Manas:

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu aka Sidhu Moosewala were today sentenced for breaching the model code of conduct two days before the state assembly elections.

Mr. Channi had visited a temple with Mr. Moosewala in Manasa. The two Congress leaders went on to door-to-door campaigning in the area last night after the campaign ended.

On complaint of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a complaint was filed under Section 188 (Disobedience to an order duly issued by an official) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for breach of the Model Code of Conduct against Channi and Sidhu.

Harjinder Singh, Subdivision Magistrate and Returning Officer, Mansa, told ANI, “As soon as I got the information that the CM was still campaigning in Mansa, I arrived at the scene. CM had already left by then. I asked the locals if he was campaigning, but they said CM had gone to Gurudwara and a temple to offer prayers.”

Voting for the 117-member Punjab legislature is expected to take place on Sunday. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

The Electoral Commission had earlier postponed the voting date for the Assembly polls from February 14 to February 20 in the wake of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

Congress aligned Sidhu Moosewala of Manasa. He is already an established name as a Punjabi singer with his chart-busting numbers, and now hopes to make his presence felt in the constituency.

When he joined the party in December, Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu touted him as an icon of youth.

Mr. Moosewala, 27, is from Moosa village in Mansa district and his mother is a village chief and his father a former soldier.

His popularity among young people can be gauged by the fact that he has 6.9 million followers on Instagram and nearly a crore of subscribers on his YouTube channel.