Other States - Punjab   

Punjab local body polls a litmus test for Sukhbir Badal

Sukhbir Singh Badal

Chandigarh: Elections to the panchayat institutions in Punjab scheduled for Monday will be a litmus test for ruling-Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who took over the party reins from his father and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal early this year.

This is the first elections the SAD is facing after Sukhbir was made the party chief in January this year. Twenty Zila Parishads and 141 Panchayat Samitis of Punjab will go to polls on Monday where about 1.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

The SAD and BJP is pitted against each other in almost half of the Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis after the two parties failed to arrive at a ‘consensus’ on seat-sharing for the panchayat polls. The BJP, know for its urban base in the State, which has fielded its candidates in 54 Zila Parishad and 380 Panchayat Samitis seats, will face its ally in majority of seats in Malwa belt.

While the saffron party considers its fight against its ally as a “contest”, Sukhbir has tried to down play by calling it as a “friendly match” between the two allies in some places. The elections, which is seen as a referendum on the performance of the SAD-BJP Government, is contested on party symbols by all major parties -- SAD, BJP and Congress.

Main Opposition Congress, which will try hard to put a fight against SAD-BJP combine, is ridden with factionalism. However, ruling out differences among party workers, Punjab Congress president Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said that the party is “fully prepared to take on the Akalis”.

“Lot of disappointment is there among the people of the State against the ruling SAD-BJP combine functioning and Mr. Badal and his team is totally demoralised and trying to misuse the official machinery,” she said adding “even a religious body like Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Commitee (SGPC) is being misused for party’s gain by Akalis.”

She alleged that at several places the ruling party in connivance with State machinery “forcibly rejected” the nominations of Congress candidates. “We approached the court and which directed that the polls to few zones of Gurdaspur on 154 Block Samitis and 39 Zila Parishads will be held on a later date,” Ms. Bhattal said, adding that the verdict vindicated the Congress stand.

The State Election Commission is fully geared up to hold the poll in a “smooth manner”.

As many as 88,700 employees, including around 30,000 police personnel, have been deployed in the State to ensure smooth, free and fair voting, State Election Commissioner A.K. Dubey said here. -- PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Punjab local body polls a litmus test for Sukhbir Badal

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu