{Panchayat Polls} Sukhbir Badal protests cancellation of nominations

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal held a protest on Tuesday in his home district of Muktsar against the Aam Aadmi Party government to protest the cancellation of nominations of several candidates for the forthcoming panchayat elections.
Asserting that applicants from 25 villages whose nomination papers were rejected unjustly were already on the roads, he said “this partisan conduct will prove costly for the AAP in the forthcoming byelection in Gidderbaha and other places.
After lying low for five weeks when the Akal Takht declared him guilty of violating the religious code of conduct of Sikhism, he resumed his political activities with the protest.
Accompanied by the party activists and key political aide Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi, Sukhbir staged a protest at the Muktsar deputy commissioner’s office.
He said that the party would bring up the matter with the state election commission and the approach Punjab and Haryana high court to help ensure justice for villagers keen to contest the panchayat elections.
The former deputy chief minister demanded the registration of criminal cases against the officials while stating that bureaucracy worked as a puppet in the hands of the AAP leadership.
The SAD leadership handed over a memorandum to the district authorities. He demanded to revise lists of candidates and ensure that individuals whose papers were in order, but denied an opportunity to contest the panchayat elections, were added to the list.
SAD chief said that the ruling dispensation in Punjab has decided to throttle the voice of the opposition.