The party says that the BJP, in collusion with the administration, hatched a plan to ensure that no one could contest against it, thus hijacking the entire election process
NEW DELHI – The Congress has accused the BJP of large-scale rigging in the local body elections in Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman-Diu, in connivance with the local administration.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here on Sunday, Manikrao Thakare, in-charge of Goa, Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman-Diu, co-in-charge Dr Anjali Nimbalkar and Territorial Congress Committee president Prabhu Tokiya, described it as “murder of democracy” and said that the BJP, in collusion with the administration, hatched a plan to ensure that no one could contest against it, thus hijacking the entire election.
Manikrao Thakare alleged that the election rigging in Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman-Diu began right from the nomination process. He stated that despite the announcement of elections on October 10, the nomination forms and the list of required documents were not made available on the Election Commission’s website until October 13.
The following days, he said, when non-BJP candidates went to collect the necessary documents, the concerned government employees were absent under the pretext of election training. Later, these candidates were asked to submit affidavits. This shows that the entire process was systematically rigged to prevent candidates from filing nominations.
According to Thakare, an hour after the scrutiny of nomination papers began, candidates for the Zilla Parishad elections were suddenly asked to go to the collector’s office, located three kilometers away.
Candidates for five municipal council wards were also called there. He disclosed that about 80 percent of Congress nominations were rejected. Of the 21 nominations filed for the Zilla Parishad elections, only four were considered valid, while 11 of the 12 nominations filed for the municipal council elections were also rejected, he added.
The senior Congress leader stated that no BJP candidate’s nomination papers were rejected. He said that when the Territorial Congress president and thousands of people went to Collector Priyank Kishore’s office to inquire about the reasons for the rejection of nomination papers, they were not given any answers; instead, two people were jailed for just asking about the reasons for rejection.
He also accused Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman-Diu Administrator Praful Patel of governing in an authoritarian manner.
Thakare said that Congress will vigorously fight against the election hijacking by the BJP and the administration. The party has filed a complaint of rigging with the local Election Commission office and has also written to the Central Election Commission.
Thakare said that the party will soon file a petition in the Bombay High Court regarding this matter.
