Chandigarh, May 16 -- Amid growing concerns over manipulation of electoral rolls in several states, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday declared that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would not allow even a single genuine vote to be deleted in Punjab under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

Warning against any attempt to engineer "fake votes" in favour of a particular political party, CM Mann asserted that AAP leaders and karyakartas would remain stationed alongside Booth Level Officers (BLOs) at every polling booth across Punjab to monitor the exercise and prevent any irregularity.

Referring to complaints from other states regarding deletion of lakhs of genuine votes and irregularities in the verification process, the Chief Minister said the people of Punjab would not permit such practices in the state and urged the Election Commission (EC) to carry out the entire SIR exercise with complete honesty, transparency and impartiality while ensuring that public objections are resolved without delay.

Interacting with the media, Mann said, "The Special Intensive Revision of voter lists must be conducted with complete transparency, honesty, fairness and accountability so that every genuine voter can exercise their democratic right without fear or obstruction. Representatives of all political parties will remain actively involved throughout the process to ensure that no irregularities take place anywhere in Punjab."

Meanwhile, CM Mann on Saturday flagged off the largest-ever batch of 72 government school teachers for advanced training in Finland, asserting that the Punjab government's investment in

teacher training, modern classrooms and academic reforms has transformed Punjab into the country's leading state in education.

Drawing a sharp contrast with the decades-long neglect of public education by previous governments, CM Mann said Punjab's govt schools are now outperforming private schools in board examination results, while lakhs of parents are voluntarily participating in Parent-Teacher Meetings started for the first time by the present government.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.