One in four candidates of major political parties locked in a four-way fight in Panjab for the 1 Jun general election is a defector. Of the total 52 candidates declared by the BJP, AAP, INC, and SAD, 14 are turncoats who crossed over to their new parties in the past two-and-a-half-years and got rewarded with tickets. Topping the list is BJP with seven such candidates, followed by INC and AAP with three each and SAD with one. BJP is notorious for its use of state departments to harass opposition leaders, snatch official residences of MPs, and even jail elected CMs. This time it was Ravneet Singh Bittu’s turn to face a similar set of events, ex-INC leader and incumbent MP from Ludhiana who crossed over to BJP. A night before Bittu was to file his nomination on 10 May, the Punjab Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms issued him a $219K notice to clear his house dues and vacate the govt. house, where he has been staying since 2016. The District Commissioner intimated the Municipal Commissioner that the govt. house was not allotted by their office, following which the house rent was to be recovered in double. Bittu alleged that AAP ruling in the state was behind the notice and Arvind Kejriwal had made him homeless. Bittu said that he had to pledge a chunk of his ancestral land at Kotla Afghana village, to arrange the money, pay the dues, vacate the house, take shelter in the BJP office, and file his nomination.
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