Why No Mention of Criminal Cases: BJP's Objection to Kamal Nath's Election Affidavit

Bhopal: A day after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath filed his nomination for the Chhindwara assembly by-poll, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has objected to his election affidavit in which the Congress veteran leader claimed of not having any criminal cases against him.

In the election affidavit filed at the Collectorate’s office in Chhindwara, Nath wrote ‘Not Applicable’ against the column which requires candidates to declare details of any police or court case filed against them.

The BJP raising an objection, expressed its intentions to complain to the Election Commission over this detail.

“On the directives of a local court, an FIR was lodged against Kamal Nath and other senior leaders including

Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia at Shaymla Hills police station in Bhopal last year,” BJP state convener and Legal Cell advocate Santosh Sharma told News18.

“We will raise this matter through our candidate during scrutiny of nominations and I will write a letter to the EC informing them about the anomaly on Wednesday,” he added.

The Shaymla Hill police had last year lodged an FIR against three senior Congress leaders, including Nath and whistleblower Prashant Pandey. The petitioner in the case, Santosh Sharma, had at the time told the court that the

Congress leaders had tried to mislead the Supreme Court and High Court in the Vyapam scam case by forging evidence.

The Legal Cell chairman of the MP Congress JP Dhanopia, however, laughed off the objections and said that issue did not hold water.

“When the person concerned hasn’t received any legal notice about the said case, then there is no point mentioning the details of the case in the election affidavit,” Dhanopia said.

“Though the rules permit candidates to correct the affidavit and even replace it at the time of nomination scrutiny, this won’t be required in Nath’s case,” Dhanopia added.

Nath submitted his nomination on Tuesday for Chhindwara assembly by-poll after the seat was vacated by his staunch loyalist, Deepak Saxena, so that the a nine-time MP could get elected to the MP assembly.

Nath’s wife, son and daughter-in-law also claimed to not have any criminal case against them in their election affidavits.