Malout, April 3
Polling in this constituency will be held tomorrow amid perceptible tension which has been building up for the past some days between the Akalis and Congressmen. The Congress is supporting the CPI candidate, Mr Nathu Ram, and the Shiromani Akali Dal is campaigning for its candidate, Mrs Mukhtiar Kaur.

Though the police has been deployed in strength in the constituency, Akalis say police officers are openly campaigning for the CPI candidate.

“In fact, the police has been campaigning in the constituency in such a manner as if its own candidate is contesting the elections against the Akali candidate”, alleged Mr Parkash Singh Badal, President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, while talking to The Tribune.

He said the district police chief, Mr K.J.S. Pannu, and the DIG, Ferozepore Range, Mr Mohammad Mustafa, were leaving no stone unturned to ensure the victory of the Congress-CPI candidate. However, Mr Pannu denied the allegations, saying that he was only performing the official duty of maintaining law and order and not stepping beyond. Mr Mustafa could not be contacted for comment.

The former Chief Minister said the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, was himself instigating Congressmen to resort to violence in the constituency. He referred to a speech by Capt Amarinder Singh at an election meeting here yesterday, asking his partymen to come armed with lathis to the polling booths tomorrow and “teach Akali workers a lesson”.

However, a spokesman for the Congress said Mr Badal had made a wrong interpretation of Capt Amarinder Singh’s speech. The latter had only asked the Congress workers to keep a watch on Akali workers as they would resort to unfair means to woo voters.

Senior Akali activists told The Tribune that the police had been raiding their houses after midnight almost daily for the past some days. Mr Ram Singh, president of the local Municipal Committee and senior Akali leader, said he had acquired a “blanket bail” from the court to avoid arrest. He said the police was trying to arrest him on flimsy grounds.

Mr Sukhinder Singh, another senior Akali leader, said he, too, had got a “blanket bail” from court, apprehending arrest in a false case. Mr Babru Vahan, another Akali activist, narrated a similar tale.

A Congress spokesman said that Mr Badal was making false allegations against his political opponents and the police. He said the Congress would not allow Mr Badal to win the election in this area by employing money and muscle power.

Mr Badal said the Election Commission had not responded to the complaints submitted by him and his party whereas earlier when the SAD-BJP government was in power, the commission would take suo moto action on the basis of newspaper reports.

He said “democracy was being murdered in broad daylight” and the commission was doing nothing. He said he had not seen such police highhandedness earlier at the instance of any Congress Chief Minister, including the late Beant Singh.

Meanwhile, former Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh today took Akali activists allegedly being harassed by the police to the observer, Mr Alok Chaturvedi, appointed by the commission. Capt Kanwaljit Singh said the observer had assured him that the police would not be allowed to play a partisan role in the elections.

He said the district police chief and the Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, Mrs Usha Sharma, was present when he met the observer.