Chandigarh, Dec. 5 -- The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, alleging misuse of police machinery to subvert the electoral process in Punjab for zila parishad polls. A PIL filed by SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema was taken up for urgent hearing after a request in this regard was raised by his counsel and was taken up by the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sajiv Berry in the afternoon. The plea demanded an independent probe into an audio clip allegedly of Patiala SSP instructing officers to deploy cops as a "partisan force to sabotage opposition candidates" during the nomination process. The plea also demanded to deployment of CRPF or independent observers till the conduct of elections. During the hearing, senior advocate Ashok Aggarwal submitted that the recording revealed a "premeditated criminal conspiracy" meant to ensure uncontested victories for ruling party candidates, in violation of the model code of conduct and Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. While deferring the hearing for Monday, the court, during an open court hearing, said the state government and the state election commission may file their responses by then. HTC...