M A I N   N E W S

Ajnala counting suspended
CEC seeks report from DM
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 24
In a significant development, the Chief Election Commission has suspended counting of votes in the Ajnala byelection till further order in the wake of widespread violence and complaints of rigging and booth capturing and electoral malpractices during the polling yesterday. As per original schedule, the counting of votes was to be taken up on February 27.

A high-level inquiry panel of the EC comprising Mr K.J. Rao, Adviser, Election and Training, and Mr K.F. Wilfred, Secretary, Election Commission, would reach Ajnala tomorrow to conduct an on-the-spot inquiry. The panel is likely to meet a cross-section of voters and representatives of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress .

However, the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, said it was unfortunate and unfair to send a special team of observers to conduct the inquiry. He claimed that both the election observers had already given a "clean chit" and expressed satisfaction over the "free and fair" conduct of the poll. The Chief Minister said that democracy could not grow and survive by sending special observers, which amounted to overlapping. He alleged that the clashes were witnessed in five villages where violence was engineered by Akalis .

Interestingly, in the morning, the CEC had allowed the local administration counting of the votes as per schedule. Later, the CEC announced postponement of the counting till further order.

The fax message, sent to the state Chief Electoral Officer, a copy of which has been received by the District Magistrate, Mr Kiranjit Singh Bhullar, here today. The CEC had received a number of complaints from the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress about the large-scale violent clashes in which more than 100 persons from both the parties had sustained injuries.

The CEC had also sought a detailed report from the local District Magistrate about the clashes on the basis of a report published in The Tribune. The DM told The Tribune that he had sent the reply to the CEC through the Chief Electoral Officer on the basis of the report received from district police chief, Ms Vibhu Raj. However, the SSP, in her report, had stated that barring a few incidents of violence and firing, overall polling remained peaceful .

A report filed by the DIG (Border Range) reads, "The election went off peacefully except some incidents of violence which were immediately controlled by the police parties. The whole of the constituency was sealed by putting strong and effective nakas on all roads leading to the constituency. Paramilitary forces were deployed on all the 143 polling booths.”

The police, in its report denied that any incident of booth capturing, rigging and intimidation of voters occurred at the time of polling . The police report, however, admitted that during the process, some incidents of violence by some mischievous elements took place in villages, including Tera Rajputan, Kamalpura, Chakkbala, Bhure Gill, Jatan and Madhu Chhanga. The report further claimed that the police parties under the supervision of gazetted officers rushed to the spot and “handled the situation very tactfully, effectively and professionally”. The report also admitted that in villages of Tera Rajputan and Kamalpur, the police had to resort to the firing in the air to disperse clashing mobs so as to avoid any untoward incident. The heavy polling, took place in the villages was an indication that the voters exercised their franchise without any fear, the DIG claimed.

Meanwhile, the BSF jawans are manning the Electronic Voting Machines in Ajnala’s Degree College under heavy security. Nobody is allowed to enter the building.