Badals have throttled democracy: Bajwa
Thursday, 04/07/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130704/punjab.htm#3
Chandigarh : Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa today lashed out at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal for "vitiating the election process" and making a mockery of democracy.
In a statement, Bajwa claimed that the Badals had succeeded in "throttling" democracy in a state that had been a role model for other states in the country in the implementation of the Panchayati Raj. “The Badals have the rare distinction of not only doing away with all checks and balances to their unfettered rule, but also that of destroying all institutions that kept tyranny at bay” he said.
The PPCC chief ridiculed the Deputy CM's claim that the panchayat elections had been peaceful and fair. He said the Deputy CM was only trying to justify the "large-scale rigging". What was even more shameful was that Sukhbir was patting the Punjab Police and the State Election Commission "which were party to the rigging.”
He claimed the SAD-BJP Government had prevented the people of Punjab from electing candidates of their free will. He said that Opposition candidates were not allowed to even file nomination papers and that the Punjab Police was used to coerce SAD opponents.
Bajwa said the role of State Election Commissioner SS Brar was "more shameful." He alleged that the latter had denigrated his constitutional post and had behaved as a puppet in the hands of SAD-BJP Government. " For the first time in the electoral history of Punjab ballot papers were photo-copied in marriage palaces and photostat shops by private contractors," Bajwa said.
He reminded the Badals that the Election Commission of India and not the "handpicked" State Election Commission would conduct the parliamentary elections next year and such "irregularities and excesses" would not be tolerated by the august body.
“The Badals must prepare to meet their nemesis at the hands of the oppressed people of Punjab who have been deprived of their rights at the hands of the Akalis and their partners in crime and misgovernment,” Bajwa added.
