Six booked for election-related crimes in Ludhiana

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 21

The police have booked Sandeep Kumar, resident of Rajiv Gandhi Colony, Focal Point, under Section 171-D of the IPC for impersonating as a booth-level officer (BLO) and distributing voter slips on behalf of the Congress at booth No 217 in the Power House polling station falling in the Ludhiana East constituency.

The case was registered on the complaint of BLO of booth No 217 Kulwant Singh, who alleged that Sandeep Kumar was having a fake identity card of BLO and distributing voter slips in a fraudulent manner.

A man, identified as Bikram Singh, resident of Shivaji Nagar, was booked under Section 128 of the People’s Representation Act for carrying a mobile phone inside the polling booth (No 162) in Government Middle School, Shivaji Nagar, taking his selfie with an EVM while casting vote and uploading the picture on social media. According to a complaint lodged by Ravi Kumar, Polling Officer (of booth No 162), Bikram Singh had violated secrecy of vote by his action.

In another similar incident, Dinesh Makkar, resident of Ashok Vihar, was booked under Section 126(B) of the People’s Representation Act and Section 188 of the IPC for sharing a picture on social media which showed him voting in favour of Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Ludhiana West constituency at booth No 34 in Ashok Vihar. The case was registered on the complaint of District Returning Officer, who said Dinesh Makkar had violated the secrecy of voting within the polling station.

Two persons, identified as Yuvraj Malhotra and Ranjit Singh, residents of Nishant Bagh Colony in Bhattian Bet, were booked by the police under Sections 323, 341, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC for an assault on a BJP worker, Sanjay Pal, resident of the same colony. According to a complainant by Sanjay Pal, while he was setting up a counter for the BJP candidate outside polling booth numbers 281, 282 and 283 in Government School, Bhattian on Sunday morning, Yuvraj Malhotra and Ranjit Singh attacked and thrashed him, while also threatening him not to put up the counter for the BJP.

Another person, identified as Gurmeet Singh, resident of Jalandhar, was arrested by the police and booked under Section 188 of the IPC for violation of the prohibitory orders of the District Returning Officer on the presence of outsiders at any place on the day of polling.

The police said Gurmeet Singh was nabbed on a tip-off that even though a resident of Jalandhar,

Gurmeet was moving around in Basti Abdullapur with supporter of Lok Insaaf Party president Simarjeet Singh Bains.