Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has asked the Election Commission to transfer the state chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, charging him with trying to influence the voting in favour of the ruling SAD-BJP combine by pressurizing the officers responsible for the conduct of the elections in Punjab.In a written complaint to Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Captain Amarinder said the chief secretary was sending unwritten missives to the district collectors to work for the candidates of the present ruling political dispensation.Urging the EC to replace Kaushal with some honest, impartial and unbiased officer in the larger public interest, Captain Amarinder said this would help build the morale of the common man and save them from the apprehended present political-bureaucratic nexus and malfeasance. It will also allow the subordinate bureaucracy to be more objective and fair in the conduct of elections, he added.
Captain Amarinder said Kaushal was known for his manipulative skills and was cunning to the core. Though once hated by the Akali Dal, he had negotiated his present placement with the father-son duo ruling the state in exchange of toeing their line on every matter.He further said that the subordinate bureaucracy was feeling absolutely suffocated because of Kaushal’s threats to persecute them, adding that the EC could easily verify his past antecedents.Captain Amarinder reminded the EC of his earlier communications to the poll body on the need to depute neutral and professionally competent officers to conduct elections to the Punjab State Legislative Assembly. He expressed the apprehension that the state government, through some of its committed and biased bureaucrats, will try to manipulate and tamper the poll process, wherever possible, and added that such a thing can be avoided only if the state bureaucracy is headed by an honest and impartial officer.