{
  "id": 12974982,
  "title": "Snatching papers to capturing booths: Report lists Punjab’s 2024 local body poll violations",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/snatching-papers-to-capturing-booths-report-lists-punjabs-2024-local",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-08T22:46:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/snatching-papers-to-capturing-booths-report-lists-punjabs-2024-local-body-poll-violations-10913233/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A one-man fact-finding Commission, appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate allegations of electoral violations in the December 2024 Punjab local body polls, identified numerous instances of wrongdoing. The Commission discovered candidates being forcibly denied the opportunity to submit nomination papers, police officers illegally detaining candidates, nomination papers being stolen and damaged in police custody, intimidation, and bogus voting. In 50 wards where the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates won, the Commission recommended setting aside those elections, including 28 in Patiala and 22 in Moga districts. On September 28, the Supreme Court accepted the recommendations and ordered new polls in those areas. The 239-page report, accessed by The Indian Express, detailed alarming cases of intimidation and violence against candidates from the Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The Commission studied returning officers, presiding officers, polling officers, videographers, revenue, and police officials, reviewing video footage and news reports to reach its conclusion. In certain Patiala Municipal Corporation wards, evidence from videos, photographs, and media reports, along with missing CCTV footage, demonstrated incidents of violence on nomination days, including theft and tearing of documents, proving that only the AAP candidates were declared elected as unopposed. The Commission also requested CCTV recordings from the Mini Secretariat premises but only received footage from the Returning Officer's room, which is not where the alleged incidents occurred. The state argued that none of the claimants/petitioners had approached the police or other government or media institutions for the preservation of CCTV footage on the nomination filing day.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}