Papers of rivals rejected, AAP candidate wins Malout bypoll

AAP candidate Jasdev Singh Sandhu today became municipal councillor of ward No. 12 of Malout town after the nominations of the Congress, SAD and BJP candidates were rejected.

Workers of the three parties later lodged a protest outside the SDM’s residence, alleging that the nominations of their candidates were rejected at the behest of AAP leaders.

“We are told that the nomination of our candidate is rejected because he did not deposit the actual nomination fee of Rs 200. The election authorities should have collected the required fee as per the rules,” said Ashok Bajaj, president, SAD Malout Urban.

Shubhdeep Singh Bittu, president, Malout Municipal Council, said, “This is totally illegal and we will challenge the decision in the court.”

The election to the ward was necessitated after Ram Singh Bhullar, the sitting councillor, died. His son Manjeet Singh Goldy had filed papers as SAD candidate, while Kulwant Singh Makkar was the Congress nominee and Hans Raj the BJP candidate.