Chandigarh, December 10, 2025 (Yes Punjab News)
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today called for institution of an independent Election Commission in consultation with the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition besides posting outside Observers during polls to State bodies to protect democracy and making Election Manifestos legal documents.
Speaking in parliament on the issue of electoral reforms, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said the country needed an independent Election Commission which was not a caged parrot of the ruling party. She asserted the country not only needed good laws but also free and fair implementation of the laws.
“Unfortunately we have seen many steps being taken to weaken the electoral system but none to strengthen it”. She also called for debarring political parties who did not implement their election manifestos asserting that in Punjab both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had made promises which they did not fulfill.
Asserting that the system needed to be cleansed from the bottom to the top, Mrs Badal said in Punjab democracy itself had been hikacked with Arvind Kejriwal sitting in the chief minister’s house, using the State plane and even taking all officials decisions. “An entire government has been robbed by Kejriwal”.
The Bathinda MP also highlighted how elections in Punjab to Panchayati Raj institutions had been completely vitiated. She said a recent viral conference call by Patiala SSP Varun Sharma had witnessed the SSP directing district level police officials to prevent opposition candidates from reaching the offices of Returning Officers to file their nominations for elections to the Block Samitis and Zila Parishads.
Highlighting the extent to which the Aam Aadmi Party had gone to get its candidates elected unopposed, Mrs Badal said in Majithia 21 out of the 23 seats had witnessed forced unopposed victories for AAP.
She said similarly in Raja Sansi 25 out of 35 unopposed elections had been procured for AAP, in Tarn Taran 32 out of 32, in Gurdaspur 20 out of 22 and in Bhoa no opposition candidate had been allowed to file their nominations. She said allowing digital filing of nominations could prevent nomination papers from being rejected on flimsy grounds.
Mrs Badal also spoke on how corruption in the Congress had been exposed with former Congress legislator Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu revealing that Congress leaders had to offered suitcases filled with Rs 500 crore to procure the chief minister’s chair in Punjab. She called for a thorough probe in this case.
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