Congress alleges poll fraud after 17 of its 21 nominations rejected in Dadra and Nagar Haveli

NEW DELHI: Raising an alarm over the rejection of 17 out of 21 of its candidates in the recently concluded local body elections in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the Congress on Sunday alleged that manipulation at several echelons of the administrative set up was behind it.

Alleging “a systematic subversion of democratic norms” in the local body elections in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, the main opposition party claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had “hijacked the entire electoral process” through administrative interference and procedural manipulation and that 17 Congress candidates had been rejected out of 21. Manikrao Thakare, AICC in-charge for Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu, claimed that out of 26 nominations filed for the District Council, 21 belonged to Congress candidates, of which only four were accepted, while in the Municipal Council, 11 out of 12 Congress nominations were rejected. “This reveals a pre-planned attempt to prevent a fair contest,” Thakare said.

Calling the development “an assault on the Constitution and the legacy of Dr B R Ambedkar,” the Congress leader said the party would approach the Election Commission of India and move the Bombay High Court seeking judicial intervention.

Thakare said, “This is not just a case of vote theft; it is the theft of the entire election.” He alleged that nomination papers of opposition candidates, including those from the Congress, Shiv Sena, and Independent groups, were rejected “en masse”, while “not a single BJP nomination was disqualified”.

Dr Anjali Nimbalkar, AICC Secretary and Co-Incharge, and Prabhu Tokiya, PCC President of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, said, “The people of the Union Territory have witnessed daylight robbery of democracy. The administration has acted like an agent of the ruling party.”