Capt Amarinder urges EC to prevent Badal govt from pushing poll sops through ‘back-door’ special session

NEW DELHI: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has urged the Election Commission to take immediate preventive steps to stop the Badal government from trying to push through its pending ordinances, which the governor has refused to sign, through the special Assembly session called by it in violation of all norms.
Having failed to push its poll sops through the Raj Bhavan, the Badal government is now resorting to a ‘back-door’ special session of the state Assembly, which it has deliberately scheduled for December 19, since media reports indicate the EC might announce the poll dates and impose the code of conduct on December 20, said Captain Amarinder.Reacting to reports that the Badal government would try to pass eight Bills/Ordinances, including the one related to regularization of 27,000 contractual employees, who have been on warpath against the government for a long time, Captain Amarinder said it was clearly a clandestine bid by the Akalis to bypass the electoral process.
He described as unfortunate the Punjab Governor’s decision to allow the special Assembly session after having refused to sign the ordinances citing irregularities. Captain Amarinder further lamented the fact that the Governor had even gone ahead to allow the special session to take up certain money bills, saying the entire exercise amounted to gross electoral indiscretion.
Captain Amarinder urged the Governor to withdraw his permission and not allow this travesty of electoral norms, pointing out that legislations passed by the Badal government in this surreptitious manner would not stand judicial scrutiny.