MP takes out protest march against "faulty" voters list

Kapurthala, Jan 20 (UNI) The issue of bogus votes in the Kapurthala assembly segment took a new turn when about 300 residents, led by Rana Gurjit Singh, Jalandhar MP, took out a protest march, alleging their names are missing from the voters list.

The agitating residents, mostly migrant labourers, shouted slogans against the administration and staged dharna and blocked the road opposite district court for nearly an hour.

The MP met Deputy Commissioner Raminder Singh in his office and accused the Returning Officer and Block level officers (BLOs) of not accepting the forms of residents and migrant labourers living there for the past more than two decades to enlist them as voters.

Mr Singh presented a list of large number of residents who had old photo identity cards as residence proof and were not enlisted as voters.

He demanded an action against the Returning Officer and warned the district administration if the eligible residents were not enlisted as voters within two days he would stage a dharna and sue the returning officer in the court of law.

He said he would write to the Election Commission against the returning officer and the BLOs for working under pressure from the opposition parties and ignoring the legible rights of the people.

The DC after hearing the MP, directed the ADC (General) and ADC (Development) to personally verify the applications and enroll the eligible applicants as voters within two days.

The DC said he would write to the Election Commission against the returning officer and BLOs if found guilty.

The dharna was lifted following assurance given by the MP that the genuine residents would be enrolled as voters.

UNI