Indore (Madhya Pradesh): On April 29, hours after Akshay Kanti Bam, the Congress’s candidate for Madhya Pradesh’s Indore Lok Sabha constituency, withdrew his nomination and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dharmendra Singh Jhala, a former air force officer, made his way to the collector’s office to collect his election symbol as an independent candidate – only to find that his name had been added to the list of withdrawn candidates, using a fake signature.
“On that day I only knew that the Congress candidate Akshay Bam had withdrawn his nomination and I knew that there could be a possibility of pressure on me, so I thought I’ll go after 3 pm (the deadline to withdraw nominations) to the collector’s office and take my election symbol,” he said to The Wire.
He continued: “At around 3:30 pm, I called the office and said I was coming to take my symbol. They said yes and asked me if I had withdrawn. I said no and they [asked me to come].
“At around 4:30 pm, we reached and we saw that the gates were shut. I said I had come to take my symbol and they asked me to sit outside. At around 5:30 pm, the document that named those candidates who had withdrawn was shown, which included my name as well. But I had not withdrawn my name.
“I told everyone that I had not signed or withdrawn. I asked to … meet the collector. I found that my fake signature was on the form and one of my ten proposers had signed on that document.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
“Since I had not signed, I asked them to probe the fake signature and have asked for the CCTV footage from the collector’s office, and they have said they will provide it. But I have not got it yet.
“If my signature is fake, it is equally possible that my proposer’s signature can also be fake.”
Bam’s withdrawal and move to the BJP came only days after the dramatic rejection of papers of the Congress candidate(s) in Gujarat’s Surat, leading to Mukesh Dalal being declared elected Lok Sabha MP unopposed, minus an election, as the first MP of the 18th Lok Sabha.
Three candidates in Indore, including two independents and one from the Janata Congress Party, that The Wire spoke to now reveal that “fake signatures” were obtained on withdrawal forms, while coercive and intimidating calls were made to make them not contest.
The Congress’s substitute candidate Moti Singh’s papers were also rejected by authorities on the ground that Bam’s nomination had been accepted.
The Wire has earlier reported that the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)’s candidate in Indore, Ajit Singh Panwar, who is still in the fray, said that he was pressurised and pushed by the BJP to not contest.
Indore, which has been with the BJP since 1989, will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. Fourteen candidates are in the fray including nine independents, while at least nine others have withdrawn from the race.
‘They have not even spared a fauji’
Jhala said that without seeing the CCTV footage, he will not be able to say who forged his signature. But three days prior, he had received calls from alleged top leaders of the BJP and even had groups of men land up at his house in Indore.
“From April 25-26, on two separate days, two groups of men came to my house. One day it was a group of three people and the other day it was a group of five. They made me speak to top BJP leaders on the phone who asked me to withdraw my nomination and even said that you will be the only candidate left in the race, you will lose your deposit. I politely refused and said, “Main tikau hu, bikau nahi (I am here to stay and can’t be bought off).”
“I told them that if you ask me not to campaign I won’t do so, but you cannot deprive me of my constitutional right to contest elections. You are saying I will lose my deposit. What is the issue? It is my money, my proposers, I will lose it is my problem. They have done 420-i and bemaani (dishonesty),” he said.
Jhala said that he filed a Right to Information (RTI) query the following week along with a writ petition in the Madhya Pradesh high court. The court has said that since elections are underway he can move forward with an election petition after the poll results have been declared.
“Even the public knows that I have been wronged. I was only fighting for my constitutional rights. But they have not even spared a fauji. The public has to decide who will win and who will not. How can you forge my signature and deprive me of my constitutional right to fight elections?”
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Dilip Thakkar, Independent
Dilip Thakkar, who filed his nomination as an independent candidate, said that shortly after he filed his nomination papers on April 26m he started receiving calls from BJP leaders. Thakkar has been a Congress worker in the past but decided to contest as an independent this time.
“I was getting about four to five calls from April 26 itself, asking me to withdraw my nomination. The calls were not coming from the top leaders’ numbers but others were calling and making me talk to them on their phone,” he said,
Thakkar said that anticipating pressure tactics, he decided to leave Indore on April 26 night for three days and went about 100 km away to a location near Omkareshwar along with a few of his proposers.
