Punjab bypolls: Campaigning ends, tension mounts

KAPURTHALA: The campaigning for assembly bypoll here ended on Monday giving way to a lull that seems to tow a storm in its wake. Tension is mounting as both Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are flexing muscles for a fierce contest on Wednesday between chief minister Amarinder Singh and SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal since candidates have taken a backseat in this battle of high stakes.If chief minister spoke about using the lathi' to prevent the SAD workers from indulging in rowdism, the SAD replied on Monday with "Asin itt naal itt waja diyange". Sensing the high-voltage tremors, the Election Commission (EC) appointed S M Sharma, IG (Provisioning), as a law-and-order observer for the constituency on Monday. The EC directed the district election officer R K Verma, who is also the deputy commissioner, to ensure that except bona fide residents nobody was allowed to hang around in the constituency. The police launched an intensive combing operation in the constituency to identify outsiders and put up 'nakas' at all roads linking the constituency. The police carried out searches in hotels and marriage palaces and identified about 150 outsiders. Fearing that the police would hound out only the SAD workers and let the Congress supporters camp in the constituency, the SAD flashed an SOS message to the EC, reiterating its demand for deployment of para-military forces. Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that at least five SSPs had been asked by the chief minister to camp in the constituency in plain clothes to ensure that fake votes were cast in early hours on the polling day. He said that the SSPs had been told to target particularly the NRI votes. However, the chief minister said that he would personally monitor the happenings in the constituency since he "apprehended large-scale vandalism by the SAD workers". In villages, tension seems to be brewing among the grass-roots level workers of both the parties. In Kalasangha village, for instance, both the Congress and the SAD workers seemed prepared for a show-down. Maninder Kaur, sarpanch of the village, regretted that the police had been playing a partisan role. "If the police act professionally they could keep the situation under control," she added.