Find out who withdrew woman candidate’s nomination papers: HC

Ahmedabad, March 21 A division bench of the Gujarat High Court consisting of Justices M S Shah and Ravi Tripathi has directed the Superintendent of Police, Jamnagar district, to investigate into the complaint of a fraudulent withdrawal of nomination papers of a woman candidate for election to the village sarpanch held in January this year. The police have been directed to submit a report to the court on April 22.
According to the details of the case, one Vanitaben Kantilal Varu had filed her nomination papers for the elections in her native village of Jiragadh in Jamnagar district in January 2008. After filing her papers, she went to the election office on January 8, where officials told her that she had withdrawn her nomination papers, and that her rival Ghanshyam Maghanlal Rathod had been elected uncontested.
She told the officials that she had never filed her withdrawal forms. She also asked the officials concerned to show her the forms, which she said was denied.
She, however, managed to get a copy of the withdrawal form after she filed an application under the Right to Information Act. She said her signature on the withdrawal form had been forged. In her petition to the High Court, she said her rival could have been behind this mischief.
She said she asked all the officials concerned, including the State Election Commissioner, to look into the matter, but to no avail. She said then she filed a criminal complaint on January 31, 2008, but nothing materialised out of it.
Senior advocate Girish Patel and Manoj Shrimali, appearing before the court on March 19, contended that the petitioner's nomination form was fraudulently withdrawn by her rival in collusion with the district election officials with a view to implement the state government's `samras' yojana and provide financial assistance to the unopposed elected sarpanch.
Express news servicePosted online: Saturday , March 22, 2008 at 11:35:21Updated: Friday , March 21, 2008 at 11:57:42