Bathinda, August 2
Will residents of towns and villages falling under the VIP assembly constituency of Jalalabad continue to enjoy the luxury of uninterrupted power supply even after the polling for the byelection tomorrow?
The question has been haunting residents of the constituency, who, to their surprise, have been enjoying uninterrupted power supply since ruling SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal filed his papers for the seat three weeks ago.
Sukhbir had to resign as Deputy Chief Minister on technical grounds as he could not become a member of the assembly within six months of his installation.
Major Singh, a resident of the constituency, said one of the electoral tactics of the SAD has been to make the voters forget the vows of long power cuts by supplying uninterrupted electricity for a few days before the polling in the segments where a kin of the Badal clan was contesting an election.
Quoting example of the Bathinda parliamentary constituency where Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of Sukhbir, had won on SAD ticket, Ashok Kumar pointed out that uninterrupted power supply was immediately discontinued after she won and the PSEB again resorted to the schedule of 8-hour power cuts in the constituency.
Residents of 44 villages of Fazilka subdivision and the main town, too, are benefited due to the bypoll in Jalalabad as these villages fall under the constituency. As Sukhbir has been camping at Fazilka, the town has also by default getting 24-hour power supply.
About 12 small and medium hotels as also dharamshalas at Fazilka can be seen packed with visitors, who want to mark their presence before Sukhbir and campaign for him.
Congress candidate Hans Raj Josan has been flashing complaints of the misuse of official machinery by the SAD candidate to the election commission. In his complaint today, he has alleged that prominent outsiders were flouting orders of the commission and campaigning in the constituency. The district authorities of Ferozepur were mute spectator to the presence of “musclemen” of the SAD in the constituency, he alleged.
