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Punjab Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring claimed that the party stood vindicated on its assessment of the recently concluded Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections, citing final figures that have now come into the public domain.
Quoting the data, Warring claimed that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won nearly 70 per cent of the seats by margins of 10 votes or fewer. "That is what we have been saying from day one," he said, alleging that in several such cases, election officials were pressured to declare AAP candidates winners even where opposition candidates were ahead by slim margins. Rejecting the ruling party's claims of a decisive mandate, the Punjab Congress chief asserted that the results reflected public disenchantment with the government. He alleged misuse of official machinery, intimidation of opponents and the psychological advantage enjoyed by the ruling party in local body polls. "If these factors are discounted, AAP has actually been defeated in these elections," Warring said, adding that the results marked the beginning of the ruling party's decline. Reiterating confidence in the Congress, Warring said the people of Punjab were looking to the party as an alternative, accusing the AAP government of failing to deliver on its promises. Earlier, the Punjab Chief moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking mandatory videography of the counting of votes in the recently held Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections to ensure "free, fair and transparent" elections at the grassroots level. In a public interest litigation, the Punjab Congress chief, through his counsel Nikhil Ghai, submitted that the petition was filed "in the interest of safeguarding the purity, transparency and credibility of the electoral process in elections to Zila Parishads in Punjab." The PIL highlighted that vote counting is an integral part of the election process, and the lack of video recording leaves the process vulnerable to allegations of manipulation and arbitrariness. (ANI)
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