BAREILLY: The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday rejected nomination papers of senior SP leader Azam Khan‘s close aides, Asim Raja and Abdul Salam who wanted to contest from Rampur.
Raja and Salam had filed their papers as SP and independent candidates respectively, after the party declared Muhibullah Nadwi, an imam of a mosque in Delhi’s Parliament Street, as its official candidate on the last day of poll nomination on Wednesday amid high drama.Muhibullah’s papers were cleared even as about 12 candidates’ nominations were cancelled by EC after scrutiny, said Rampur district magistrate Jogindra Singh.
“Eighteen nomination forms were submitted for the Rampur LS seat. Asim Raja failed to submit forms A and B which are provided by the party. Also, certain columns were left incomplete. He was asked to provide the necessary information, but he didn’t respond. There was incomplete information in Abdul Salam’s form as well,” the DM added.
A section of the SP workers in Rampur were unhappy after the name of Nadwi, whom they labelled a “parachute candidate”, was announced. Soon after, both Raja, a party functionary, and Salam, a former district panchayat president, filed their nomination, which many saw as an “act of defiance”. Interestingly, on Thursday, Khan’s name was fourth on the party’s ‘star campaigner’ list.
Raja and Salam had filed their papers as SP and independent candidates respectively, after the party declared Muhibullah Nadwi, an imam of a mosque in Delhi’s Parliament Street, as its official candidate on the last day of poll nomination on Wednesday amid high drama.Muhibullah’s papers were cleared even as about 12 candidates’ nominations were cancelled by EC after scrutiny, said Rampur district magistrate Jogindra Singh.
“Eighteen nomination forms were submitted for the Rampur LS seat. Asim Raja failed to submit forms A and B which are provided by the party. Also, certain columns were left incomplete. He was asked to provide the necessary information, but he didn’t respond. There was incomplete information in Abdul Salam’s form as well,” the DM added.
A section of the SP workers in Rampur were unhappy after the name of Nadwi, whom they labelled a “parachute candidate”, was announced. Soon after, both Raja, a party functionary, and Salam, a former district panchayat president, filed their nomination, which many saw as an “act of defiance”. Interestingly, on Thursday, Khan’s name was fourth on the party’s ‘star campaigner’ list.