Muktsar sees violence again

 Muktsar sees violence again
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, May 26

Despite the claims of the district administration about peaceful polling, some instances of violence and booth capturing came to light during the Gram Panchayat elections, held in the district today. As much as 86 per cent of polling has been recorded in the district.
Due to some reports of booth capturing at Katorewala village, falling under Malout block of the district, the district electoral officer recommended repolling to the state election commission.
A brawl was reported at village Khudiya Maha Singh Wala, where groups of supporters of the SAD and the Congress-backed candidates not only hurled stones at each other but also opened fire. The groups kept blaming each other for the violence.
The issue, reportedly, was that somebody tried to put a fake ballot paper into a ballot box. Alleging that the police favoured the SAD-backed candidates, the Congress-backed candidates and their supporters even announced the boycott of the poll. They also showed some bullets to this correspondent allegedly pulled out of the pistol of a SAD activist after he was beaten up.
To control the situation, a large number of commandos were deployed and even anti-riot vehicle and tear gas guns were called. The DSP Malout and the SSP Muktsar along with their reserved police parties also reached the spot.
When asked, SSP Muktsar, Gurpreet Singh Gill, who reached the spot two hours later, said, “The brawl took place on some petty issue and that too, for just a few minutes. Nobody was seriously injured and the bullet did not hit anyone.”
In the brawl, a SAD leader of the area, Iqbal Singh Tarmala, who had remained in question for allegedly confining two national daily reporters during the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti polls, received bruises from Congress leaders. It was alleged that he along with some others tried to capture a booth.
SAD activist Jaswant Singh, who claimed to be an eyewitness, refuted the allegations and countered that the Congress workers had assaulted their workers.
Some reports about attempt to capture booths and create ruckus were also received from villages Aadniya and Kakha Wali, the surrounding villages of Lambi, the home turf of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
In another incident, at village Smagh, falling in Gidderbaha block, some persons allegedly captured the booth and while resisting, the clothes of some women were torn off. The partially nude ladies along with a number of persons lodged their protest outside the Muktsar DC’s residence.
The DC assured them of investigating the matter and said he would recommend repolling if irregularities were found during the investigations.