Book AAP candidate also in EVM tampering case: Cong

Even as the State Election Commission ordered a re-election at a polling station in ward number 2 of Khanna in response to a proposal sent by the District Election Officer, Ludhiana, office-bearers and activists of the Congress demanded that AAP Candidates should be booked for allegedly marring the polling process by breaking one of the four EVMs during the counting process.

Addressing protesters here today, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh Boparai, former minister Gurkirat Kotli, former MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha and Rupinder Singh Raja Gill alleged that the AAP government had made the mockery of the election process by adopting unprecedented unfair means to grab power.

“We fail to understand the logic behind registration of a case against unknown persons when the AAP candidate had broken the fourth EVM inside the polling station. Our candidate was winning by a large number of votes after counting from three EVMs,” said Boparai, demanding the inclusion of AAP candidate’s name as the main accused in the FIR.

Boparai said the voters would give a befitting reply to AAP’s highhandedness by giving a sweeping mandate in favour of Congress nominee Satnam Singh during re-elections at the polling station number 4 on Monday.

Tensions ran high in Ward 2 of Khanna following the byelection as allegations of EVM tampering marred the polling process on Saturday.

While the election staff sealed the damaged EVM for sending it to the Election Commission for further instructions and the district administration proposed re-poll, the Congress staged a dharna, insisting that the results be announced immediately. The dharna held in front of the polling station was lifted somewhere after midnight, but the activists resumed the protest at 11 am today. However the protestors were persuaded to lift the dharna after the SEC advised District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal to make arrangements for a repoll to be held on Monday.

Supporters of AAP candidate Vicky Vishal had prematurely began celebrating on Saturday evening, claiming he had won. Other candidates in the fray included Hasan Jot Channi (BJP) and Mandeep Gabbar (SAD).

Meanwhile, Jorwal exhorted all eligible voters of the ward number 2 Khanna to exercise their right to vote without any fear on Monday. The re-election at the polling station number 4 of ward number 2 will take place from 7 am to 4 am by using reserved EVM, said Jorwal.