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Bloody scuffles mark Sarpanch
elections across Punjab
WSN Bureau
 Across
Punjab,
rural folks are helplessly watching dirty grassroot level political
violence as men (women are rarely involved) drunk on powerare
indulging in violence and bloodshed to capture sarpanch-ship of
villages. Clashes have been happeningat a shocking scale, reports
of bloodshed and murder have been pouring from many a village,
somevillages have witnessed kidnappings, and news of such
skirmisheshas become staple for
Punjab
media. The elected panches are now fighting tooth and nail to decide
on a sarpanch amongst themselves and at many places across Punjab,
factionalism amongst the Akalis was responsible for clashes, just as
in Kotli Sabo village under Sangat police station that left over one
dozen seriously injured.
In
Bathinda's Daan Singh Wala village, little school children watched
horror-struck as bullets flew and swords flashed, leaving a young
man dead and several people injured inside the premises of
Government Elementary School in this village on July 17. Children in
the school were studying in various classrooms when Sukhjit Singh
alias Surjeet of Chak Heera Singh Wala village in the district, a
supporter of the Congress candidate for the sarpanch's post, was
shot dead. In the nine-member panchayat, the SAD and the Congress
reportedly enjoyed the support of four panches each, while one panch,
Angrez Singh, was being wooed by both groups.
Harwinder Singh Gora and Bant Singh were SAD and Congress
contenders, respectively, for the sarpanch's post. Angrez Singh was
abducted by Akali leaders and he was being pressurised to vote for
the SAD candidate.
A
news report in the Hindustan Times said while the process of
registering the FIR was underway, Nathana area halqa incharge Gura
Singh Tungwali, who contested the Assembly elections on SAD ticket
but lost, arrived thereand allegedly started giving instructions to
the police. However, Tungwali claimed that he had come there just to
inquire about the incident.
Panches kidnapped
In
Haji Khanpur
village of Hoshiarpur, another kidnap drama was played out. Being a
member of the ruling party is an intoxicating experience and drunk
on this power, an Akali Dal leader kidnapped three panches to
prevent his rivals from wresting the sarpanch's post at Haji Khanpur
village of this district. While families of two panches preferred to
keep mum, mother of the third panch Jai Gopal alias Jaspal met the
SSP and lodged a complaint. SAD circle president Balwant Singh
Barial kidnapped the panches.
Dharna against police
In
Batala's Sakhowal village, rural folk staged a dharna at Ghuman
police station and blocked traffic on the
Batala-Sri Hargobindpur Road for more than two hours in protest
against the "partisan role" of the police in elections to the post
of sarpanch. Villagers said police was acting as agents of the SAD-BJP
government and forcing panches to vote in favour of SAD candidates.
They said an SHO barged into the house of a scheduled caste panch,
Kamu Kaur, along with a police team, last Wednesday morning and
forced her to vote for Samrakhan Dev, a candidate supported by an
SAD MLA.
Media quoted Kamu Kaur as saying that the SHO threatened to
implicate her in a false case if she did not vote for the SAD
candidate. No further action has been taken since then by the
police.
Don out from jail for NC polls
Gurmit Singh Mann alias Kala, known as a 'don' of Dhanaula area and
involved in numerous criminal cases in Sangrur and Barnala
districts, is now calling the shots in the Dhanaula Nagar Council
after his release from the Sangrur district jail last Wednesday.
Soon after he came to the town, he was not only elected unanimously
to the Nagar Council, but also managed to get his mother Baljit Kaur
Mann elected president. Three of his relatives, including his
mother, are Nagar Council members from ward number 2, 3 and 7.
Irregularities galore in Majha
In
Amritsar,
elected panches of six villages and their supporters today held a
dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here, accusing
the ruling alliance of large-scale irregularities in
Sarpanch elections. Ratan Singh Randhawa, who led the protest, said,
in Neshta village, Jaswant Singh held the clear majority but
officials refused to make him the Sarpanch. The Returning Officer
selected Amrik Singh as the Sarpanch though four out of the total
seven panches were against him, he said. Similarly, the Ajnala
police allegedly framed a false case on Paramjit Singh, an elected
Panch of Muhar village, so that an Akali lacking majority could
become a Sarpanch. Randhawa also highlighted cases of Muhawa, Lahori
Mal, Muhar, Dial Bhatti, Awan and Hoshiar Nagar villages, where the
ruling alliance allegedly used the administration to make Akali
workers Sarpanches.
Majority does not matter
Panches of several villages in the district said that even though
they had clear majority, returning officers had refused to conduct
the sarpanch's election due to political pressure. Panch Gurpreet
Kaur, a resident of Bangi Kalan, claimed she had been denied the
sarpanch's post even though five panches in the nine-member
panchayat were supporting her. She and her supporters sat on dharna
in front of Talwandi Sabo SDM's office. The administration was
forced to postpone the election.
Meanwhile, Nathana Congress MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti claimed
Congress-supported candidates for sarpanch's post enjoyed clear
majority in Nathana, Bhucho Kalan and Kahan Singh Wala villages, but
the officials had refused to declare them elected at the behest of
Akali leaders.
In
Bathinda's Kotli Sabo village under Sangat police station, of the
total seven panches, six were divided equally between Jashanpreet
Kaur and Baljit Singh, the claimant for sarpanch post. But,
Jashanpreet was elected sarpanch after winning over the support of
an independent panch. However, when her procession was taken out, it
was pelted with stones, leading to brick-batting between both the
two groups. The injured have been admitted to civil hospital,
Bathinda.
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High Court word counts for
little
Even as
police, lathis, swords and violence decided who will be the
sarpanch in many villages, a
Congress
MLA Jasbir Singh Khangura knocked at the doors of the Punjab
and Haryana High Court where a Division Bench of Chief
Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Mahesh Grover directed
the Punjab
government to hold elections of sarpanches from among the
recently elected panches through the secret ballot wherever
necessary. Khangura had alleged that in panchayats where the
ruling party was not having majority amongst panches, the
panches of the Opposition were being pressured to vote for
the candidates belonging to the ruling party. But what the
High Court said is not enough to ensure fair ballot because
the provision of sarpanch's election through ballot paper
already exists in law. The problem is that it is not binding
and in a country where even MPs can be bought and sold,
browbeating panches into submission can't be very difficult
if a regime goes down that shameless road. |
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In
Lele wala
village of Bathinda, where the Congress and the Akali Dal (Mann)
group panches are in majority, under Akali leaders pressure, the
returning officer countermanded the sarpanch's election without any
valid reason.
The Congress and the Mann Dal panches alleged the returning officer
was under pressure of Akalis to announce only an Akali as sarpanch,
despite he lacking the support, but the villagers opposed their move
which led the returning officer to postpone the election without any
reason.
23
July, 2008
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