Haryana: Row over missing Tijara councillors as Congress alleges police detention

• Congress leaders alleged that 18 party-backed councillors from Rajasthan’s Tijara were detained in Haryana while returning to vote in the municipal council chairperson election

• They claimed the councillors and their families were stopped near Panchkula and taken towards the Morni Hills

• Panchkula Police denied detaining them and said information suggested that the group had travelled towards Shahabad or Ambala

Congress leaders on Monday alleged that Haryana Police detained 18 party-backed councillors from Tijara in Rajasthan while they were returning from Himachal Pradesh to vote in the election for the Tijara Municipal Council chairperson.

Panchkula Police rejected the allegation and said the councillors had not been detained.

After learning that the councillors could not be contacted, Congress leaders staged a sit-in outside the Pinjore police station and described the alleged action as a “murder of democracy”.

Tijara Congress leader Imran Khan said most of the independent candidates who won the municipal council election on 9 September had received the party’s support. Voting to elect the council chairperson was scheduled for Monday afternoon.

According to Khan, the 18 councillors and members of their families travelled to Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh after the municipal election. They began their return journey to Tijara on Sunday evening.

Khan claimed that more than 20 police and private vehicles intercepted the group at a toll plaza near Panchkula. The councillors were subsequently taken to a farmhouse in the Morni Hills, he alleged.

“This was deliberately done at the behest of the BJP governments in Rajasthan and Haryana. In a pre-planned move, they spoiled the election in which Congress had an edge,” Khan claimed.

Panchkula assistant commissioner of police Ram Kumar denied that the police had detained the councillors.

“Police do not have any role. They have not been detained,” he told reporters.

The ACP said Congress leaders had reported that the councillors’ whereabouts became unknown after they reached Surajpur or another area of Panchkula on their journey from Himachal Pradesh.

He said police assured the protesting leaders that efforts would be made to establish the group’s location. Officials later received information that the councillors had travelled towards Shahabad or Ambala, he added.

Senior Haryana Congress leader and former MLA Pardeep Chaudhary also alleged police involvement in the councillors’ disappearance.

Chaudhary claimed that police stopped the group at a toll barrier in Panchkula and took the councillors towards Morni. He said Congress workers gathered outside the Pinjore police station and began their protest after receiving information about the incident on Monday morning.

“Preventing councillors from proceeding to vote is murder of democracy,” he alleged.

Police did not immediately provide details confirming the councillors’ location or whether they would reach Tijara in time to participate in the chairperson election.

With IANS inputs