India, Dec. 11 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has criticised the role of state election commission (SEC), Punjab, in conducting the zila parishad and block samiti elections on December 14 and said that Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Varun Sharma should have been divested of poll duty pending inquiry into the controversy surrounding the audio clip.

The clip purportedly features the Patiala SSP directing his subordinates to prevent opposition candidates from filing their nomination papers for the elections.

"It would have been appreciated that on receipt of a complaint from any quarter, the commission ought to have risen to the occasion and nipped, even an apprehension of favoritism or nepotism, in the bud. As such, i...