Navjot Kaur Sidhu back in action, alleges ‘vote chori’ in MC elections
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Take your experience further with Premium access. Thought-provoking Opinions, Expert Analysis, In-depth Insights and other Member Only BenefitsFormer MLA and senior Congress leader Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has once again become active in local politics, taking up the issue of alleged “bogus” voting during the last Municipal Corporation elections in Amritsar. She met former Congress councillor Shalinder Singh Shelly at his residence today and discussed the matter, announcing a large-scale campaign to expose what she termed as “vote chori” in the constituency.
Dr Sidhu said that her team has set a target of filling 15,000 forms by October 15, which will be submitted to the Election Commission of India as evidence of irregularities. She alleged that in one polling booth alone, over 300 fake votes were cast, which changed the result in Shelly’s ward, leading to his narrow defeat.
“We have identified 80 deceased persons, whose names are still on the voter list and were shown as having voted. Additionally, 130 votes were cast in the names of people, who are currently living abroad,” Sidhu claimed, displaying death certificates and affidavits from NRIs to support her allegations.
She accused officials of preparing fraudulent electoral rolls and said that despite submitting requests for correction, names of deceased voters and ineligible persons continued to appear in the lists.
“The Congress party stands with Rahul Gandhi’s fight against vote theft and the manipulation of democratic rights,” she asserted.
During the meeting, local resident Gurpreet Kaur from Ajit Nagar alleged that her father-in-law, who passed away two years ago, was still shown as having cast his vote in the last civic polls. Sidhu said such testimonies underline the seriousness of the issue and vowed to take the matter to the Election Commission for strict action against those responsible.