Cong fears rigging during counting of votes in Amritsar

Chandigarh, May 12: Apprehending rigging in

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today asked the Election Commission to ensure adequate measures for smooth counting of votes and "rule out influence" of the ruling alliance at the counting centres.

The party also sought a judicial probe into the recent attack on a lawyer, who had filed a complaint against a Punjab minister for violating poll code. A delegation of Congress, led by senior leader and Amritsar campaign in-charge Rana Gurjeet Singh met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab here today and apprised him of the concerns of the party about the smooth conduct of counting at Amritsar and other places on May 16.

Congress also demanded videography of the counting process

The party also demanded videography of the counting process. The party leaders also sought a judicial probe into the case of alleged dual voting by Cabinet minister Anil Joshi saying ,"in order to ensure that the case is taken to the logical conclusion and the state government's influence is prevented and pre-empted, it is necessary to conduct a judicial probe."

The Congress leaders demanded deployment of central para-military forces at the counting centres in Punjab and also wanted that "only those counting officials having good integrity should be deployed at counting centres."

Rana Gurjeet sought that all the complaints registered during the election process be referred to the Crime branch "as the local police because of the pressure of the government may not be able to do justice in these cases."

Yesterday, Punjab Congress had demanded the arrest of Local Bodies Minister, Anil Joshi in a case of attack on Amritsar lawyer Vaneet Mahajan, who had earlier filed a case of dual voting against Joshi. Joshi has denied involvement in the attack saying he had nothing to do with it.

PTI