Some anxious moments were witnessed in Kairu village in the Dhuri Assembly constituency of Punjab as activists of the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine clashed on the eve of the by-elections to the constituency. However, timely intervention by the security forces prevented the situation from flaring up.
Dhuri is witnessing a keen contest between BJP-SAD’s candidate Gobind Singh Longowal and the Congress-Sanjha Morcha candidate Simar Pratap Singh, grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala. In all, there are 12 candidates in the fray.
The election was necessitated by the resignation of Congress MLA Arvind Khanna, who has since been expelled by the party for four years. It has brought to the fore old rivalry between two senior Akali leaders of Punjab – Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and former CM Surjit Singh Barnala.
The election has also provided both the parties an opportunity to test the political waters – albeit in the absence of Aam Aadmi Party, which had performed credibly during the 2014 Lok Sabha election but has decided not to contest the by-election.
For the Congress, which has been witnessing bitter infighting in the State, retaining the seat has become a matter of prestige. No wonder it has deputed All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge Shakeel Ahmad to personally supervise the elections so that the tiff between party state president Partap Singh Bajwa and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh does not cost party the seat.
Of the 166 polling stations in the constituency, 91 have been declared hyper-sensitive and the remaining 75 sensitive. To ensure peaceful polling, apart from about 1,800 personnel of the State police, six battalions of military and para-military personnel have been deployed at all the polling stations.
The constituency comprising 75 villages and Dhuri town has a total of 1,50,888 voters. To ensure a large turnout, the Punjab Government has declared polling day a paid holiday for all the shops and commercial establishments in the constituency.
Chief Electoral Officer V.K. Singh said comprehensive arrangements have been made to ensure free, fair and transparent polling. A total of 12 patrolling parties, four static surveillance teams, three video surveillance teams and four flying squads would monitor the conduct of the polls.
