BJP urges EC to cancel nomination of two TMC candidates

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, BJP’s general secretary Jagannath Chatterjee alleged that Islam had not submitted a ‘no dues’ certificate after his term as an MP of the 15th Lok Sabha ended in 2014. A candidate has to settle any outstanding government service bill due in the last 10 years.

Citing the example of BJP’s Birbhum candidate and former IPS officer Debashish Dhar whose candidature was rejected due to the lack of a ‘no dues’ certificate, Chatterjee said, “We canceled the nomination of our candidate in Birbhum as he was not able to show a ‘no dues’ certificate. As Haji Nurul Islam did not submit a ‘no dues’ certificate as per the rules, we are applying to the election officer and the EC to cancel his candidature too. His nomination should be cancelled, just as the nomination of one of our candidates was cancelled.”

After Dhar’s nomination was cancelled, the BJP had fielded Debtanu Bhattacharya from the Birbhum seat, where polling was held in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election. “He (Islam) has to state in an affidavit that he does not owe any debt to the government. As seen in Islam’s affidavit, he did not submit the ‘no dues’ certificate,” said Chatterjee, adding that BJP’s Basirhat nominee Rekha Patra has submitted a petition with the EC to object to Islam’s candidature.

The BJP leader said that Roy was currently the chairperson of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and she could not contest the polls without resigning from the post. “According to the law, if she files her nomination without resigning, she has violated the Office of Profit Act. That is why our Kolkata Dakshin candidate Debashree Chowdhury has applied to the EC to get the TMC candidate’s nomination cancelled,” he added.

The petition filed by Patra states: “Hazi Nurul Islam was the elected member of Parliament from Basirhat Lok Sabha Constituency. The present candidate set up by the TMC, Hazi Nurul Islam, was allotted government accommodation during his stint as a MP in the 15th Lok Sabha. Islam was also using an official telephone connection from the said government accommodation. Admittedly, the period reckoned from 18.05.2014 to 7.5.2024 is not beyond 10 years…As such a ‘no dues’ certificate under item No. 8 of Form 26 was to be mandatorily furnished by the candidate.”

In the petition, the BJP has claimed that Islam has neither “furnished the requisite information” and instead made “a false statement by stating that it is ‘not applicable'” nor has he submitted a ‘no dues’ certificate with the Form no. 26.

The party demanded that due to the non-submission of a ‘no dues’ certificate by Islam, his nomination had to be “mandatorily rejected under Section 36(2) of the Representation of People Act, 1951”.

Islam had filed his nomination for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on May 7. He had been elected as Basirhat MP in the 2014 general elections.

Both Basirhat and Kolkata Dakshin will go to polls in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha polls. The last date to submit nominations for the seventh phase was Tuesday and the deadline for withdrawing nominations is Friday.