Hoshiarpur civic poll being engineered

Hoshiarpur,/June 9 : Daljeet Ajnoha :  Former cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Tikshan Sood alleged on Tuesday that the Aam Aadmi Party is resorting to unscrupulous tactics to rig the Hoshiarpur Municipal Corporation election. He claimed that actions ranging from ward delimitation to voter-list preparation have been illegal and intended to steal the civic body poll.
Sood said there is no proper information about new population figures, ward maps are not being provided, and voters are not being correctly registered. “The ruling party’s sole aim is to steal votes and snatch the Hoshiarpur civic poll by any means,” he said, adding that these measures violate democratic norms and render the election illegitimate.
He recalled that after incorrect voter lists were first prepared, the Election Commission ordered a fresh revision following strong protests by the BJP, which delayed the Hoshiarpur poll compared with other municipal elections. Sood alleged further irregularities during the second draft phase. In the draft dated May 18, 2026, missing maps led to voters of Ward No. 43 being shown in Ward No. 42 and vice versa, and the whereabouts of hundreds of voters remain untraceable.
According to Sood, although the ruling party rectified some objections after receiving dozens of complaints, it surreptitiously shifted many BJP and other opposition voters to different wards. He warned that, as a result, objections can no longer be raised against the final voters’ list.
Sood cited specific cases: in Ward No. 12, the votes of the daughter of sitting councillor Narinder Kaur — registered at her home — were shifted to other wards along with her entire neighbourhood. From Ward No. 15, votes of six probable BJP candidates and hundreds of BJP supporters were reportedly moved so they could not vote in their own ward. He said similar complaints have come from other wards as well.
Joining Sood, BJP leaders Vinod Parmar, Ashwani Ohri and Yashpal Sharma strongly condemned the alleged government attempt to steal the election through voter manipulation and urged the Election Commission to intervene. Sood said he has personally lodged a complaint with the Election Commission and that affected residents have also sent written complaints to the poll body.