SAD To Contest Local Elections On Party Symbol

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has announced its decision to contest the upcoming local body elections in Punjab on the party symbol, while also raising concerns about law and order and the anti-sacrilege law.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today announced that it would contest the forthcoming elections to 102 nagar councils and nine municipal corporations on the party symbol.

SAD's Decision on Local Elections

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the party's 'halka' in-charges and district presidents which was presided over by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, according to a party release.

Concerns Over Anti-Sacrilege Law

On the new anti-sacrilege law, the party said while it wanted the most severe punishment to be awarded to those indulging in the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, 'granthis' and gurdwara committees should not be persecuted in such cases.

Giving details, senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema castigated Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for "twisting" the meaning of "custodian" in the anti - sacrilege Act to "befool" the people.

Cheema disclosed that the meeting also authorised all 'halka in-charges' to appoint block-level agents to assist in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists exercise in the state. He said the block-level agents would assist people in case of any wrong deletion of votes or any other problem during the SIR exercise.

Law and Order Situation in Punjab

The SAD leader said the meeting took strong notice of the "breakdown" in the law and order situation in the state.

He said the recent bomb blasts near the BSF headquarters in Jalandhar and the Army headquarters in Amritsar had proved that no one was safe.

Cheema said instead of owning moral responsibility for the incident, the chief minister had resorted to a blame game without presenting proof of the same.

"It is surprising that while the chief minister is blaming the BJP for the blasts, the director general of police (DGP) is holding Pakistan-based agencies responsible for the same," said the Akali leader.

Two back-to-back explosions near security establishments rocked Punjab on Tuesday night, triggering panic and drawing condemnation from opposition parties, which targeted the Mann government over the law and order issue in the state.

The first explosion occurred around 8 pm in Jalandhar outside the headquarters of the Border Security Force's (BSF's) Punjab Frontier, while the second blast happened at around 11 pm near the Army camp in Amritsar's Khasa.

Corruption Allegations

Talking to reporters after the meeting, SAD president Badal accused the chief minister, his personal staff and the AAP leadership of being involved in corruption.

He said the so-called "Shukrana Yatra" being undertaken by Mann was nothing but a "distraction" tactic.