By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 3 Jan: The BJP today dismissed Congress allegations regarding the rejection of the nominations of certain Congress candidates as totally baseless and an indication of frustration stemming from their anticipated defeat in the elections.
Addressing a press briefing at the party’s state headquarters here, today, BJP state spokesperson Suresh Joshi asserted that the Congress becomes active only during elections and therefore often remains uninformed.
Joshi reminded that serious accusations and allegations have been levelled by senior Congress leaders against their own party leaders of selling tickets, factionalism, irregularities, and ineligibility in the selection of candidates for the municipal polls. This, Joshi claimed, is the major reason behind technically flawed nominations by their leaders.
Joshi claimed that there is huge difference in the work style of both parties. He emphasised that the BJP is a 24/7 party, always active among the public round the year. Whenever the Election Commission conducts campaigns to prepare voter lists, BJP workers engage with the public to correct any errors. In contrast, Congress members only become active after the elections are announced. Joshi cited an incident in Lohaghat where a Congress candidate, Girdhar Singh, discovered his own name was missing from the voter list when he went to file his nomination. Joshi argued that Congress needs to participate in all voter programmes of the Election Commission and to remain active among the public.
The BJP Spokesman also alleged that Congress harbours a large number of corrupt, criminal, illegal and immoral individuals. Consequently, many tickets have been given to ineligible and illegal persons who have not provided correct information during the nomination. He clarified that while some BJP nominations have also been rejected, the number is significantly higher for Congress due to factionalism, anarchy, disorder, and incompetence within the party. Joshi claimed that Congress tickets are being sold to land mafia, mining mafia, corrupt, incompetent, and unqualified individuals.
He claimed that the favourable atmosphere for BJP in the state and the allocation of tickets to ineligible and incompetent persons have led to frustration and disappointment within Congress. As a result, Congress is venting its anger by making false and baseless allegations against the government as well as the election officials.
