EC seeks Assembly secy's opinion on by-polls for Talwandi Sabo

Punjab Election Commission today sought state Assembly secretary's opinion on holding by-election for Talwandi Sabo Assembly constituency along with the Lok Sabha polls as the seat has fallen vacant after its MLA resigned.
The move came after Punjab Congress spokesman and former MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira today approached the Commission to convene by-election to the Assembly constituency along with the Lok Sabha elections in the state on April 30 and issue notification to this effect immediately.
In a complaint, Khaira said that the state Assembly had issued notification on March 7 regarding vacation of Talwandi Sabo assembly constituency seat after the resignation by its MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu, then a Congress MLA, resigned after he joined SAD.
"The CEO office has sought reply from Secretary Vidhan Sabha on the matter," Raminder Singh, Additional CEO of Punjab said.
"In an earlier reply, Punjab Vidhan Sabha had indicated that the notification for seat could not be be issued pending its legal examination, he said.

"The CEO would await reply from Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, before forwarding it to Election Commission of India for further necessary action," Singh said.
Meanwhile, giving details about various complaints received by the Election Commission, Singh said after March 5, a total 309 complaints had been received, out of which 64 had been disposed and 245 were pending.

The complaints mostly relate to violation of the model code of conduct, routine transfers and petty disputes.
He said on the direction of the Election Commission, people had already deposited more than 1,47,263 weapons and the maximum weapons had been deposited in Patiala district (15,775) and minimum in Kapurthala district (1,451).
One more illegal weapon had been seized in the last 24 hours, raising the number of such weapons to 34 in the state, Singh said.
He said 4,139 non-bailable warrants had been executed and 3,314 were pending.
Singh said Punjab Police had rounded up 2,145 people under various sections fearing breach of peace in the state.