency as well as re-polling in areas where the election process had been vitiated. He said many people from outside Jalandhar seat had manned the polling booths but the chief electoral officer had done nothing.