Reacting to the unprecedented levels of violence and booth capturing by the Congress goons on the polling day for the municipal bodies' elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stated that it proved Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's attempt of sabotaging the democratic process in the state. Addressing the media during a press conference convened at the party headquarters here on Monday, AAP senior leader and MLA Aman Arora said that the polling day on February 14, was a black day for democracy in Punjab. He said that it was shameful as Captain Amarinder, being the home minister of the state, tried to loot the elections and murdered the democracy with the help of his goons. "Captain Amarinder has failed miserably to maintain law and order. He has let down the state, its people and maligned the democratic system," he added.He said that Captain had failed to solve the inconvenience of the people and when people came out to vote for change, he asked his goons to ensue violence, preventing the people from voting. "We demand the immediate resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh for failing in maintaining law and order in the state. He has failed as CM in protecting the right to vote of the people. Captain's shocking silence on the ensuing violence seems to tell us that Captain himself is guiding his goons to conduct these violent acts," said Arora. He said that all the incidents on the polling day proved that the Election Commission and the police worked as the wings of the Congress party. Arora said that the civil and police officials, dancing on the tunes of Congress goons, will have to pay for their deeds.
He said that in Samana and Rajpura, Congress goons entered the polling stations and kicked out the voters and locked the doors. Accusing the officials, Arora said that the presiding officer assisted these goons and locked the gates of the polling station so that voters were not able to enter the polling station. Later, after the area was secured for the goons, they went about casting bogus votes. He said that a video from inside the polling station was shared with the media and it showed how a Congress goon was pushing the Congress button again and again without any resistance from the officials. "When our volunteers tried to protest against this hooliganism, they were beaten by the Congress goons in clear sight of the police," said Arora. He said that in Patti, the Congress goons entered the polling station with pistols and threatened all the voters to evacuate the polling station. Arora said that after learning about the same, AAP volunteers mobilised and rushed to stop the goons which led to a scuffle; during which one of the AAP volunteers Manveer Singh was shot at and injured.Moreover, instead of arresting the goons who had entered the polling station with arms, the police detained AAP volunteer Laljit Bhullar after assaulting him, stating that they will not release him until the voting was done, he added. The AAP leader further said that similarly in Bathinda, Abohar, Fazilka and Ferozepur, voters were kicked out of the polling stations and Congress goons were allowed to openly cast bogus votes. "When our volunteers went to stop the incident, they were beaten up by the cops along with the Congress goons," he added. Arora said that in Kapurthala, goons of Rana Gurjit beat up general voters and volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party, intimidating them not to vote.
"The DC of Kapurthala had released a report at 4pm, stating that the voting turnover at Kapurthala was 62.16% but then a few hours later another report was released stating that the voting percentage was around 68.89%. How did this 6% increase after 4pm. Do the DC Kapurthala or the State Election Commission have an answer to this," he said. Arora further said that in Malerkotla and other locations, the returning officers did not provided booth agents with Form 33, which the AAP leaders had to haggle and get it by themselves, to get it authorised by the returning officers. "All these incidents prove that the police and the State Election Commission worked as the wings of the Congress and their credibility is questionable," he added. He said that the ruling government under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh had used violence and state machinery to stop the people from voting and exercising their political rights.Lashing out at Captain Amarinder Singh, Arora said, "Why is Captain doing this? There is a clear and simple reason. Over the last few days AAP got a tremendous response from the people of Punjab in their rallies. It showed that the people wanted change, they aspired for a better Punjab. This made Captain tremble." He said that Captain first tried to defame the AAP and asked his stooge Sunil Jakhar to do media interviews and defame the party further. When that did not work he asked his goons to violate the fundamental right of the people and sabotage the entire election process. "But the AAP volunteers stood strong because of their clean intentions, because of their inner desire to change the way politics is done and because of their clean intention to support the people in practicing their democratic rights," he added.