New Delhi:
In a big setback to Congress, its Lok Sabha candidate from Indore, Akshay Bam, dropped out of the race and joined the BJP today, just days before the constituency goes to polls. Accompanied by BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola, he visited the Collector’s office to retract his candidacy.
Congress had pitted Mr Bam against the incumbent BJP MP of Indore, Shankar Lalwani. Voting for the Indore parliamentary constituency will take place in the fourth phase of the ongoing elections on May 13.
Senior BJP leader and state cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya extended a warm welcome to Mr Bam in a post on X.
Honorable Prime Minister Shri Akshay Kanti Bam ji, Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore. @narendramodi Yes, National President Mr. @JPNadda Yes, Chief Minister @DrMohanYadav51 Mr. and State President @vdsharmabjp Welcome to BJP under the leadership of ji. pic.twitter.com/1isbdLXphb
— Kailash Vijayvargiya (Modi Ka Parivar) (@KailashOnline) April 29, 2024
“Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome in the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma,” he said in the post.
Following his withdrawal, local Congress leaders expressed their disappointment and questioned the party high command’s decision to hand Mr Bam a ticket in the elections.
“I had warned about Akshay Bam to our party leaders. I had warned that he would withdraw his nomination. It pains us that party workers like us have been serving the Congress for years yet the ticket was given to people like him,” said local Congress leader Devendra Singh Yadav to NDTV.
During the scrutiny of nominations, the BJP’s legal cell had raised an objection on Mr Bam’s nomination form for not mentioning the addition of section 307 of IPC in a 17-year-old land dispute case. But poll officials overruled the objection and accepted his nomination as the section was added on the day of filing of the nomination.
This latest move comes just days after the nomination form of Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani for the Surat Lok Sabha seat was rejected after his three proposers came forward to the district returning officer, stating that the signatures on the document did not belong to them. Similarly, the nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress’ alternative candidate for Surat, suffered the same fate due to similar reasons.
Mr Kumbhani, a former Surat corporator, had previously contested the 2022 Assembly polls in Kamrej constituency but was unsuccessful.
On April 22, the BJP’s Mukesh Dalal clinched victory uncontested for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency. This came after all other candidates, including one from the BSP, withdrew their nominations one after the other.
