Sidhu in trouble over Amritsar win

NEW DELHI: Awaz-e-Punjab founder Navjot Singh Sidhu is in trouble over his 2009 win from the Amritsar parliamentary seat, with the SC asking him to face trial in connection with charges of taking help from a public servant during polls.

A bench, comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Abhay Manohar Sapre, however, gave Sidhu partial relief on filing deflated ad spends as the petitioner, Congress rival OP Soni, proved Sidhu had presented wrong ad spends but could not prove that he had crossed the cap on pubic meetings.

The court said the allegation that Sidhu had got transferred an officer of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to receive assistance from him so as to further his election prospects, needs to go for full trial. A trial at this juncture, when Sidhu is flirting with the idea of joining the Congress, could prove politically costly.

Sidhu left the BJP over his refusal to contest from anywhere else but Amritsar.

Sidhu has recently floated a new political front Awaz-EPunjab after resigning from his Rajya Sabha seat and BJP from which he had won the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in 2009, defeating OP Soni.