EC defers polls in Beas

Ramaninder K Bhatia / TNN / Feb 9, 2007, 01:17 IST

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Election Commission deferred polls in Beas constituency, which recently saw AK-47s being brandished openly, to March 11.

CHANDIGARH: In a major embarrassment to the Punjab government, Election Commission on Thursday deferred polls in Beas constituency, which recently saw AK-47s being brandished openly, to March 11. The rest of Punjab will go to polls on February 13.
Worse, in a withering attack on the Congress government led by chief minister Amarinder Singh, Election Commission put in on record that the police role was largely suspect and that it couldn't trust them, at least in Beas, to be impartial.
This comes in the wake of police's failure to arrest Harpinder Gill alias Rajan, who is the brother of Beas MLA and Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Dimpa.
On January 29 a SAD activist was shot dead by Congress workers. Moments later, TV footage showed Rajan strutting around with an AK-47 assault gun, loading and re-loading it.

In the seven-page order, EC said, "No arrest of accused, specially of Rajan, brother of Dimpa, has raised serious questions about the impartiality and professionalism of the Punjab police." In a subsequent observation, it said, "The state government and the Punjab police have failed to create a peaceful atmosphere in the '12-Beas' constituency as may be conducive to the conduct of peaceful, free and fair elections." Though police, after unprecedented pressure from opposition parties, filed an FIR against Dimpa and his brothers Rajan and Harmanbir, no follow-up action was taken. It didn't help matters as Harmanbir is the SP (traffic) in Chandigarh.

R Bhattacharya, the visiting deputy cec deferred the polls and conveyed it to the chief secretary and DGP later in the day. Sources said the action was necessitated after the police failed to deliver on its promise to "nab Rajan by Wednesday night or Thursday morning" despite the EC's ultimatum to the government.
Rajan, a transporter, was captured on camera wielding an AK 47 during the clash. The VCD was shown by Akalis to EC and the local police. But the police just suspended three of Dimpa's gunmen and did not take any action against the seven other accused.

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