Two policemen and another man suffered gunshot injuries Friday as violence marred the last day for filing nominations for the panchayat polls in Punjab.
The policemen were hurt when an unidentified person fired gunshots during the filing of papers for zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections outside the SDM's office in Patti near Tarn Taran. In another incident at Dharamkot near Moga, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress supporters clashed. In Chandigarh, SAD claimed its candidates were prevented from filing nomination papers and asked the state election commission to extend the date for filing the papers.
The elections will be held on September 19. The police said the situation took an ugly turn in Patti when Akali Dal candidates tried to enter the sub divisional magistrate's office along with their supporters to file their nomination papers. An alleged SAD supporter fired the shots, police said. Patti station house officer Rajesh Kakkar and his gunman were hurt in the firing, police said. They were discharged from hospital after treatment.
Akali Dal activists said the police had prevented them from entering the SDM's office. They alleged that the gunshots were fired by some ruling Congress supporters to "terrorise" them.
In the melee, some scribes were roughed up by supporters of both parties, police said. In Dharamkot, one man was injured when a shot was fired during a clash between the supporters of the two rival parties. Police used lathis and tear gas to disperse the crowd, officials said. According to police officials, Congress activist Simranjeet Singh (25) was injured when an Akali supporter allegedly fired a shot during the clash. The supporters of both parties were from Datta village, they said.
