Candidates go berserk over rejection of nominations in UP's Lakhimpur
Lakhimpur Kheri, Apr 20: It was a day of high drama and political intrigue on Saturday, after nomination papers of several candidates were rejected during scrutiny for the Dhaurahra Lok Sabha seat.
During scrutiny, the authorities have rejected seven nominations which led to major protest by the candidates. They raised slogans against the authorities for wrongfully rejecting their papers inside the Returning Officer (RO) chamber.
However Sarv Samaj Party candidate Fadali, who was among the rejected candidates, climbed a tree near the collectorate and threatened to commit suicide by jumping on the ground.
But later District Magistrate Shalendra Kumar Singh pacified the candidate to came down.
The candidates, mostly independent whose papers were rejected, alleged that as the authorities in order to avoid additional EVMs in the polls were forced to keep only 16 candidates.
Each EVM has the capacity to accommodate 16 candidates but if it increases, the authorities will have to add additional balloting unit.
A total of 22 candidates filed nomination papers but after rejection of 7 papers, only15 are in the fray and April 23 is the last date for withdrawals. Agency