Ludhiana, May 20
On the list of controversies regarding voters’ lists of the ensuing Panchayat elections, Kanganwal village, near Sahnewal, figures at the top with over 80 per cent votes found bogus in the village in a magisterial inquiry conducted on the orders of the state Election Commission.
Out of the 710 bogus votes, 658 belong to a municipal ward of Ludhiana, 35 have left the village long ago and 17 are dead.
Four candidates for the post of sarpanch would stand disqualified after the revelations in the report. Their votes too have been found
to be bogus.
A complaint filed by Nirmal Singh, a former sarpanch of the village, had led to the inquiry. Local administrative officials are under scanner for their alleged role in this irregularity in the voters’ lists.
Nirmal said he was denied the right to contest the polls after the voters’ lists were allegedly tampered to deny the right to vote to 40 genuine voters, including him. “My several representations to the local administration fell on deaf ears.”
The inquiry report conducted by an executive magistrate corroborates the allegations levelled by Nirmal about a large-scale tampering of voters lists to benefit certain candidates.
The commission is yet to issue an order on the report. Nirmal said with a few days left for the polling, if the elections were not cancelled, Kanganwal would get the dubious distinction of outsiders
choosing its sarpanch.
