Punjab BJP chief writes to poll official over party nominees facing protests during campaigns

Chandigarh, May 6 (PTI) Amid the BJP candidates facing protests from the farmers in Punjab, state party chief Sunil Jakhar Monday sought the intervention of the chief electoral officer, claiming that the party nominees were “being forced to withdraw from campaigns”.

Jakhar expressed the apprehension on the “possible collusion” of the ruling AAP and other parties in causing obstructions and encumbrances in the campaign of the BJP candidates.

The BJP candidates and leaders have been facing protests from the farmers while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. As part of the protests, the farmers ask questions to the BJP leaders and show them black flags for not agreeing to their demands. A delegation of the BJP leaders, led by Jakhar, Monday submitted a memorandum to Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C, claiming that the state machinery has miserably failed to ensure the right of campaign of the BJP candidates in the poll fray.

Without providing an equal platform to campaign, the election process will be rendered futile, claimed Jakhar, who was flanked by party leaders Parminder Brar and Vineet Joshi.

“While the BJP has always stood for the rights of the farmers believing in dialogue as the way forward, such unchecked protests against the BJP candidates, who are being forced to withdraw from campaigns in parts of Punjab, can lead to unforeseeable consequences and untoward incidents of violence and clashes,” Jakhar said in the memorandum. “The possibility of anti-social elements sneaking in under the garb of the farmer protest and creating havoc cannot be ruled out. This would vitiate the elections rendering both the process and the final outcome unfair,” he said.

Jakhar said if the election machinery does not intervene to check this “well-planned conspiracy” against the BJP, it will vitiate the elections rendering both the process and the final outcome unfair. “Free and fair elections and the right to campaign have always remained quintessential ingredients in flourishing democracies. This epistle is to bring to your notice and highlight our apprehension of a well-calibrated ‘sponsored’ denial of the right of the BJP candidates to campaign in Punjab in the backdrop of the deteriorating law and order situation under the incumbent AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann,” said Jakhar. He alleged deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab while underlining the ongoing disruptions and denial of the right to campaign to the BJP candidates. “It remains the responsibility of the Punjab Electoral Office, the state administrative and the police apparatus to ensure the BJP candidates have unhindered access to every part to exert their democratic right to campaign,” he said.

However, he added, dozens of incidents in the recent past and the latest incident in Patiala, where a farmer died falling on his own on a road during the campaign of BJP candidate (from Patiala) Preneet Kaur, need immediate attention. The apprehension of “collusion” of the political parties including the AAP, the SAD and the Congress in scripting such “disruptions” for the BJP candidates looms large, Jakhar said.

The state machinery, he added, cannot act as a “conduit” to facilitate such obstructions. Jakhar said these parties are clearly “rattled” by the increasing footprints of the BJP in Punjab. The state BJP chief said, “The state DGP, Chief Secretary need to be put on notice for lapses that are leading to obstruction in BJP campaign and resulting in amplified threat to security of party candidates in poll fray.” Protests and obstructions during the elections cannot take place without prior permission and notice, he said, lamenting what was happening at the ground level augments the BJPs apprehensions of a “sponsored link” to the ongoing disruptions. “We apprehend threats to the safety of our candidates during elections. The office of the CEO cannot be a mute spectator to the underlying conspiracy to deny the right to campaign to the BJP. “The BJP has utmost faith in the election process and the EC teams in states. We expect the CEO to urgently intervene keeping in mind the facts cited above,” said Jakhar.