Punjab: Election Commission suspends Tarn Taran SSP three days ahead of bye-polls

The Election Commission on Saturday suspended Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police Ravjot Kaur Grewal, three days before the bye-elections for the Assembly seat, The Indian Express reported.

The bye-polls, necessitated by the death of the Aam Aadmi Party MLA in June, will be held on Tuesday, and the results will be announced on Friday.

While the poll body has not cited a reason for Grewal's suspension, the move came after Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the Election Commission-appointed observer and submitted a written complaint alleging misuse of power by the official to help the ruling AAP in Punjab, the Hindustan Times reported.

A delegation of Shiromani Akali Dal leaders had also met the chief electoral officer of Punjab in Chandigarh and submitted a similar complaint, the newspaper reported.

The party has accused Grewal of filing “false” and politically motivated first information reports against its leaders and workers to obstruct their campaigning.

It also alleged that party workers and leaders in Tarn Taran were being “forcibly detained” by police officials ahead of the bye-polls. The party claimed that the administration was targeting its candidate Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, her family members and supporters, the Hindustan Times reported.

In his complaint, Badal had also alleged that “surveillance activities” were being carried out on Randhawa and her daughter Kanchanpreet Kaur, claiming that two plainclothes policemen had been caught following Kanchanpreet and later identified themselves as members of the police's crime investigation agency, the newspaper reported.

Reacting to the Election Commission's action, Badal said Grewal had been “vitiating the election atmosphere in the Tarn Taran bye-poll by acting as a polling agent of the AAP”, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Grewal's criminally partisan conduct calls for initiation of a formal probe against her as well as resultant disciplinary action including dismissal from service,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The Congress also welcomed the poll body's decision.

“Though delayed, the action is justified for free and fair polls”, the Hindustan Times quoted Congress leader Pargat Singh as saying.

Singh also accused the AAP of misusing the police and administration during the bye-polls, the newspaper reported.

The AAP, however, questioned the Election Commission's decision, claiming Grewal had been suspended without any “concrete complaint”, The Indian Express reported. AAP leader Baltej Pannu alleged that the Opposition was “unnerved by the immense support for the AAP in the bye-poll”.

Grewal was posted as the Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police in September. Before her suspension, two deputy superintendents of police, Jagjeet Singh and Sukhbir Singh, had also been transferred by the Election Commission.

Meanwhile, Indian Police Services officer Surinder Lamba, who was serving as assistant inspector general (personnel-1) at the Police Headquarters in Chandigarh, has been appointed as the new Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police after the poll body cleared his posting.

Source: Scroll
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