The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today accused Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of violating the model code of conduct by holding a press conference on the Shahkot by-poll and urged the Election Commission to inquire into it.
The opposition party urged the EC to depute a senior observer as well as para-military forces to ensure a "free and fair" by-election.
A SAD delegation led by former minister Daljit Singh Cheema submitted a memorandum to chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju here and informed him that the chief minister had conducted a press conference on the Shahkot by-election on the premises of the Punjab Bhawan yesterday in which senior state government officials were present.
It said that during the course of the conference, Amarinder Singh carried out a "vilification" campaign against one of his own officers, the SHO of Mehatpur.
Terming it as a "gross violation" of the model code of conduct, Cheema said in the same meeting, the CM allegedly functioned as a spokesperson of the Congress party when he issued a clean chit to Congress candidate Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia while his own police booked him for illegal mining activity.
Asking the Election Commission to take the inquiry into the sand mining case allegedly involving Congress candidate Hardev Singh Laddi into its own hands, the memorandum also asked it to take suitable steps to ensure the local officers, including the Mehatpur police station SHO, were able to function impartially to ensure a free and fair poll.
Yesterday, to a question on the registration of FIR by the Shahkot SHO against the Congress candidate, the chief minister had termed it part of a political conspiracy and urged the Election Commission to probe the matter and examine the role of the SHO, as well as politicians, involved in it.