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Akalis beat the
hell out of Cong, literally, in MC polls
WSN Bureau
 MOGA/MUKTSAR:
Punjab
elections are now fought in Bihar style: beatings, booth-capturing,
muscle power, guns, weapons flashing are all signs of the desperate
power grabbing notion of politics. Moga and Muktsar witnessed
similar scenes of lower specimens of political animals as police
remained a mute spectator in most incidents.
Scores were
injured, among them some election officials and even members of the
media. SGPC president Avtar Singh's son and son-in-law were widely
blamed by journalists as leading the hooligan crowd. In Muktsar, the
Akali Dal-BJP alliance won the local municipal committee polls with
an overwhelming 22 of the 23 seats but only after ensuring that the
sole non-SAD winner in Ward No. 8 also gets past the post only with
its help. The Congress, eager to save its workers' heads from being
broken, simply refused to contest and many of its candidates were
not allowed to even file their nomination papers.
A Hindustan
Times report said, "Criminals brandishing firearms, swords and
sticks had a free run of most wards, beating Congress workers
wherever the Akali-BJP candidates faced a challenge. Electronic as
well as print journalists covering the proceedings were also not
spared by the goons." Vehicles packed with armed men were seen
moving from one ward to another in both Moga and Badhni Kalan,
threatening voters and capturing booths. In Ward No. 4 of Moga,
mediapersons watched as presiding officer Jagtar Singh and assistant
presiding officer Iqbal Singh being given a sound thrashing around
9.30 am after they refused to hand over the electronic voting
machines to henchmen accompanied by SGPC president Avtar Singh
Makkar’s sons Sony and Dimple. The two officials had to be
hospitalised.
Congress-backed
independent candidate in the ward Surinder Goga — pitted against
Gulwinder Bawa of SAD, a close relative of Makkar — and his son were
also attacked and left seriously injured by the goons, who also
fired shots in the air to scare away those present. Women present at
the booth were also beaten. Media men took it upon themselves to
call the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP but even they could not
enter the booth for over 15 minutes as the goons had bolted it from
inside. At least five media persons were also given a thrashing and
their cameras and mobile phones were snatched.
In Badhni Kalan,
all 11 booths were captured by armed goons. Congressmen took out a
protest march in Badhni Kalan headed by Baghapurana MLA Darshan Brar.
Party MLAs Darshan Brar, Joginderpal Jain, Ajit Shant and Joginder
Singh said the matter would be brought to the notice of AICC chief
Sonia Gandhi. After all this, one natural result was that the SAD-BJP
won 30 of the 31 seats in Moga, the only exception being Ward 6,
where SAD (Amritsar) candidate Paramjit Kaur was the winner.
In Sujanpur (Pathankot),
the Congress managed to win seven out of the total 13 seats in MC
polls. On September 9, a DSP and an SHO were shifted out of Moga on
orders from the Election Commission following complaints from the
Congress regarding police interference in the local municipal
elections, but it helped little.
17 September 2008
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