BJP approaches Election Commission demanding cancellation of nominations of two Trinamool candidates

Kolkata, May 15 (HS). West Bengal BJP on Wednesday approached the Election Commission (EC) demanding cancellation of nominations of two Trinamool Congress candidates on the grounds of serious flaws in their nomination papers. Speaking to media persons on Wednesday afternoon, BJP state general secretary Jagannath Chatterjee said first up is Trinamool Congress candidate from Kolkata-South Mala Roy, who is also the sitting MP from the same constituency.

He said that apart from being an MP, she is also the chairperson of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. This office is considered an “office of profit”. This time he had filed his nomination without resigning from the post. “Even if she says she is not taking any salary as KMC president, she will not be outside the ambit of “office of profit”, Chatterjee said.”

The other Trinamool Congress candidate, whose nomination has also been sought to be canceled by the state BJP, is Haji Nurul Islam, the ruling party's Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district. He was a Trinamool Congress MP from the same constituency from 2009 to 2014.

According to Chatterjee, any person filing nomination and who has previously held any government, legislative or parliamentary post, must submit a “no dues certificate” from the government for the last 10 years along with his nomination.

However, Haji Nurul Islam has not submitted the “No Dues Certificate”. If you remember, the nomination of our first candidate for the Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency, Debashish Dhar, a former Indian Police Service officer, was rejected because he could not even produce a “No Dues Certificate” from the state government. The candidate had to be changed.

He said the BJP has already approached the Election Commission pointing out these shortcomings in the nominations of Roy and Islam. Chatterjee said that we will go everywhere on the matter including the Supreme Court of India.

Till the time of writing the report, there was no reaction from Mala Roy, Islam or any other Trinamool Congress leader on this issue. Hindusthan News/Om Prakash/Ganga