Chandigarh, Jan. 16 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday rapped the state election commission (SEC), Punjab, over the delay in completion of the investigation into an audio clip allegedly involving the Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) giving directions to cops during the zila parishad elections in December 2025 to prevent opposition candidates from filing their nomination papers. The division bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry questioned the SEC as to why the special investigation team (SIT) had failed to submit its report more than a month after the court's earlier order on December 10 and has directed the commission to submit the report within three weeks. The court was hearing a PIL filed in December ahead of the zila parishad polls of December 14 by the Punjab leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa of the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema seeking an independent probe into the audio-clip controversy. The clip purportedly features the Patiala SSP Varun Sharma directing his subordinates to prevent opposition candidates from filing their nomination papers for the December 14 elections. It was shared by SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, while the nomination process was underway. It had led to the filing of this PIL. On December 10, the court had observed that, given the allegations, the SSP should have been divested of poll duty. Eventually, Sharma went on leave during the poll period, and the SEC ordered a probe to be conducted by an ADGP-level officer. During the hearing, SEC counsel had told the court that the investigation got delayed as SAD leader, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who had put the audio clip in the public domain has failed to submit the "original device" used to download the clip. The same has also been demanded by the forensic lab as well, the court was told, adding that due to this forensic report is stuck. He also said the SIT has written to the social media platform to get the IP address of the instrument on which the audio was uploaded. If the clip is not submitted, the SIT will proceed with the probe without the "original device" and with whatever material it has. The court questioned the SEC's counsel, asking how long the SIT will wait and at one point remarked, "Will you wait till eternity?" The court further observed that in a matter where serious allegations have been levelled against an SSP and an expeditious probe was warranted, the same appears not to have been done. The court further noted that non-cooperation by individuals could not justify an indefinite delay in the investigation and asked the SEC to take the probe to its "logical end". The counsels for Cheema and Bajwa submitted that the delay was intentional and demanded that the probe be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). ".the Punjab police took only two days to conduct a forensic analysis of a video clip involving Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi about an alleged controversial statement made by her in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. However, here no progress has been made," one of the counsels submitted. During the hearing, Punjab advocate general MS Bedi repeated the state's stand and argued that the PIL was not maintainable. He further submitted that polls have been peaceful, barring some incidents. The matter will now be taken up in February....