Five Assembly nominations fail in East, one withdrawn SKM’S TN DHAKAL ALLEGES ERRORS IN PD RAI’S NOMINATION PAPER

GANGTOK, 27 Mar: Five nomination papers filed for Assembly Elections in the East district were rejected during scrutiny by the Returning Officer, East today. Also today, SKM’s Lok Sabha candidate, TN Dhakal, protested against what he is convinced is an incomplete nomination paper submission by the SDF candidate PD Rai. Mr. Dhakal reportedly demanded that Mr. Rai’s nomination paper be rejected, but this was turned down by the Returning Officer.
Meanwhile, a dummy candidate of the Indian National Congress, Renuka Gurung, from Upper Burtuk withdrew her papers after the official candidate, Santabir Tamang passed the scrutiny.
Amongst the nominations rejected are three candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party [AAP], two of Trinamool Congress and one Congress candidate.
Roman Shilal, the  AAP candidate fielded from Upper Burtuk will not be contesting the coming election. Similarly, two Upper Tadong candidates, Nima Thendup Lama of TMC and Prashant Lamichaney of AAP also had their nominations rejected. Khamdong Singtam candidate, Indra Kala Neopaney of TMC and Namcheybong’s Sulochana Rai [AAP] have also been rejected.
As for SKM’s objection during scrutiny, addressing a press conference later in the day, Mr. Dhakal argued that Mr. Rai, in his affidavit on assets declaration, had left two columns blank. In the affidavit in question, Mr. Rai, after attesting that it was he who was submitting the form, has not written down his name in the box marked ‘self’ and not written down his spouse’s name in the box marked ‘spouse’. He has however provided the details asked for against ‘self’ and ‘spouse’.
Mr. Dhakal’s objections were turned down by the Returning Officer even as the SKM’s Lok Sabha contender remains insistent that this should have attracted rejection.
At the press conference, Mr. Dhakal informed that SKM was ready to file an Election Petition in court on the issue.