Garhshankar, October 18 - Democratic Teachers Front Punjab has taken cognizance of the hooliganism that took place at many places during the Panchayat elections held on October 15 across the state and has put the responsibility on the Punjab government and termed the Punjab Election Commission as a failure to make proper arrangements for the elections.
Giving detailed information in this regard, DTF State President Vikramdev Singh, General Secretary Mahendra Kaurawali, Finance Secretary Ashwini Awasthi and Joint Secretary Mukesh Kumar said that the Democratic Teachers Front Punjab and the United Front of Teachers' Organizations had given a demand letter to the Punjab Election Commission demanding that the counting of votes be done at centralized centers under full security arrangements.
But ignoring this demand, the Punjab Election Commission and the Punjab Government decided to get the counting of votes done at the booths on the same day in the evening and made minimal security arrangements. Due to this decision, violent incidents took place at booths late at night at many places, in which the employees who went on duty had to run away to save their lives. After watching the video of violent incidents at different booths on social media, fear has spread among all the employees.
DTF Vice Presidents Rajeev Barnala, Jagpal Bangi, Gurpiyar Kotli, Beant Phulewala, Harjinder Wadala Bangar and Raghvir Bhavanigarh, Joint Secretaries Kulwinder Joshan and Jaswinder Aujla, Press Secretary Pawan Kumar, Assistant Finance Secretary Tajinder Singh and Publicity Secretary Sukhdev Dansiwal said that this time there were so many flaws in the election arrangements that earlier the employees called for election duty were sent to the polling booths from 12 noon to 1-2 pm a day before the election. Whereas this time, at many places, the election material could not be made available to the polling parties even till 8 pm.
Exemption to favourites from election duty at many places is also a proof of large scale rigging in election duty. No arrangements were made by the Election Commission/Administration for food for the employees. Due to this, at many places, the employees had to work on an empty stomach the whole day.
Due to lack of management and security in the elections, the feeling of insecurity is constantly increasing among all the employees, due to which the employees are considering election duty as risking their lives. The Punjab government, which claims to free the teachers from non-teaching duties, has completely failed to provide security to its employees during duty. Therefore, the leaders of the organization drew the attention of the Punjab government and the Punjab Election Commission that if the shortcomings in the electoral system and security are not removed in the near future, then there will be a massive protest by the employees against election duty.