Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Friday complained to the Election Commission against the state chief secretary alleging that he was trying to influence the voting in favour of the ruling SAD-BJP combine by pressurising officers responsible for the conduct of the Assembly election.
In a written complaint to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, Amarinder alleged that chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal was sending unwritten missives to the district collectors to work for the candidates of the present ruling political dispensation.
Urging the EC to replace Kaushal with some “honest, impartial and unbiased” officer in the larger public interest, Amarinder claimed this would help build the morale of the common man and save them from the present political-bureaucratic nexus and malfeasance. “It will also allow the subordinate bureaucracy to be more objective and fair in the conduct of elections”, he added.
Amarinder Singh alleged that the subordinate bureaucracy was feeling absolutely suffocated because of Kaushal’s threats to persecute them, adding that the EC could easily verify his past antecedents.
He expressed the apprehension that the state government, through some of its committed and biased bureaucrats, will try to “manipulate and tamper” the poll process, wherever possible, and added that such a thing can be avoided only if the state bureaucracy is headed by an honest and impartial officer.
