The one-man fact-finding Commission appointed by the Supreme Court to probe allegations of widespread electoral violations in the December 2024 Punjab local body polls found multiple instances of violations. The Commission found candidates being forcibly prevented from filing nomination papers, illegal detention of candidates by police, nomination papers being snatched and torn in police presence, intimidation, bogus voting, police connivance in restricting candidates’ access to nomination venue, and bogus voting in 50 wards where candidates of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged victorious.Former Punjab and Haryana HC judge Nirmaljit Kaur, who was assigned the job, recommended setting aside elections in these wards — 28 in Patiala and 22 in Moga districts. On September 28, the SC accepted the recommendations and ordered fresh polls in these wards.The 239-page report accessed by The Indian Express points to some startling instances of intimidation and violence against rival candidates of Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The Commission examined returning officers, presiding officers, polling officers, videographers, revenue and police officials and went through video clips and news reports to reach the conclusion.It said that in Wards 32, 50, 33, 48 and 41 of Patiala MC, “evidence by way of videos, photographs as also media reports and missing CCTV footage proved incidents of violence on nomination days, including snatching and tearing of documents, and further proved the candidates were forcibly restrained from filing their nomination papers. As a result, candidates of only one party, AAP, were declared elected as unopposed…”The Commission said it had asked for CCTV recordings of Mini Secretariat premises but was given only that of the inside of the Returning Officer’s room, which is not the place where the alleged incidents took place.“However, it is important to note that there was no objection or even an iota of protest that the videos were not genuine. There is no challenge even to the photographs and news reports to be incorrect… Hence, evidence in form of videos, photographs as placed on record is … sufficient to show there was chaos, violence, snatching, tearing of nomination papers of the candidates on 11.12.2024,” the report said.The state took the defence that none of the claimants/petitioners ever approached the police or any other government or media institutions for the preservation of CCTV footage of the nomination filing day.Story continues below this adAnother clip showed BJP candidate from Ward 50 Vijay Kumar Garg’s papers being snatched by a person from the checking table within the Returning Officer’s room and escaping in the presence of police.In Wards 1, 12, 32, 33, 36, 43, 44, 45, 51 and 52, Congress candidates complained they were forcibly prevented from filing nominations, resulting in unopposed election in favour of AAP candidates. The report said the state failed to preserve the CCTV footage of the Mini Secretariat premises and police stations for the nomination day filing, which “was sheer negligence inviting adverse inference”.In Ward 15 where Kuldip Kaur of the Congress bagged 163 votes against 2,592 of AAP candidate Tejinder Kaur, Commission said, “CCTV footage and mobile videos proved a great help in revealing scale and nature of electoral violations. Despite attempts by aggressors to destroy recording devices, some of the partial footage captured multiple instances of booth capturing, intimidation and bogus voting. The police despite acknowledging the damage to the property and cars smashed, closed the investigation on absolutely unsustainable reasons…”In Ward 48, Patiala, Congress candidate Surinder Singh Sachdeva alleged wrongful rejection of his papers leading to unopposed victory of AAP’s Rajesh Kumar. “The Commission examined legality and factual basis of rejection, which was primarily based on alleged pending property tax dues against the claimant” and found that “MC report alleging arrears was neither based on any proper assessment nor was the claimant ever given notice prior to the nomination day.”Story continues below this adThe report said in Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 13 of Dharamkot MC in Moga district where AAP candidates were elected unopposed, “despite clear HC directions, the local police did not provide security and nor escorted them to the venue for filing of the nomination papers. Instead, the police deliberately restricted access, confiscated nomination forms and allowed only a few candidates to enter. Thus, severely compromising the fairness of the electoral process.”