Chandigarh, Dec 16 (PTI) The Congress filed a complaint with the Punjab State Election Commission on Monday, alleging that its candidates were forcibly stopped from filing nominations in Patiala for the December 21 urban local bodies polls.

The complaint was lodged by Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Youth Congress president Mohit Mohindra with state election commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri here.

Also Read | Telangana Weather Update: Hyderabad, Several Parts of State Experience Cold Wave Conditions; Mercury Drops to 5.3 Degrees in Adilabad.

Elections to five municipal corporations -- Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Phagwara -- and 44 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Punjab will be held on December 21.

The Congress leaders alleged that the Congress candidates were not allowed to file papers at the behest of AAP leaders.

Also Read | AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal Accuses Centre of Failing To Ensure Women's Safety in Delhi While Addressing 'Mahila Adalat' Event; BJP Hits Back.

They demanded that nomination papers of all Congress candidates for Patiala municipal corporation polls be accepted.

Mohindra said Congress had released a list of 60 candidates and nomination papers of 27 candidates were torn or snatched while some candidates were not allowed to enter the office of Returning officer in Patiala.

"All this happened under police protection," he alleged in a statement.

The process of filing nominations for the polls started on December 9 and the last date was December 12. The last date for the withdrawal of nominations was December 14.

Meanwhile, the president of Bharatiya Janata Party Punjab's Mahila Morcha, Jai Inder Kaur, alleged that the nomination papers of her party's women candidates were torn and they were also harassed.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)