'Non-availability' of voters list taken up with state election

Ahead of the December 17 civic elections in Punjab, opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said it has taken up with the state election commissioner the matter of "non availability" of voters list in different municipalities.
The party's senior vice president and spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema, in a statement, said, "The process of filing of nominations has begun, but it is ridiculous that still in many municipal committees voters lists are not available".
He said the matter of "non-availability" of voters list in Baghapurna, Dharamkot and Fatehgarh Panjtoor civic bodies in Moga district has been brought to the notice of the state election commissioner.

Similarly, voters lists were not available in Patiala and Amritsar Municipal Corporations too, Cheema claimed, and asked, "How can one file his nomination papers without a voters list?"
"This has exposed the preparedness of the local government department and people of the state want an explanation from the Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on this issue," he said.
Elections to three municipal corporations -- Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala, and 32 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats in Punjab would be held on December 17 and results would be declared the same day.
Nominations can be filed till December 6 and scrutiny of those would take place the next day.