ministers: An JARO team on May 19 reported that the Congress (I) had in a planned way brought people in thousands in trucks and buses from all Over Punjab in order to cast bogus votes. Akali Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) activists tried Lo stop them doing so at various polling booths, but they were then transferred to other booths. This went on throughout the day. In urban areas like Nakodar, Lohian, Malsihan, Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, Goraya, Kartarpur and especially in Jalandhar city.

About a dozen trucks, each carrying more than 50 persons, were brought from the Sangrur parliamentary constituency to Nakodara by Punjab Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal alone for casting bogus votes, Bhattal along with number of policemen bearing guns came to Akali Dal (Badal)’s election office and threatened Akali workers for stopping her men (from Sangrur) from casting “votes.” The same security men’s party led by Bhattal also had a Confrontation with Akali Dal (Mann) activists. All this happened in the presence of IHRO team at Nakodar, Local Congress Leaders, Bhushan Kumar, Municipal Commissioner and Gureharan Singh, ex President. Municipal Committee, were found guiding impersonators.

Some Congress workers led by Tara Ram, former municipal commissioner, were sitting inside the compound at Ramgarhia High School, Nakodarand coercing the voters to favor the Congress candidate. When BSP activists objected to this, Tara Ram threatened them that he will see them in the evening.

The LHRO team reported a number of impersonators in Pandori, Talwandi Sanghera, Sadiqpur, Tat Sher Singh, Kotla Suraj Mal and Dhandowal villages.

At Malsihan town, according to Akali activist Gurcharan Singh, Congress leaders, Darbara Singh, ex speaker of the Punjab Assembly. And Tikka Singh, former mayor of Malsihan, managed to cast about 500 foul votes. The impersonators: were migrant laborers from UP and factory workers who had no votes there.

BSP candidate Harbhajan Lakha, who met the JHRO team at Lohhian, told that the Congress was indulging in large scale impersonation throughout the constituency.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 28, 1993