Block Samiti chairman poll marred by firing incident in Kapurthala district

The election of the Block Samiti chairman for Fattu Dhinga was marred by a firing incident on Wednesday morning.

Seven members of the Aam Aadmi Party and eight of the faction of Independent MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh, along with supporters from each side, had gathered outside the office of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) at Dhilwan around 10 am when the incident occurred.

Rana Inder Partap then went live on his FB page, alleging that while one of his aides Palwinder Singh Hothi had been dragged away by the opposite side to an unknown location and another one was not being allowed to enter when a gunshot was fired. Rana alleged that an AAP supporter had fired the shot to intimidate them. No one got injured but it created panic.

The MLA went inside the BDPO office and met Major Irwin Kaur, SDM, Kapurthala, who had come to conduct the election and apprised her of the situation. "Even the DSP was sitting there and I told them that firing had taken place outside. I also pleaded that one of my associates had been kidnapped and another was not being allowed in as he had been wrongly booked in a recent case of brawl. I also requested that no party member be barred from taking part in the elections even if he had an FIR against him. The election was finally called off today. The next date of hearing shall be announced."

The MLA said that he had already approached Punjab and Haryana High Court on the matter and that he was expecting an order that day. SSP, Kapurthala, Gaurav Toora said, "We got the information about firing. Our teams are on spot. We are still in the process of investigating it."