Jalandhar byelection: 54.5% turnout amid code violation claims

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, May 10

A voter turnout of 54.5 per cent was recorded on Wednesday in the bypoll to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat while a few incidents of scuffle and altercation were reported between the ruling AAP and opposition party members in Phillaur, Shahkot and other areas.

The AAP MLA from Baba Bakala Assembly segment in Amritsar, Dalbir Singh Tong, was arrested for violating the model code of conduct and was later released on bail, said Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C.

The action came after the Congress MLA from Shahkot, Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, alleged that Tong, being an outsider, was spotted in Shahkot, which is part of the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency.

Sherowalia went live on Facebook to show he had gheraoed MLA Tong and did not allow him to get out of his car after he had been spotted in Roopewali village in Shahkot. He asked his workers to surround the MLA’s car and not let him escape. He then called up the police, making sure an FIR was lodged against the MLA for violating the ECI guidelines. The ECI manual stipulates, “No political functionary who is not a voter or elected MP/MLA/candidate of that constituency shall stay in the constituency beginning from the last 48 hours till the end of polls.” While AAP is known to be overactive on social media, today opposition parties, including the Congress, SAD and BJP, used the platform to target the government. They extensively went live and posted videos and photos, providing evidence of the presence of a large number of AAP leaders and workers from other districts in the Jalandhar constituency to influence the voters.

As a counter, AAP fervently tried to woo the electorate with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann issuing four appeals through social media through the day. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also accused AAP leaders of flouting the ECI guidelines to allegedly intimidate voters.

Warring, in a statement, said the Congress had filed a complaint against Tong, Ludhiana (North) MLA Madan Lal Bagga, Amritsar (West) MLA Jasbir Singh Sandhu, Ludhiana (East) MLA Daljit Singh Grewal Bhola, Ludhiana (West) MLA Gurpreet Gogi, Jaitu MLA Amolak Singh and Amritsar (Central) MLA Ajay Gupta for allegedly being present in the Jalandhar constituency despite ECI guidelines.

Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma too wrote a letter to the CEC, alleging several AAP MLAs and leaders were present in the constituency.

63.04% voting in 2019 LS poll

• Jalandhar parliamentary seat registered 63.04 per cent polling in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
• Poll percentage is low this time, possibly due to hot weather and voters being in a vacation mode with two holidays (May 9-10) announced by govt

Baba Bakala MLA arrested, released

Dalbir S Tong, AAP MLA from Amritsar’s Baba Bakala segment, was arrested for poll code violation and later let off on bail.