Zila Parishad elections: Akali Dal moves HC over viral conference of senior police official 

Chandigarh, Dec 4 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday petitioned the Punjab and Haryana high court to register a FIR against Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Varun Sharma as well as order his suspension over a purported viral virtual conference call in which the official was heard directing the district police force to prevent Akali Dal candidates from filing their nomination papers for the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections. 

The petition was filed in the High Court following an expose by SAD president Sukhbir Badal, who released the entire recording of the Patiala SSP giving explicit directions to the district police to prevent Opposition candidates, particularly those from SAD, from reaching the office of the Returning Officer to file their nomination papers. 

The SAD president has taken up this issue as one in which the democratic right to vote of a citizen has been snatched by the extra-constitutional actions of the SSP in a planned and premeditated manner to benefit the Aam Aadmi Party. 

Badal asserted that similar directions had been issued to the police force across the state at the instance of the government and demanded the intervention of the Election Commissioner, besides approaching the high court. 

The court issued notice to the state government as well as the state Election Commission for Monday. The petition, filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), by former legislator Daljit Singh Cheema sought urgent judicial safeguards to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections to the Block Samitis and Zila Parishads, slated on December 14. 

It highlighted how the SSP had orchestrated a criminal conspiracy via a viral conference call to block Opposition candidates from filing nominations through intimidation, wrongful restraint and paper snatching. 

The petition, filed by the party’s legal cell head Arshdeep Kler, said key audio excerpts revealed directives to detain opponents at their homes or en route to the Block Development Officer or SDM office on the orders of AAP legislators, besides ensuring Returning Officers rejected entries and engineered uncontested wins. 

Asserting that the Patiala SSP was spoiling the peace in the state by creating a “private militia”, the petition called for deployment of the Central Armed Police Forces (CRPF) or independent observers till the conduct of elections and counting process in Patiala district was not completed. 

--IANS 

vg/dan