Madhusudan Mistry files nomination

VADODARA: The tone for the battle for Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency was set with Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry filing his nomination papers on Saturday.
The Congress conducted a handsome rally from its office to the district collectorate to file Mistry's nomination.Senior functionaries of the party, including state president Arjun Modhwadia, leader of opposition in the state assembly Shankersinh Vaghela and others remained present on the occasion.The rally began from the Congress office at Lakdipul in Dandia Bazaar and reached the district collector and district election officer's office in Kothi after winding through Sursagar, Gandhi Nagargruh and Raopura.
Mistry has been picked by the Congress to replace Narendra Ravat as the candidate to challenge BJP's prime ministerial candidate and chief minister Narendra Modi. Ravat had been selected through the primaries system introduced by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, but had to make way for Mistry.
Mistry has already stirred up things by alleging partiality in allocation of publicity boards on electricity poles and pasting his poster on one such board over that of Modi. He was arrested and granted bail on Thursday.
In his affidavit filed with the nomination papers, Mistry has declared that he has no major offences registered against him. His declaration indicates that he has permanent assets, including two flats and a plot in Gandhinagar worth Rs 1.38crore. Mistry has also stated that he has cash, bank deposits, unit linked insurance policies and national saving scheme savings worth Rs 1.72crore.
The affidavit discloses assets amounting to Rs 7.45lakh including jewellery and cash in the name of his wife Kamlesh Mistry. Mistry has shown an income of Rs 8.86lakh per annum in his last income tax return for 2012-13. There was a faux pas in the affidavit of Mistry. It mentioned his immovable assets to be worth Rs 1,38,00,000 at one place and at another it put it at Rs 1,71,35,245.
Lawyer Kamal Pandya, who oversaw the documentation, said the error was inadvertent. "Even at the place where the higher figure is mentioned, the break up totals to Rs 1,38,00,000, which is the real valuation. This will not create any complications for his candidature," he said.
Another Madhusudan in fray too
While the contest of two Narendras - chief minister Narendra Modi from BJP and city Congress president Narendra Ravat - could not materialize for the Vadodara seat, there will be two Madhusudans in fray. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Madhusudan Rohit as its candidate from Vadodara. Rohit filed his candidature on Saturday ahead of Congress national general secretary Madhusudan Mistry on Saturday.