Congress to boycott Punjab bypoll

Punjab’s main opposition party Congress at the eleventh hour on Wednesday decided not to contest the upcoming Khadoor Sahib by-election making the contest a virtual cake-walk for the ruling Akali Dal.

The party’s decision to boycott the election has left leaders to deal with some difficult questions. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also not contesting for the by-poll for which Wednesday was the last day of filing nomination.

State Congress president Amarinder Singh said the party was not running away but “has decided to boycott” the election scheduled for February 13.

The party took a high moral ground saying it was not putting up candidate in protest against incidents of desecration of the revered Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

“Winning or losing one seat will not matter, but the issue of sacrilege has hurt everyone’s sentiments and the party wants the guilty to be brought to book at the earliest, unlike what the ruling party is doing,” he said.

The Congress had maintained that it would contest the election considered to be a trailer of sorts ahead of the Assembly polls which is less than a year away.

The party even named Ramanjit Sikki as its nominee. His name was approved by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.