EC not checking poll expenses of Cong, SAD : Mann

Moga, Jan 14 (UNI) Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann has criticised the Election Commission (EC) for its failure to check the poll related expenses of the ruling Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal.

Addressing a party conference at Takhtupura village yesterday, Mr Mann claimed that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), during his recent visit to Chandigarh had not taken into consideration the compalints lodged by ''lesser known ''political parties on poll expenditure. ''The Congress and SAD were spending crores on advertisements, but the CEC had prefered to ignore this fact, ''he added.

Mr Mann also expressed concern over criminalisation of politics in Punjab and said that both the Congress and the SAD had a number of leaders with criminal records in their ranks. In this context he listed the names of state Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the SAD chief, Mr Badal, his MP son Sukhbir Singh Badal, former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur and SAD MLA Gaganjit Singh Barnala.

Mr Mann also blamed both Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Mr Badal for the plight of the farmers of the state.The two had only exploited the sentiments of the farming community and done nothing for the welfare of the farmers, he alleged.

While SAD had left 23 assembly seats for the BJP in Punjab but in Uttarakhand, the BJP was not willing to give a single assembly seat to Sikhs of Uttarakhand, Mr Mann added.

UNI