“From April 27, groups of people started arriving at my house. About four men went inside and three or four cars were parked outside. They came in the morning, afternoon and even at night to the mandir where I do seva. They kept wanting to speak to me. I had switched off my phone when I left Indore and only switched it on on April 29 after Bam withdrew his nomination,” he said.
On April 29, Thakkar said that he got in touch with Congress leaders hoping to get their support now that their candidate, Bam, had withdrawn. He went to the Collector’s office at around 4 pm to collect his election symbol and found that his nomination had been withdrawn.
“Since Congress did not have a candidate, they got in touch with me and said stay cautious till 4 pm. But when I went to the Collector’s office at 4 pm, I found that someone else had forged my signature and withdrawn my candidature,” he said.
Thakkar and Jhala both sat in protest outside the Collector’s office and demanded to know how their signatures had been forged, and were both assured that the authorities would look into the matter. Like Jhala, Thakkar too has moved the high court in the matter.
“The biggest question in Indore now is to the people of Indore. Some people have snatched the right to vote. If there is no one in the fight, the ruling party will win, right? But the voting rights of the people of Indore have been snatched,” he said.
A BJP banner in Indore. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
Janata Congress Party
About 25 km away from Indore city, in Mhow, men associated with the BJP Yuva Morcha visited the Janata Congress Party office on April 28. The party’s Bhavana Sangeliya had filed her nomination papers for the Indore seat a week before.
“They came to my office and asked me to withdraw our candidate’s nomination from the Indore seat. We are also in politics and we understand all this, so I asked them why have you come, who has sent you. He said I have been directed by leaders from Bhopal to make you speak to them. I said you take my phone number and give it to them. At about 9-9:30 pm that night, I received a call from a top leader from another number who asked me to withdraw the candidate,” a member of the party’s top leadership who did not want to be named told The Wire.
On April 29, when Bam withdrew his nomination, the top Janata Congress Party leader said that he called leaders from the Congress to ask them if they would support Sangeliya as they had lost their candidate. However, within two hours, the same local BJP Yuva Morcha leader visited his party office again and asked him to get his candidate to withdraw as quickly as possible.
“This was a good opportunity for us as the Congress did not have an option. Our candidate would be highlighted, and the Congress would also get a candidate. But I did not get a decision in time from them and within that time, the same local BJP leader came to my office made me speak to a top leader who asked us to withdraw again and then our candidate went and withdrew her nomination. When a big leader calls you, what can you even say,” he said.
Sangeliya told The Wire that she herself did not receive any communication from the BJP. When asked about her decision to withdraw, she said: “I only followed what my party high command told me to do.”
However, the top Janata Congress Party leader said that the circumstances are such that the opposition is missing in Indore.
“We cannot do anything because their people made us speak to these top leaders on their phones,” he said.
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Moti Singh, Congress’s substitute candidate
Meanwhile Congress’s substitute candidate Moti Singh who had his nomination paper rejected on April 26 on the grounds that Bam’s nomination has already been accepted has also sought legal recourse.
“On April 26, my nomination was rejected by election authorities by saying that the Congress has given two names – Akshay Bam whose papers were found to be in order and mine was the second name – and that is why we are rejecting your form,” he told The Wire.
“When he withdrew his name on April 29, we went to the election authorities that I am the substitute candidate and since Bam has withdrawn, I should be made the Congress’s candidate. But they did not pay any attention. After consulting the party leadership, a writ petition was filed in the Madhya Pradesh high court.”
His petition was rejected by both a single judge bench and a two judge bench of the high court, following which he moved the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court also refused to allow his plea.
“EVMs and symbols have already been allocated. Why did you wait for seven days (to move apex court)? Unheard-of things are happening, but you should have come earlier. You could have asked for provisional nomination from high court and then come to us. Question of law may be raised in election petition, even as an elector. We will keep it open,” the court was quoted as saying in oral observations, reported Bar and Bench.
Singh said that his plea was that if the candidate (Bam) had withdrawn, the substitute should have been declared as the Congress’s candidate.
“Our point is that the law says that if the first candidate withdraws his candidature, the substitute is declared as a candidate. Modi and the BJP are creating an atmosphere of 400 seats. They are saying they will win by eight lakh votes in Indore. If that was the case, they would not be doing such things in Indore,” he said.
The Wire has reached out to the state BJP for a comment, and written to the Chief Electoral Officer Madhya Pradesh and Indore Collector Asheesh Singh, who is also the district election officer. This article will be updated when they respond.
