Punjab Congress alleges denial of NOC to party candidates for Zila Parishad polls

Chandigarh, Dec 1 (PTI) Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday accused the state government officials of not issuing no-objection certificates to his party candidates contesting the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections.
    Warring also sought urgent intervention of the Punjab State Election Commission in the matter.
    In a letter to the state election commissioner, Warring claimed the no-objection certificates (NOCs) for the Congress candidates were either being delayed or denied.
    “The nomination filing process has already started, and the last date is also near, yet our candidates are not being issued NOCs by the concerned officials. It is an attempt to deny them the chance to contest,” he said.
    “I have been flooded with messages and phone calls stating that the officials authorised to issue the NOCs are not available.
    “There appears to be a deliberate design to deny NOCs to our candidates, and may be to all other opposition nominees, so that they don’t contest,” the Congress leader said.
    Calling it a gross violation of the fair electoral process, Warring demanded that the state election commissioner immediately issue clear instructions to all concerned officials to be on the job and issue the NOCs forthwith.
    The Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections will be held on December 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 17. The filing of nominations started on Monday and will continue till December 4.
    Scrutiny of papers will take place on December 5, while December 6 is the last date for withdrawing nominations.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)