The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to immediately instruct all police personnel deployed for the December 14 zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections to act in a strictly non-partisan manner, stressing that even an impression of bias can undermine the fairness of the electoral process.
The order came on Thursday following hearings on petitions filed by Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa. Cheema sought safeguards to ensure free and fair local body elections, while Bajwa demanded an extension of the December 4 nomination deadline, alleging that opposition candidates were subjected to intimidation and organised obstruction while filing nomination papers.
The petitions were moved after a purported audio clip circulated on social media in which Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed Patiala SSP Varun Sharma and other officers were allegedly heard discussing ways to prevent opposition candidates from filing nominations, purportedly at the behest of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.
The matter was heard on Wednesday, and the order was made public on Thursday.
A bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjeev Berry observed that the Commission “ought to have risen to the occasion” and addressed even the slightest apprehension of favoritism.
“It would have been better if the Commission would have handed over verification of the material presented by complainants in the shape of audio and video recordings to a neutral agency not under the control and supervision of the State of Punjab,” the bench noted.
The court also remarked that it was expected of the SEC to divest the Patiala SSP of election duties pending an inquiry into the allegations.
During the hearing, SEC counsel informed the court that the audio clip has been sent for forensic verification to a Punjab laboratory and that a committee headed by an Additional Director General of Police has been constituted to examine the allegations against SSP Sharma.
The Commission also told the court that Sharma had been sanctioned a six-day leave starting December 10, with Sangrur SSP Sartaj Singh Chahal taking additional charge of Patiala.
“We appreciate the action of the State Election Commission, Punjab, in sending SSP, Patiala, on leave till elections… are over, pending inquiry into the allegations,” the bench said.
Reiterating the SEC’s constitutional mandate under Article 243-K, the court said the body must conduct itself in a manner that reflects absolute neutrality.
“In this process, conduct of the Commission ought not to give an impression that it is favouring any person or political party… The actions of the Commission ought not only to be actually impartial to all, but also appear to be impartial,” the order stated.
To safeguard the integrity of the upcoming polls, the court issued a categorical directive:
“To ensure free, fair and impartial elections… we direct the State Election Commission to issue directions to all the SHOs and all the police personnel involved in election duty to conduct themselves in a non-partisan manner without indulging in any kind of activity deleterious to the concept of free and fair elections.”
The bench added that it expects the SEC to act on this “immediately.”
The court clarified that the ongoing inquiry under the SEC’s supervision must be conducted independently and without external influence.
The matter will be taken up again on December 22.
