The All India Trinamool Congress, which is led by Mamata Hundia, called for withdrawal of Hasinai Rath’s candidacy for the by-poll in Thursday at Nandigram on alleged irregularities in her election affidavit.
The party’s information technology and social media arm on X said Rath, who has announced her age as 60, has given a statement in her affidavit that she did her class 10th in 1965. The party also stated that the school in the affidavit has been permitted to hold class 10 exams since 1973 only. Based on this, the faction called for her nomination to be cancelled. It’s not proven by Election Commission.
BJP leader Sisir Bajoria responded that the party is “sceptile” of any discrepancy, if any, in the affidavit, which they should submit in writing to the Election Commission of India and let poll panel look into the issue. An election official also said they were not aware of any complaint about Rath’s affidavit at the time, and never had one.
The Nandigram battle has also seen activity with the opposition candidates. The candidate from the Mamata-led camp, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the contest after meeting the West Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari. The faction then announced its backing to the Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.
Pradhan was detained on September 18 in connection with cases that relate to the Nandigram land acquisition protests since 2007. He is under judicial custody and, the West Bengal government told Calcutta HC on Tuesday that, five cases where he had taken a protection was withdrawn. Chief Justice A.J. Setpakong gave the oral ruling that the state should not take further coercive measures and set the case for the court hearing on October 12.
The Nandigram by-election was called for because Suvendu Adhikari also won from Nandigram in the last Assembly election, but dropped from the Bhabanipur constituency. The voting period will be carried out on October 6, the count, on October 9.
Nandigram has played a political role ever since the protests against the acquisition of land for a chemical plant in the area that took place in 2007 and resulted in the deaths of 14 people in police firing. The territory later was to become the focal point in a political battle between Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari.