All set to win 157 of the 170 seats,the Shiromani Akali Dal-Sant Samaj combine is heading for a clean sweep of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections,balloting for which took place on Sunday in a poll that was marred by violence,including an incident of firing at Badals home district of Muktsar that injured a person. In the last elections,the Shiromani Akali Dal had contested alone to win 138 seats,but combining with Sant Samaj seems to have benefitted the party to increase its tally by 19 seats. Though the official declaration of the results will be done only on Thursday,information coming from the party candidates show that the combine is romping home in 147 of the 157 seats in Punjab,8 of the 11 seats in Haryana and one each in Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. Akali Dal secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the results have proved that Sikh masses have completely rejected the Congress-led so-called Panthic Morcha and reposed full faith in the policies and programmes of the SAD. Cheema said the Congress should be well prepared to face a similar humiliating defeat in the coming Assembly elections scheduled for early next year. However,opposition leaders dismissed the Akalis claims and said the ruling party was using brutal force and resorting to such desperate tactics showed they had virtually admitted defeat. Watching the images of violence and booth capturing during the SGPC elections,for a while it felt as if we were living in some part of Bihar lorded over by some criminal gang and not in Punjab, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh said. Peoples Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Badal said the government had left no stone unturned to abuse the law. This clearly proves that the Badals are certain about their forthcoming shameful defeat in the Vidhan Sabha elections, Manpreet said. Violence led to cancellation of voting in two booths each at Karaiwala village in Gidderbaha constituency and Buttar Shrin village in Doda constituency after allegations of booth capturing. There were also reports of non-Sikhs casting their votes in Badal village but Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal dismissed it as an administrative issue. Na main vote banawa,na main vote paawan (Neither I prepare electoral rolls nor I know who casts the vote). It is an administrative point, Badal said after casting his vote in Badal village. In Karaiwala of Muktsar district,one Charan Singh sustained a bullet injury and accused SAD-Sant Samaj candidate from Gidderbaha Gurpal Singh Gora of opening fire. Traffic was also blocked on Bathinda-Muktsar road to register protest against booth capturing. Violence was also reported from across the state as supporters of Akali Dal clashed with their opponents. There were also reports of infighting between different groups of Akali Dal in Tarn Taran that forced the authorities to stop polling for half-an-hour.
