Kapurthala: A Congress councilor was on Friday arrested and 17 others booked for allegedly damaging several vehicles owned by a Shiromani Akali Dal candidate for the upcoming Punjab poll following a clash here, police said.

The incident took place last night at Santpura locality when a verbal duel broke out between the members of both the parties after which Congress workers, led by councillor Surinder Singh Khalsa, damaged four cars of SAD candidate from Kapurthala, Sarabjit Singh Makkar, they said.

Khalsa and 16 others were arrested for vandalism, police said.

Meanwhile, scores of Congress workers, led by party candidate for Kapurthala constituency Rana Gurjit Singh staged a dharna here in protest against the registration of the case against its party leaders.

However, the dharna was lifted following assurance given by the police authorities to launch a probe into the case.

PTI