Ludhiana, June 20
Twelve years ago, Shambhu Kumar and his family came to Punjab from Bihar to earn a living.
Today, in a first of its kind, they are about to rule the destiny of Kanganwal village in Ludhiana district.
Panchayat polls in the village were cancelled after a Tribune expose about bogus votes. But, two days before the revised election day, three of the five seats have gone to Shambhu Kumar Singh’s family.
There is no candidate for the remaining two reserved seats. These will remain vacant.
Returning Officer Manjit Singh told The Tribune the three had been elected unopposed.
One of the three — Ruby Parmar and her brothers-in-law Vijay Kumar Singh and Chander Mohan Singh — is set to become the village sarpanch.
Ruby is the wife of Shambhu, who has been in news largely because of his alleged involvement in criminal activities. He had contested — unsuccessfully — elections to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha last year.
A leader in his own right, Shambhu Kumar — he added “Singh” to his name on coming to Punjab — claims he has been acquitted in all cases against him. “These were false cases, motivated by my political opponents,” he says.
“My wife will work for the welfare of everybody, not merely migrants. There is much to do. The civic amenities are poor, the roads are bad and the sewage system is no better,’’ Shambhu told The Tribune.
Shambhu says they have worked hard for a living. “We slogged day and night and soon set up a flour mill. It was not easy as outsiders in the state.”
Indeed, the victorious trio was accused of being outsiders earlier. They were allegedly part of the
controversial votes that were deleted by the Election Commission.
Swaran Singh, on whose petition the EC had first deleted the “outsider” votes and then cancelled the elections is unhappy. He claims even in the revised report, his name does not figure among the voters, because of which he would not be able to contest.
In fresh petition seeking cancellation of the elected panchayat members, he has alleged the administration had sent one list of voters to the EC but implemented quite another.
The district officials are reluctant to provide information about the election. It took quite some persuasion to make them confirm the names of the elected
panches.
