Many Punjab cops on poll duty not issued postal ballot papers: Plaint

Ludhiana: A matter of sheer negligence on the part of the election department came to light after it was found that several police personnel who were on the election duty have not been issued the postal ballot paper as of now.

According to the sources there are around six police officers from Ludhiana West (064) constituency, who were posted in other districts and as they could not leave the place of posting, they were not able to exercise their right to vote on February 20, 2022.

Despite these officials having applied for issuing postal ballot papers, the district election officer has not issued the same yet. One of the officials, Gurpreet Singh, who is at present posted as Deputy Superintendent of Police in Malerkotla, has also lodged a complaint regarding this on the portal of Election Commission of India. His complaint ID is 8FCCBBB6F731.

According to a complaint filed by Advocate Rajinder Kumar on behalf of DSP Gurpreet Singh, it has been stated that Gurpreet is a voter of Ludhiana West (064) constituency and is currently deployed in district Malerkotla and was not able to exercise his franchise.

In the complaint, it was stated that he had applied for the issuing of postal ballot paper to the Nodal officer for Postal Ballots in Malerkotla.

Following which the Nodal Officer from Malerkotla forwarded the request of Gurpreet Singh to the District Election Officer Ludhiana vide Letter number 97 dated February 4, 2022.

In the complaint, Advocate Rajinder Kumar mentioned that till date the district election officer Ludhiana has not issued the postal ballot paper and the last date and time for submission of ballot paper is March 9, 2022 till 5 pm. He also mentioned that the election department has failed to give any satisfactory reply.

The lawyer mentioned that in the complaint he had clearly mentioned that his client Gurpreet Singh is a voter of Ludhiana West (064) constituency but as per the status of complaint uploaded on Monday (March 7) on the portal of ECI, it was mentioned, ‘does not retailed 65 Ludhiana North’.

Now it is surprising from where ‘Ludhiana North’ has come! In the fresh complaint the advocate has mentioned that it seems that the concerned officer has been trying to infringe the legal right of his client Gurpreet Singh to cast vote, which is a serious matter.

Advocate further mentioned that if his client will not receive the postal ballot paper well in time and will not be allowed to vote, then legal action will be taken against the concerned delinquent officer.

Similarly, DSP Jatinder Singh, who is posted in Control Room Sangrur, has also filed a similar complaint through his lawyer.