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Gurdaspur: Politicians and bureaucrats admit, albeit clandestinely, that the civic body polls should be discontinued because of the “farcical conditions” in which they are held. The ruling dispensation in Chandigarh, be it the Congress or the SAD-BJP combine, ensures that only its loyalists are ‘elected’ as councillors, presidents and mayors. From 2007 to 2017, when the SAD-BJP alliance was in power, it made sure that the party swept all local body polls by hook or crook. This time, when the Congress hit the bull’s eye by scoring 29/29 in Gurdaspur, former MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali was quick to put the blame on the “high-handedness” of the Congress. On this, Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa reminded Babbehali of an old Hindi adage “jaisee karni, waisee bharni”.
On the statement given by one Sudhir Sharma, the Muktsar Sadar police have booked former Muktsar Municipal Council chief Harpal Singh Bedi and his son, one Harmanjit Singh and his son, Charanjit Singh Sakkanwali, Balwinder Singh and Nimma Rupana under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 511 (commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the IPC and 25 (carrying prohibited arms), 27 (illegal use of arms), 54 (possession of prohibited weapon) and 59 (bring/taking out of arms) of the Arms Act.