Patti & Bhikhiwind ready for vote count
Our Correspondent
Tarn Taran, February 16
The district administration has made foolproof arrangements for counting of votes on Wednesday for the civic body poll held in Patti and Bhikhiwind on February 14.
Patti witnessed 62.82 per cent polling in 19 wards and 63.42 per cent voting took place in Bhikhiwind.
Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer (DEO) Kulwant Singh said the counting will commence at 9 am today. He said counting will be held at Guru Nanak Dev University College, Patti, and at Inder Kumar Gujral Punjab Technical University (Campus), Bhikhiwind.
Sub-Divisonal Magistrate Rajesh Sharma and Tarn Taran SDM Rajnish Arora had been appointed Returning Officers for Patti and Bhikhiwind, respectively, said the Deputy Commissioner. He said supervisors and assistant counting supervisors have been appointed in both the civic bodies.
Fate of 100 candidates from the Patti Municpal Council (54) and Bhikhwind nagar panchayat (46) will be decided today. Five nominees of Congress will be elected unopposed from Patti as nobody filed their nomination papers against them.
The BJP contested on only three wards in Patti and failed to field even a single candidate in Bhikhiwind. Three Independents were also in the fray. The Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party leaders had levelled allegations of booth capturing and other irregularities in both the towns. A firing incident also took place in Patti and a case against the Congressmen was registered by the police on Monday.
Amarjit Singh Dhillon, former chief of Bhikhiwind nagar panchayat, who contested as a SAD candidate from Ward No. 6 said though Congress had misused official machinery during the polls, but Akalis would win all the wards as voters were with them.
Ranbir Singh, AAP candidate from Ward No. 1 of Bhikhiwind, said they would win a couple of wards despite pressure tactics applied by Congress. He said the police and the administration remained mute spectators when Congress workers captured booths in Bhikhiwind.
