Bhabanipur bypoll: Mamata’s nomination accepted by EC ignoring BJP objections

Shubhadeep Choudhury                                                                                                        

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14

Despite objections raised by the BJP, accusing West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Mamata Banerjee of not mentioning five criminal cases pending against her in her nomination papers, Mamata’s nomination was on Tuesday accepted by the Election Commission (EC) after the scrutiny of papers of the aspirants for the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency where a byelection is slated to take place on September 30.

Earlier in the day, Sajal Ghosh, the chief election agent of BJP candidate for the constituency, wrote to the EC, raising objections to Banerjee’s declaration.

“I beg to object to the nomination/declaration filed by Mamata Banerjee on the ground that the candidate has failed to disclose particulars of the pending criminal proceedings against her”, Ghosh wrote. Ghosh provided details of the cases filed at different police stations in Assam against Banerjee.

The cases were filed in 2018 when Banerjee expressed concern about the Bengali residents of Assam, many of whom were allegedly victimised during the controversial exercise of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

The BJP raised the issue against Mamata during the Assembly elections held earlier this year also when the TMC supremo was locked in an electoral contest with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. Then also, the EC had ignored the objections.

Candidatures of Priyanka Tibrewal (BJP) and Shrijeeb Biswas (CPI-M), who are in the fray from Bhabanipur, were also accepted by EC after scrutiny of nomination papers today.

Similarly, candidatures of all nine aspirants, including TMC nominee Jakir Hossain, BJP’s Sujit Das and Left Front’s Jane Alam Mian (RSP), were accepted after scrutiny for the September 30 election in Jangipur Assembly constituency.

Candidatures of all seven candidates, including Amirul Islam of TMC, Zaidur Rahaman of the Congress, Md. Modassar Hossain of CPI-M and Milan Ghosh of the BJP have been accepted after scrutiny for the election in Samserganj Assembly constituency on September 30.

The counting is slated to take place on October 3.