Kolkata, March 7 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Saturday approached the Election Commission alleging several serious irregularities in the nomination papers of BJP candidate Rahul Sinha for the Rajya Sabha elections from West Bengal.

State Power Minister Aroop Biswas has sent a detailed complaint to the Election Commission in this regard.

According to the minister, the complaint states that serious procedural errors and irregularities were found during the verification of the nomination papers of BJP candidate Rahul Sinha for the Rajya Sabha elections.

On March 5, he submitted the mandatory affidavit (Form-26) along with his nomination papers. It is alleged that during the initial scrutiny, the Returning Officer identified certain errors and also issued a ‘checklist’.

Aroop Biswas further claimed that at that time several ‘boxes’ in the affidavit were incomplete, and this was mentioned in the presence of those present during the nomination process.

However, when the affidavit was later uploaded on the website of the state Chief Electoral Officer, it was seen that most of the ‘boxes’ were filled or marked as ‘not applicable’. This has raised suspicions that a revised affidavit may have been submitted later.

In the complaint, the state minister said that during the verification process, when several authorised representatives wanted to object to the inconsistencies in the affidavit, the Returning Officer did not hear their objections.

Instead, they were asked to raise objections later and submit them in writing. However, the decision to verify the nomination was taken at that time.

“Rahul Sinha’s affidavit contains incomplete or contradictory information in several areas, including income tax information, declaration of criminal cases, property details, investment information and vehicle details.

“It is also alleged that although the total amount of assets is shown as ‘zero’, assets have been mentioned in earlier parts of the affidavit.

“It has also been alleged that although there is a loan in the name of Rahul Sinha’s wife, the details of the assets related to her have not been provided. At the same time, a major discrepancy was found between the declared value of the assets and their actual market value,” Biswas said.

The Trinamool Congress has also stated in its complaint that according to a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court, no ‘box’ in a candidate’s affidavit should be left blank and no incomplete information should be provided.

“Voters have the right to know the complete information of the candidate, and that is linked to the right to freedom of expression under the Constitution,” Biswas added.

In this situation, the Trinamool Congress has demanded that the entire process of verifying Rahul Sinha’s nomination be examined and the nomination cancelled as per the law.

The minister has requested the Election Commission to look into the matter promptly and take necessary legal action.

–IANS

sch/pgh