Filed, torn, swallowed: Sena leader in Pune polished off party rival’s candidature form, say police; book him
Uddhav Kamble admits tearing the AB form of his rival after realising he too had been given one by the party, but denies swallowing the paper; party admits mistake, says Kamble is its official nominee
The Shiv Sena’s Pune leadership accepted it had made a mistake and issued the AB forms to both Kamble and Dhawale. The party said it had released a letter declaring Kamble as its official candidate.
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When election officials and the candidates of various parties gathered at the Dhankawadi-Sahakarnagar ward office of the Pune Municipal Corporation on December 31 for the scrutiny of candidature forms, no one could have imagined what would transpire.
On finding that his party had given the AB form — it denotes official candidature — for Ward 34 (the Padmavati area of the city) to another person, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Kamble snatched it from an election official, tore it up, and, according to the police, swallowed the paper. The police have now booked Kamble, whom the party acknowledges as its actual candidate, under BNS Sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty) and 324 (mischief causing loss or damage to any person or property).
“Kamble snatched the nomination form of the other candidate from the staffer of the returning officer. He tore it and ran towards the washroom while starting to swallow it. He then locked the door of the washroom. The form was not recovered and we believe it was destroyed. We have booked Kamble and he has been served a notice. Further investigation is on,” said Senior Inspector Rahul Khilare of the Bharti Vidyapeeth police station.
Election official Supriya Karmarkar said the altercation occurred after the scrutiny of the forms for the January 15 civic body elections. “After the process was completed, candidates were requesting that they be shown the forms of rival candidates. At this time, Uddhav Kamble also made a similar request from a distance. When our employee was showing him the application of another candidate, Kamble tried to tear it up and ran away. We have lodged a complaint with the police,” Karmakar said. There was, however, no explanation for how the forms of two candidates from the same party were accepted during scrutiny.
Kamble who heads the Sena in the Parvati Assembly constituency in Pune district, denied swallowing the form of Macchindra Dhawale, the other person with the AB form given by the Sena. The police said the initial probe suggests that the party initially gave the form to Dhawale and then handed another one to Kamble.
“I asked the election officials to show the AB form submitted by the other candidate. The election officials told me that only my AB form has received. However, when I checked the forms, I realised that two AB forms had been submitted. Then I asked them as to why the election officials were lying to me. I then lost my cool and tore up the AB form … I will not lie, I am a hardcore Sainik. I accept that I tore the form because I became emotional after learning that someone else had submitted it … I am confident that my party will not do injustice with me,” Kamble told reporters Thursday.
“Who is Dhawale? He is not an office-bearer of the party. He has done nothing for the party, whereas I have been working relentlessly for it,” he said.
The Shiv Sena’s Pune leadership accepted it had made a mistake and issued the AB forms to both Kamble and Dhawale. The party said it had released a letter declaring Kamble as its official candidate.
“Kamble told me everything. I think two AB forms went to the two people by mistake. However, the official candidate is Uddhav Kamble. We don’t know anything about the other candidate. We do not know how he got the AB form or from whom. The party will investigate who distributed the forms. The party leadership has issued a letter to the election office declaring that Uddhav Kamble is the official candidate. We accept that a mistake happened,” said Sena’s Pune district president Nilesh Mazire, adding that he had requested party chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to ensure Kamble does not face any “injustice”.
Sena’s Pune city president Nana Bhangire also said Kamble was the official candidate and that the two forms had been issued “inadvertently”.
Asked about the incident, Dhawale said, “I got a call from the ward office, which told me that Uddhav Kamble had torn up my form. The election officials asked me to submit a Xerox copy of my AB form. They told me that my form was received first. I was present during the scrutiny process and at the time, nothing had happened … I submitted my AB form between 2 and 2.30 pm on Tuesday.”
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