‘Pitru paksha’ vexes election candidates

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 25

“It is not a good beginning,” say BJP and Congress candidates who had no option but to file nomination papers on Tuesday, the first day of the 15-day ‘pitru paksha’. These candidates filed their papers on Tuesday, the last day of filing of nominations in the first phase of poll, as their names were cleared at the eleventh hour.

The 15-day lunar period of ‘pitru paksha’, also known as ‘shradh’, is considered “ominous” as per the Hindu mythology so candidates were keen to file nominations before September 25. However, BJP and Congress leaders failed to clear names in some wards till Monday evening.

“It is not a good beginning. Our supporters are demoralised because the filing of nomination on the first day of pitru paksha,” said brother of a BJP candidate who filed nomination on Tuesday.

Echoing similar sentiments, a senior Congress leader, who wished not to be quoted, said it was all due to infighting among senior leaders that candidates had to file papers on the first day of ‘shradh.’

Although the BJP had released a list of candidates on September 20, the party could not finalise names for over 30 wards due to a lack of consensus among senior leaders.

The names were cleared only on Sunday evening so many candidates could not file papers on Monday as many documents are required for the nomination process. Over 25 candidates of the party filed nomination papers on Tuesday.

Similar is the situation in the Congress because leaders took time to finalise the names of candidates. Due to a lack of consensus among senior leaders, the Congress finalised candidates for 12 wards of the Jammu municipal corporation late Monday evening hence these nominees filed their nominations on Tuesday.