Two Mohali officials have been accused of serving in their home district in gross violation of the guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Kharar Congress MLA Balbir Sidhu and a Kharar resident, Prem Kumar, have shot off separate complaints to the ECI and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab, seeking immediate transfer of Tehsildar Shiv Kumar and District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Kulwant Singh from the district.

While the tehsildar is said to be the native of Dhelpur village in Mohali, the DDPO’s native village has been alleged to be Issapur in Dera Bassi.

To corroborate the allegation, the complainants have attached the copies of latest electoral roll, wherein Kumar’s father Jagan Nath is registered as a voter at serial number 37 in Dhelpur polling station number 26, a part of Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat.

Another proof to confirm Kumar’s native place is the revenue record, in which 4.3 marla land has been shown to be under the joint name of Shiv Kumar’s father and paternal uncle Bant Ram.

In Kulwant Singh’s case, it is alleged that before being promoted and posted as DDPO in Mohali, he served as the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) in Kharar, which is a part of the Mohali district, due to which he “commands a strong influence, especially among the rural folk”.

Terming the allegations as totally false and baseless and that facts had been distorted, Kumar said he had got his home district changed from Ropar (of which Mohali was part, before becoming an independent district in 2006) in his service record in 2003 as he was living in Panjab University, Chandigarh, since 1982. Admitting that his father was enrolled as a voter in Dhelpur, where he also owns ancestral land, the tehsildar claimed his father lives with him in Chandigarh, where his family is settled. He denied having any link with Dhelpur since he left it in 1982.

Admitting that he served as BDPO in Kharar before being promoted and posted as DDPO in Mohali in January, Kulwant Singh claimed that he was living in Manimajra (Chandigarh) for a long time and had also got his home district changed in the service records long back.

Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh Mand said that as per the CEO’s directions, he had verified the service records of both the officers from their respective departments, where their home district was not Mohali. “I have sent the report to the CEO, who will now have to decide the matter,” he said.

Punjab CEO Kusumjit Sidhu could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

No clear law
Though the ECI guidelines state that no district-level officer or any other officer involved with election process should be allowed to continue in his or her home district, several such officials are serving in Mohali at present.