Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday ordered that an audio clip that went around social media during the panchayat election process in Punjab last December be examined by an independent laboratory.HC gave the direction while hearing a PIL that claims the viral audio suggests misuse of police machinery during the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Patiala.The bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu noted that its earlier observation that verification of the electronic material should be entrusted to an independent agency was ignored. In all fairness, the state election commission ought to have risen to the occasion and should have forwarded the electronic material to an independent agency to assuage all suspicion or complaints, HC said.A copy of the order, however, was not available till this report was filed.HC passed the order while disposing of a PIL filed by former MLA and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) functionary Daljit Singh Cheema and others seeking directions for a CBI probe, suspension and transfer of Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, and deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the district during the election process.The elections were notified on Dec 1, 2025, and the nomination process closed on Dec 4. Voting was scheduled for Dec 14, 2025.According to the petition, the trigger for the court move was the audio clip of a purported conference-call, shared widely on social media, which allegedly had SSP Sharma instructing DSPs and inspectors to stop SAD candidates from reaching nomination centres. MSID:: 127912776 413 |
