AAP using arm-twisting tactics to win civic body poll: State Youth Cong chief

With merely a week left for the civic body polls, the Punjab Youth Congress has accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of using arm-twisting tactics to win the elections.

State Youth Congress president Mohit Mohindra today accused the administrative and police officials of Patiala of stopping Congress candidates from filing nomination papers for the municipal elections.

Mohindra, accompanied by local Congress leaders, alleged that the police officials snatched the nomination papers from the Congress candidates and handed these over to ‘goons’ deployed by the AAP government. He said police and "private army" of the AAP thrashed the opposition candidates and did not allow them to enter in the RO offices.

Mohindra claimed that some candidates managed to file their papers, but these were rejected on flimsy grounds.

He said in Patiala Zone I, 10 Congress candidates were not allowed to file nomination papers. In the Patiala Zone II, either the nominations of 19 out of 32 candidates were rejected or they were not allowed to file papers at all, he added.

He said Sanjiv Sharma from Ward No. 6, Kailash Purohit from Ward No. 16 and Hardip Khaira were not allowed to file their papers. The police snatched and tore the files of Rajan Kumar of Ward No. 26 and Rajesh Sharma of Ward No. 28, he alleged.

Mohindra alleged some candidates were taken to CIA staff and forced to sit in police stations. He said one candidate Gurjit Singh Bunti of Ward No. 10 who had filed his nomination papers was ‘kidnapped’ by police officials and forcibly taken to RO office and he was made to withdraw papers under pressure.

Mohindra said the AAP government was allegedly using all illegal means to prevent Congress candidates from contesting the polls.

He said the nominations papers of two candidates — Deepti Bansal and Rekha Rani — were cancelled during scrutiny.

The PYC chief said building inspectors were sent to the house of Rekha Rani at the last hour and a notice of building violation was handed over to make it a ground for cancellation of her nomination.

He said the Congress nominees who were blocked from contesting the poll would go door to door appealing people to vote against the AAP candidates.

He said the AAP government had snatched the right of voting from Patiala residents. He said they would take a legal recourse and name the civil and police officers to make them party in the case.

Mohindra said the AAP was scared of defeat as it had failed to perform in the last three years. He added that AAP was not keen to hold the urban body elections and these were being conducted on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and after the intervention of the Supreme Court. He said all video evidence of hooliganism by the AAP would be placed before the Supreme Court.