The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to direct all SHOs and police personnel involved in election duty to conduct themselves in a “non-partisan manner without indulging in any kind of activity deleterious to the concept of free and fair elections”.

The Bench asserted that the directions were necessary “to ensure free, fair and impartial elections” to Zila Parishad and Block Samitis in the given facts and circumstances.

“It would have been appreciated that on receipt of a complaint from any quarter, the Commission ought to have risen to the occasion and nipped, even an apprehension of favouritism or nepotism in the bud,” the court asserted.

The Bench also made it clear that the SEC must not only act with strict neutrality while conducting the el

See Full Page