PLC’s Ajit Pal Singh out of race over voter card issue

Jalandhar, January 29

Days after being fielded as candidate from the Punjab Lok Congress, former Olympian and Arjuna awardee Ajit Pal Singh has been withdrawn as the party’s Nakodar candidate. Retired IPS officer Shammi Kumar Kalyan was instead fielded as the PLC candidate from Nakodar today.

While the 73-year-old Olympian from Sansarpur with an illustrious hockey history became a poster boy for the party which has a hockey stick and a ball as its symbol, his candidature had to withdrawn following voter ID discrepancies. While Ajit Pal was formally registered as voter from Delhi, he could not get registered as voter from Jalandhar in time.

Ajit Pal Singh said, “In view of the rules, I got my voter ID from Delhi cancelled and applied for one from Jalandhar. However, since the last date for changing of voter ID was January 21, I could not secure a voter ID from the district in time. I was looking forward to the new role. Unfortunately, I’m no more PLC’s Nakodar candidate. The party should have been aware of these rules too.” — TNS

Delhi voter

PLC has withdrawn former Olmypian Ajit Pal Singh’s candidature as he could not get himself registered as a voter from Jalandhar in time. He is a registered voter in Delhi.