Refuting allegations made by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, on Thursday wrote to the Election Commission of India, saying that age discrepancies in a 2006 document circulated by the Left parties, if it existed, was a “clear typographical error”.
“What is relevant and germane is whether I have suppressed or misstated my age in my 2018 papers. The answer, even according to the Left, is clearly NO. They are referring to some pages of a 2006 document, which, subject to checking and entirely without admitting, is a clear typographical error (if it at all exists),” the letter by Congress leader said.
In the affidavit for the 2018 Rajya Sabha polls, Mr. Singhvi mentioned his age as 59 years. His affidavit for the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections put his age at 53, which adds up to 59 in 2018. However, an affidavit document circulated by the CPI(M) candidate for Rajya Sabha elections, Rabin Deb, relating to the 2006 election to the Upper House, shows Mr. Singhvi’s age as 43, which adds up to 55 years in 2018.
Elections to five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will be held on Friday. Going by the numbers, the four candidates nominated by the Trinamool Congress will easily sail through. For the fifth seat the contest is between Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi and CPI(M)’s Rabin Deb.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has announced that her party legislators will vote for Mr. Singhvi.
