What looked like a completely peaceful poll till noon was marked by a number of violent incidents as the day progressed, even as voters turned up in huge numbers in Bathinda parliamentary constituency to decide the fate of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress candidate Raninder Singh today.

Things took an ugly turn in Lelewala village near Talwandi Sabo in the evening when Congressmen alleged that Bikram Singh Majithia, former Cabinet minister and brother of Harsimrat, and his supporters “opened fire” in the village after thrashing a Congress supporter.

“Majithia came in a convoy of vehicles, picked up a dispute with our supporter and slapped him before opening fire to create terror,” alleged District Congress general secretary Gurmeet Singh. An official on duty in a polling booth in the village confirmed to The Indian Express that he heard gunshots about 5 pm.

Majithia did not return calls made to him and did not even respond to an SMS, seeking his version on “serious allegations” against him, sent to him by this correspondent.

Till the filing of this report, the villagers and Congress supporters in large numbers, led by Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo Jeet Mohinder Sidhu, were staging a protest in the village, demanding registration of a case against Majithia. Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari, SSP Ashish Chaudhry and poll officials had to rush to the spot to take stock of the situation.

“Outside there are people raising slogans and inside we are stuck. Between us there is a posse of cops,” an official on poll duty said over the phone at 8 pm.

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