48 hours ahead of Punjab polls, Election Commission shunts out Amritsar rural SSP

AMRITSAR: Bringing more embarassment to the ruling Akali Dal government, the EC on Monday shunted out Amritsar (rural) SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill following a series of complaints by senior Congress leaders that the officer was "forcing" his juniors to influence voters in the district.

"Balkar Singh, IPS, DIG Crime, headquarters, should supervise his work up to completion of poll on April 30," a single page EC order, a copy of which is with TOI, said. The order, written to the office of chief electoral officer V K Singh and the Amritsar deputy commissioner said Gill must be asked to report to Punjab Police headquarters in Chandigarh.

In their complaints on April 11 and April 26, copies of which are with TOI, Congress leaders in Amritsar, had written to the EC that Gill was openly threatening villagers in Majithia and neighbouring constituencies to vote for Akali Dal or face action.

"On Gurpreet Gill's orders, an SHO (Bhindi) Jarnail Singh in Amritsar had allegedly threatened a Congress sarpanch Sadda Singh after he refused to support the ruling Akali-BJP alliance. This is unacceptable. EC must restore faith in the voters here," the complaint had said.

The commission has also deployed an extra 100-member contingent of Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces (CRPF) in Majithia constituency.