Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate against Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, said on Monday that he has sought the rejection of the West Bengal Chief Minister’s nomination for not declaring the six criminal cases filed against her, while filing her papers.
In his complaint to the Election Commission, Mr. Adhikari, a former confidante of Ms. Banerjee, claimed that she suppressed the information about five cases filed in Assam and another lodged by the CBI in West Bengal. He said he had mentioned the case numbers in his complaint, but did not elaborate on the offences allegedly committed by the TMC supremo.
A senior EC official said the matter was being looked into. No immediate reaction was available from the TMC.
In a significant ruling in March 2018, the Supreme Court had said the returning officer for an election can reject the nomination papers of a candidate for non-disclosure and suppression of information, including those related to their assets and criminal background.
It had ruled that voters had a fundamental right to know about their candidates, and leaving columns blank in the nomination paper amounts to violation of their right.
