Congress says despite ‘threats’, most leaders managed to file papers

Amid the allegations of misuse of government machinery by the ruling AAP, state Congress was on Thursday successful in filing the nomination of most of its candidates for the zila parishad elections and nearly 85% of its candidates for the panchayat samiti poll.

A senior party functionary said learning from the past when most official candidates were either threatened or picked by the police, the party changed its strategy this time. “This time two parallel lists were finalised. One set was made public, while the other list was kept confidential till filing of the nominations,” said a senior state Congress leader.

Two nominees miss deadline in ropar

Congress candidates failed to file nomination papers for two key zila parishad zones, Kalma Mor and Mianpur, both falling under the Ropar Assembly constituency. The nominations for the polls closed at 3 pm on Thursday.

Sources said the Congress nominees had reached the office of the SDM, Ropar, around 2.40 pm, believing it to be the venue for filing nomination papers for the election. However, they later discovered that nominations for zila parishad poll were being accepted at the office of the ADC, while the SDM was handling block samiti filings. The candidates reportedly reached the ADC office just two minutes after the deadline.

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Congress leader Barinder Dhillon said, “I cannot blame the officials. It is the fault of our nominees.”

PPCC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged brutal abuse of power by the AAP government during the filing of nomination papers for the upcoming elections. “This only reveals the sense of panic, desperation and frustration as the government has realised that its support was eroding,” he said.

AICC secretary and Congress MLA Pargat Singh said several incidents of assault on Congress candidates and humiliation by removing their turbans in Patiala, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Nabha and Zira had come to light. He said since early morning, AAP workers engaged in organised hooliganism across the state. In Dera Baba Nanak block, Congress candidates were attacked inside a government office. In Rajasansi (Amritsar), a Congress candidate sustained serious head injuries when he was assaulted in front of cops.

Congress leader Bhagwant Pal Singh Sachar alleged that in the Majitha constituency, not a single Congress candidate was allowed to submit papers, as police officers acted like AAP workers, obstructing the process entirely. Similar incidents were reported from Bholath (Kapurthala) and Samana (Patiala). In Rajpura, Ghanaur and Nabha, papers of block samiti members were snatched and torn.