TMC junks BJP’s allegations of stalling nomination process

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) has junked the allegations of the BJP that their candidates are not being able to file nominations, pointing out that reports state that BJP has filed 677 candidate nominations on the first day.

TMC’s clarification comes in the wake of the Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari alleging that “when Opposition candidates, who are managing to reach the BDO Offices for collecting nomination papers, braving the obstacles and hurdles placed by the TMC goons in connivance with the Mamata Police; they are being made to wait for long hours in queues. If they are fortunate, they will be handed over the Nomination Papers & DCRs (Duplicate Carbon Receipt) after a few hours or else they would be informed that it’s past 3 pm so no official work would be possible now or there aren’t sufficient documents & they are not prepared to handover any Nomination Papers to them and would ask the candidates to come again next day.” He said the rules are different for TMC.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh replied that according to new sources, BJP, on the first day, filed 677 candidate nominations (Gram Panchayat: 568; Panchayat Samiti: 95; Zilla Parishad- 14) which demonstrates their active engagement in the process. He termed Suvendu’s claims as “unfounded” and asked him to base his argument on facts.

Kunal tweeted: “Accusations made by LoP @SuvenduWB against BDO offices stalling nomination process for @BJP4Bengal candidates lacks credibility. According to news sources, BJP, on the first day, filed 677 candidate nominations (Gram Panchayat: 568; Panchayat Samiti: 95; Zilla Parishad: 14) which demonstrates their active engagement in the process. The number speaks for itself. But Mr. Adhikari’s conspiratorial disposition continues to overshadow his commitment to the truth. Let’s rise above baseless speculations and focus on facts for a more constructive discourse.”

It is learnt that combining two days, June 9 and June 10, a total of 11,128 nominations have been filed. This includes Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishad. Till Saturday, BJP filed around 4,903 nominations which are regarded as the highest. CPI(M) has filed 4,249 nominations till Saturday while Congress filed 717 nominations, according to reports.

TMC is said to be far behind with 633 nominations filed till Saturday.

The nomination filing process will again resume on Monday. The last date is June 15.