The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is hoping to put on a good show in the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Punjab, said on Thursday that four of its candidates were detained by the police and many others were heckled and stopped while they were on their way to file their nominations.
Thursday was the last day to file nominations for the December 21 polls.
“The nomination papers of 15 out of 60 candidates were torn and four candidates were detained by the police. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters are beating up our candidates while the police are mute spectators. Our candidate Rishabh Sharma has been admitted to a hospital,” said Pritpal Singh Baliawal, chief spokesperson of the Punjab BJP.
The nomination papers of BJP candidates Varun Jindal (Ward No 46) and Sushil Nayyar (Ward No 34) were torn outside the deputy commissioner’s office in Patiala, Baliawal added.
“In Patiala, the police were trying to prevent BJP candidates from entering the district administrative complex to file their nomination papers,” alleged Vineet Joshi, the media in-charge of BJP Punjab.
BJP candidates were allegedly targeted at Baghapurana, Dharamkot in Moga, and a few other locations, the leaders said.
“Candidates’ files are being checked twice, outside the campus and before entering the RO’s (returning officer’s) office. The queue is long… this is an inordinate delay. When scrutiny of documents has to happen, why check twice outside?…Perhaps to prevent Opposition candidates from filing nomination papers,” said Rajnish Dhiman, president, Ludhiana BJP unit.
AAP feeling insecure, says BJP
Anil Sarin, general secretary of the state BJP, said that AAP was targeting BJP candidates as they knew “they got lesser votes in the municipal wards in the Lok Sabha elections”. “They are feeling insecure,” he added.
In the Lok Sabha elections held in June this year, the BJP did well in wards under five municipal corporations in Punjab and the Sangrur Municipal Council. The BJP is hoping to replicate these results in the municipal elections.
“During the Lok Sabha polls, in Ludhiana — the biggest municipal corporation in Punjab with 95 municipal wards — the BJP was at the number one slot in 66 wards. In Patiala, out of 60 wards, the BJP got the maximum votes in 49 wards. In Amritsar municipal corporation, 52 out of 85 wards were in the BJP’s favour, while in Jalandhar municipal corporation, it was 50 out of 85. In Phagwara, the BJP fared well in 32 out of 50 wards. These are the five municipal corporations that will be going for polls this time and the rest are 44 municipal councils that have semi-urban voters,” Sarin added.
Among the 44 municipal councils going to polls, Sangrur has 29 wards while Rampura Phul in Bathinda district has 21. The remaining municipal councils have 15 or less than 15 wards.
Arvind Khanna, who was the BJP candidate from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, said: “The BJP was at the No. 1 spot in 16 out of 29 wards under Sangrur municipal council during the Lok Sabha polls. This time, we are contesting 22 wards on our poll symbol and supporting four Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidates and three Independent candidates in the remaining seven wards. We are hopeful of good results.”
The BJP did not win a single seat in Punjab in the Lok Sabha elections but it got an 18.5 per cent vote share, double what it got in 2019 when the party was in alliance with the SAD.
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