Chandigarh, Dec 14 (IANS) Voting for Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections was underway in Punjab on Sunday through ballot papers at over 19,000 booths across 23 districts, the polling officials said.

The voting began at 8 a.m. and will continue till 4 p.m. The counting will take place on December 17.

A total of 1.36 crore voters are eligible to cast votes to elect representatives of 347 zones of Zila Parishads and 2,838 zones of 153 Panchayat Samitis. All major political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the SAD (Amritsar), are in the fray on party symbols.

Officials said there are 860 hyper-sensitive polling locations and 3,400 sensitive polling locations. Around 44,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure a peaceful poll. The State Election Commission has said that it has appointed election observers and police observers, and it is committed to conducting the elections in a fair and transparent manner.

Amid allegations of the misuse of government machinery by the government, a purported audio clip surfaced on social media with Akali Dal President Sukhbir Badal claiming that Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma and other officers were allegedly conspiring to prevent opposition candidates from filing nominations.

A day before the polling, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the Congress and Akali Dal over their “high-handedness” allegation against the government, saying they had accepted defeat in the elections.

Slamming Congress’ former Chief Minister and Lok Sabha Member Charanjit Singh Channi for misleading the people with his irresponsible and baseless statements, he said, “The former Chief Minister has admitted defeat of his party by issuing such statements which are against the spirit of democracy.”

He said, foreseeing their defeat, Congress, the Akali Dal and the BJP are resorting to diversionary tactics.

Mann said while Congress has been repeatedly rejected by the people, the Akali Dal has run away from fighting most of the by-elections.

The CM said these parties knew well their fate in these polls, due to which they are issuing baseless statements as a face-saving exercise. The Chief Minister dared Channi to prove the “baseless” allegations being levelled by him and show where the extra ballots have been printed, adding that the “self-proclaimed messiah of weaker sections is indulging in all these tactics just to hog limelight”.

CM Mann said that it is on record that neither Channi nor his party have ever gone to the people, due to which they are being repeatedly rejected by them.

–IANS

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