The Punjab government today replaced the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, the official who will be responsible for law and order on Nov 12 when the SGPC polls are held.S.S. Puri was transferred and the post taken over by Punjab Financial Corporation managing director Iqbal Singh Sidhu. The replacement is being seen as a move by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to use top officers to tilt the scales in favour of Gurcharan Singh Tohra’s candidates.Puri had taken over as Amritsar DC on the directions of the Election Commission. The Badal camp has been fearing abduction of SGPC loyalists and rigging on polling day. Many are hiding in Haryana to avoid ‘‘harassment’’.Fingers are also being pointed at the role of Tohra loyalist Inderjit Singh Zira. ‘‘Zira is a relative of DGP M.S. Bhullar and SP S.S. Atwal. Atwal has been accused of threatening SGPC members with criminal cases if they did not toe the government line on voting,’’ a senior SGPC office-bearer said.
