Mass photocopying of ballot papers: Bajwa wants CBI in
Wednesday, 03/07/2013
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The reports of mass photocopying of panchayat election ballot papers in Jalandhar have shocked Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa.
On Tuesday, Bajwa appealed to the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court to take suo-motu notice of the matter and pass it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“The entire election process is a sham and only judicial intervention can save the sanctity of the polls,” Bajwa said, adding that in his 40-year political career, so far, he had never heard of such blatant misuse of power.
“Ballot papers should be printed in the security of government press with proper numbering, while the ruling alliance has hijacked the entire process, making it a sham,” said Bajwa, accusing state election commissioner SS Brar of failing to perform his duty.
The Punjab Congress president said since private people had photocopied the ballot papers, the misuse of the sheets was likely. “If ballot papers were not printed in time, the elections should have been postponed,” said Bajwa. “I have said it several times that the state election commissioner is hand in glove with the government,” he added.
To Bajwa, reports from Jalandhar suggest that election parties in that district had been dispatched to their stations without ballot papers, and told they would get these at the polling booths. “It was a clear violation of rules,” he said, “and no doubt, the ruling party would also use police for booth capturing and shooing away the Opposition voters.”
Bajwa wants the CBI to investigate the conduct of the state election commissioner, who he said had gone on his knees before the government.
