The rejection of BJP candidate S. Gurumurthy’s nomination for the Nilgiris seat has snowballed into a controversy with a senior party functionary claiming that the required forms were not submitted by the candidate despite being in possession of them.
On Wednesday, the Madras High Court dismissed a petition filed by Mr. Gurumurthy challenging the Returning Officer’s (RO) decision.
The court said the petitioner could not invoke the jurisdiction of the court under the Art. 226 of the Constitution for challenging the rejection of his nomination papers.
Speaking to The Hindu over the phone, the vice-president of the State unit BJP and party observer for the Nilgiris constituency, Thirumalai Samy, said that on April 3, Mr. Gurumurthy filed his nomination papers without the requisite Forms A and B through which a political party authorises the candidate.
This flaw was brought to the notice of the candidate by the RO, Mr. Samy said. Following this, he said both the documents were handed over to Mr. Gurumurthy on the night of April 3 by G.K. Selvakumar, a State secretary of the party. Significantly, Mr. Samy claimed that on April 4, Mr. Gurumurthy filed a fresh nomination so as to avoid difference in the spelling of his name in the documents.
But for reasons unknown, the Forms A and B were again left out. “He claims that on April 5, the car of the aide who was to submit the documents broke down. Only God knows whether such things were wanton and deliberate or a pure mistake,” Mr. Samy said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Selvakumar also confirmed the version of Mr. Samy and said he would represent the facts to the committee, headed by K.N. Lakshmanan, formed to go into the matter. “Since Mr. Gurumurthy had already contested a few elections, I was under the impression that he was aware of the importance of the forms,” Mr. Selvakumar said adding that the candidate and his agent Varadharaj alone could be held responsible for the blooper.
A senior leader, on condition of anonymity, said this was not the first time such an error had occurred in the party. In 2011, the nomination papers of Chennai Mayor candidate of the party was rejected due to errors in the affidavit. But no action was initiated.
Another senior leader said a number of party workers had sent complaints to the central leadership, raising some serious allegations. “This is a loss of face for the party. It would be better if a centrally-appointed committee goes into the matter to avoid any controversy,” the leader observed. The party was also mulling the option of backing an independent in the constituency.
Mr. Gurumurthy could not be reached for his comments.
(With inputs from K.T. Sangameswaran)
