Chandigarh
The Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday claimed that its party candidates were facing problems in getting scheduled caste, backward caste and no-objection certificates for the upcoming zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Punjab.

The Akali Dal accused the ruling Congress government of denying the relevant certificates for filing nominations for the polls.

“The designated officers are denying SC/OBC, no-objection certificates and voters list to the aspiring candidates. This is being done on the directions of the ruling Congress leaders to deprive rivals of their constitutional right to enter poll fray,” claimed SAD’s senior vice president Daljit Singh Cheema in a release here.
The SAD urged the state election commission to direct all officials concerned to ensure that the grievances of the candidates were immediately addressed and a level playing field was created for all the candidates irrespective of their political affiliation.

In a letter to the commission, Cheema gave details of the difficulties being faced by party candidates at various places, including Sardulgarh (Mansa), Qadian( Batala) Giddarbaha and Nawan Shahar (SBS Nagar), Dera Baba Nanak, Kalanour, Kahnuwan.