Jharkhand News: The nomination papers of BJP-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani were declared valid amid high voltage political uproar in the elections for two Rajya Sabha seats of Jharkhand on Wednesday. Rajya Sabha election returning officer Ranjit Kumar accepted Nathwani’s nomination, rejecting all the objections filed by the Congress.
The returning officer said in his order that the nomination paper of Parimal Nathwani has been found valid during scrutiny and it is accepted under Section 36 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Earlier, a detailed hearing regarding Nathwani’s nomination was held before the returning officer in the Jharkhand Assembly complex from 10:30 am on Wednesday.
Advocates from both sides presented their arguments. The hearing lasted for about two hours, after which the returning officer reserved the decision. He issued his order in the evening. On the other hand, the political atmosphere in and outside the Assembly premises also remained heated during the hearing. Congress and BJP workers held separate demonstrations.
Congress leaders alleged that senior advocate and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, who had come to present their case, was stopped from entering the hearing room. Congress leaders accused the returning officer of adopting a partisan attitude and working under pressure from the BJP. Many Congress leaders including state government minister Radhakrishna Kishore, Irfan Ansari, Deepika Pandey Singh participated in the protest. At the same time, many BJP leaders and workers also reached the Assembly in support of Nathwani and raised slogans demanding legalization of his nomination.
Let us inform that Congress candidate Pranab Jha’s proposer and Kolebira MLA Naman Viksal Kongadi had lodged an objection to Nathwani’s nomination papers. He said that the name of the candidate is recorded differently in the nomination papers and other documents. In some documents the name is written as ‘Parimal Nathwani’ while in others it is written as “Nathwani Parimal”. Apart from this, allegations were also made of leaving some columns of nomination papers blank and not giving necessary information.
After these objections, on June 9, the returning officer had put Parimal Nathwani’s nomination papers on hold and scheduled the hearing of both the parties on the objections on June 10. After hearing the arguments from both sides, all the objections were ultimately rejected. Voting for two Rajya Sabha seats of Jharkhand is to be held on June 18. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidates in the fray are JMM’s Baidyanath Ram and Congress’s Pranab Jha, along with BJP-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani.
