Just four days before the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday questioned the State Election Commission on why no immediate corrective direction was issued to authorities despite allegations that an audio-clip suggested instructions capable of influencing the electoral process.

The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, made it clear that the commission must itself rise to the occasion when the allegations surface and not wait for others to trigger action. It broadly indicated that the petitions would be disposed of with an expectation that the commission issue appropriate directions. The court pointedly asked why, assuming the contents of the clip were true, the SEC had not already instructed all district-level machine

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