Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Saturday resigned from his post citing personal reasons. In his letter to President Draupadi Murmu, Purohit requested the President to accept his resignation from the post of Governor of Punjab as well as the Union territory of Chandigarh.

The resignation of Purohit occurred amidst tension with the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, as they have been fighting over assent to pending bills, now being handled by the Supreme Court.

The governor and CM Mann have been engaged in a war of words for the last few months over several issues related to pending bills.

Last year in August, Purohit sent a strongly worded letter to the Mann government, warning him that he could recommend the President’s rule in the state and also initiate criminal proceedings if his letters were not answered.

Recently, he said Mann’s government was not responding to his previous letter and warned him that he could send a report to the President on the failure of the constitutional mechanism.

In his response, Mann said that the Governor had threatened the peace-loving people of the state and that law and order were in complete control.

CM Mann said the majority of letters sent by the Governor have been answered.

Earlier in October, Purohit wrote a letter to Mann regarding the Tarn Taran illegal mining incident and sought a detailed report following the same.

In the latter, he also mentioned the allegation of an MLA about corruption in the police, the involvement of the MLA’s close relative in illegal mining, and the suspension of police officials and the subsequent transfer of SSP Tarn Taran.

On Friday, Purohit had a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Chandigarh. Their meeting occurred shortly after the BJP’s sweeping win in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, where they retained all three positions, a loss for the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party alliance, who claimed the presiding officer manipulated the ballot papers.

The Chandigarh mayoral elections have been postponed till further notice. The mayoral election, which was scheduled to take place today was called off after the ill health of Anil Masih, presiding authority for the polls, as per the notice.

After receiving the text messages regarding the postponement of the elections in Chandigarh, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attacked the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) saying the BJP was afraid of their defeat. Congress and AAP are fighting the mayoral election together against the BJP in Chandigarh.

In fact, Congress leader Pawan Bansal went on to say that he had received the information that the presiding officer had been hospitalised with the intention to postpone the mayor election by the BJP. They have done a totally undemocratic thing, he charged.

AAP said the BJP was going to face defeat, while Congres said the BJP was not ready to face defeat.     

On Chandigarh mayor elections postponed, Congress leader HS Lucky said BJP is killing democracy. BJP thinks they will lose because they have 15 votes and we, the APP-Congress alliance, have 20 votes. They know the alliance will win all three posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, and Deputy Mayor, the Congress leader added.

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, on mayoral election, said AAP and Congress have decided to approach the High Court for justice and ensure that the mayoral election is held. He further said that it is clear that INDIA alliance is winning this election and the BJP is losing. BJP has got scared of the INDIA alliance, he added. We request the EC to appoint another presiding officer if the existing one has fallen ill but the election should take place today, Chadha said.

We had valid passes to enter the election building, but we were told that entry had been closed as the presiding officer had suddenly fallen ill. To end democracy and free and fair elections in the country, BJP will do anything, the AAP leader slammed BJP.

Punjab’s education minister, Harjot Singh Bains, 1,378 security guards have been hired for all senior secondary government schools. Bains, who was presiding over a programme at a local government school, said these security guards would be responsible for the students safety as well as making sure they didn’t leave the school grounds while they were in class.

According to him, security guards will be present at all senior secondary schools with a student body of more than 500.

The minister stated that these security officers will be stationed at the entrance and exit points of the schools and will keep track of visitors in addition to ensuring that no student exits the facility during school hours without the principal’s consent.

The state government has launched a particular initiative to modernise the educational system by building new schools, the minister said.

Harjot Singh Bains made the announcements while he was in the city and said they had been initiated to address the widespread thefts and security issues within civic-run educational institutions.

A total of Rs 66.15 lakh has been set up in the Ludhiana district for the deployment of guards at 189 government schools, including illustrious establishments like the Government Model Senior Secondary Schools in Model Town, Cemetery Road, PAU, and Miller Ganj (Dholewal).

The decision was made in response to an increase in theft instances at government schools, which as of right now have few security measures.

He said that the government had allocated Rs 250 crore for the construction of perimeter fences at all government schools.

Similarly, Bains indicated that close to 2,000 campus managers would be hired to oversee the upkeep of the educational facilities. He said that for the first time, money has been given to schools for hygiene.

Depending on the number of students in a school, the government will distribute between Rs 3,000 and Rs 50,000 per month.