Punjab elections: Amarinder Singh urges Election Commission to hold single-phase polling

Amritsar: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi urging him to consider holding a single-phase poll in the state where elections are due next year.

In the letter, Singh expressed serious apprehensions over large-scale violence during the elections. 

"Spreading the polling over two-three days, which the EC is reportedly mulling as per media reports, would be detrimental to free and fair elections in the state and suicidal for Punjab`s democratic polity," Amarinder said in his letter.

"The political atmosphere in Punjab has already been severely vitiated as a result of the 'goonda' and 'mafia raj' of the Badal government, which has unleashed a wave of terror and violence against the innocent people of the state. As the countdown to the polls begins, once the polling dates are announced, I seriously apprehend further aggravation of the situation," he added.