New Delhi: Comedian Shyam Rangeela on Tuesday (May 14) finally filed his nomination from Varanasi as an independent candidate against the country’s most powerful man, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after facing initial trouble in fulfilling the formalities.
The Rajasthan native, known for accurately mimicking Modi, said earlier on Tuesday that he was not being allowed to file his nomination from the high-profile constituency in Uttar Pradesh against the PM.
“With your love and support, I have filed my nomination after fulfilling all the requirements as per the rules. I still have full faith in the democracy of this country,” Rangeela said in a post on X late on Tuesday.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
After declaring that he would challenge Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Rangeela landed in Varanasi, but till the afternoon of May 14, the last date of filing nomination for the seat, he could not – or as he alleged, was not allowed to – file his papers.
According to the Election Commission (EC), Rangeela later filed his nomination under his official name, Shyam Sunder.
“I have all the proposers and the documents. But they are not taking my nomination,” Rangeela, 29, had said on Tuesday morning outside the Varanasi district magistrate’s office in what were tense moments for him.
“You may reject my nomination, that’s a different issue. But at least accept my nomination,” he said then.
In 2019, the returning officer in Varanasi had rejected the nomination of sacked Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was the Samajwadi Party’s initial official candidate against Modi.
Yadav had sprung into the limelight after he had complained about the poor quality of food served to BSF personnel.
In a video uploaded by Rangeela, he was shown asking a group of policemen why he was not being allowed beyond the police barriers in order to file his nomination.
वाराणसी चुनाव आयोग कार्यालय
14 मई, सुबह 9:15 बजे लगभग पहुँच गये है,
कहीं से कोई जवाब नहीं आ रहा,
लेकिन नामांकन की उम्मीद अभी भी नहीं छोड़ी है हमने pic.twitter.com/MfirxtfNZk— Shyam Rangeela (@ShyamRangeela) May 14, 2024
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A police officer informed him that entry had been closed due to security reasons and that he should come back after 12 pm.
“There are other candidates as well. We have informed them too,” the police officer told him.
Rangeela said he had waited all through May 13 but was not allowed to file his nomination.
On Monday, he even shot off a letter to the chief election commissioner in New Delhi demanding that he be allowed to file his nomination.
Rangeela said that on May 13, he went to the office of the returning officer (RO) in Varanasi at around 1:30 pm and had fulfilled all formalities for the nomination, but was not allowed to enter the designated premises to file his papers.
He alleged that officials deliberately delayed the process so that many candidates like him could not file their nomination against Modi.
They were stopped outside the RO’s office, said Rangeela in his complaint.
He also expressed apprehension that on the next day, May 14, this “illegal” and “arbitrary attitude” would continue.
“Today I have seen with my own eyes, democracy being strangled,” Rangeela told mediapersons in Varanasi. He stressed that while he was not a “neta” but a “comedian”, the event was nothing like he ever expected when he decided to contest the election.
Gagan Prakash, the candidate of the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), which is in an alliance with Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, also alleged that officials had been delaying the nomination process and wrote a letter to the EC.
Prakash later filed his nomination.
More than a dozen independent candidates and some nominees of lesser-known parties, including the Telangana-based Yuga Thulasi Party’s Kolisetty Shiva Kumar and Awachit Shamrao Sayam of the Janseva Gondwana Party, had filed their nomination along with the three bigwigs.
In Varanasi, Modi faces a challenge from the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ather Jamal Lari and the Congress’s Ajay Rai.
Modi defeated Rai, a former BJP MLA and ABVP product, in two consecutive elections – 2014 and 2019 – in Varanasi.
While Modi filed his nomination in a grand display of strength along with his allies in the NDA, Rangeela had to endure uncertain moments against a ticking clock on the last day of nomination.
“Duniya dekh rahi hain (The world is watching),” Rangeela said on X earlier on May 14, tagging the EC, which did not respond to his grievance.
The Varanasi administration is yet to respond to Rangeela’s charges or explain why he was not allowed to file his nomination earlier despite turning up on more than one occasion.
However, after filing his nomination, Rangeela appeared more hopeful.
“My electoral future is in the hands of all election officials who are the guardians of our democracy … with the hope that they will all strengthen our faith, your Shyam Rangeela,” he posted on X.
If his nomination is accepted, he is sure to add a unique dimension of wit and humour to the electoral campaign.
