Shamsher Singh, AAP halqa in-charge, Dinanagar Assembly segment, found himself in a precarious position after being surrounded by a crowd of irate people who were protesting his “objectionable and unsociable” behaviour in Ward No. 6 from where a repoll has been ordered tomorrow.
A police team, led by two SHOs, reached the spot and managed to rescue the AAP leader. Eye-witnesses claimed the mob was so incensed that even the police team found it difficult to whisk away Shamsher Singh.
Police sources say the leader reached Ward No.6 with scores of ration kits meant to be distributed to the voters. The ward is seeing repolling after an EVM developed a technical fault in yesterday’s polling.
People got angry with Shamsher after he gave a speech in which he said the ration kits were being distributed by the AAP. “He was trying to induce us to vote for AAP by distributing these ration kits while the fact is that the kits belonged to the state government and not to any political party. He was being accompanied by scores of people, all of whom had come from outside Dinanagar. We repeatedly told him that what he was doing was blatantly wrong, but he was not willing to listen to us,” said Jatinder Singh, a resident.
Vijay Kumar, husband of Independent candidate from Ward No.6, Seema Devi, too claimed that people were ready to manhandle the AAP leader. “However, the two SHOs arrived just in the nick of time and saved him.”
“I told him that this type of hooliganism was not acceptable to us. That is why my wife and Independent candidate Seema Devi withdrew her candidature in favour of Congress candidate Sneh Lata. Now, all my supporters will vote for the Congress. This is my way of protesting the anti-people activities of AAP leader Shamsher Singh.”
As the leader found himself in a difficult position, somebody from amongst the crowd called up the police. Minutes later, SHO (Dinanagar) Surinder Pal Singh and SHO (Behrampur) Sahil Pathania reached Krishna Nagar Camp, a part of Ward No. 6, with a heavy force and managed to diffuse the potentially volatile situation. A DSP-rank officer too arrived and tried to pacify the mob. The outsiders accompanying Shamsher Singh ran away in cars. One of the cars was found abandoned and was taken by ASI Vijay Kumar to the nearby Bariyar police post.
Shamsher Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts to reach him.
Sources reveal that the Congress enjoyed an edge in tomorrow’s elections due to the decision of Independent candidate Seema Devi to support the Congress candidate.
Ward No. 6 has been reserved for women.