Chandigarh: The Election Commission has issued a notice to BJP candidate Sunny Deol for allegedly violating of the model code of conduct. Poll officials took serious note of a public meeting held by Deol in Pathankot on Friday night, after the silent period come in force. They also found that a loud speaker was used in the public meeting in which around 200 people were present.

In the notice, it was pointed out that by holding a public meeting during the silent period, Deol has violated the model code of conduct. Election campaign is completely banned 48 hours before the polling process.

Earlier, actor and BJP-Akali Dal candidate on Friday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for deployment of adequate paramilitary forces as the seat has been declared "prone to violence". However, his plea was disposed off by a Division Bench of the High Court after the Election Commission assured that appropriate action had been initiated in this regard.

The actor-turned-politician is pitted against state Congress President Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur, which was represented four times by yesteryear actor Vinod Khanna, who died in April 2017 due to cancer. Jakhar won the October 2017 by-election with a margin of 1.92 lakh votes. The bypoll was necessitated by Khanna's death.

Gurdaspur lies in the north of Punjab, sharing an international border with Pakistan and the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. The area is not as developed as other areas in Punjab. The constituency, which has 14,68,972 voters, including 72,6363 women, has nine Assembly constituencies.