Gandhinagar, Sep 29 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s candidate strength for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections has come down from 41 candidates who filed nomination papers to 32 after four nominations were rejected. Five candidates withdrew their forms, with the party alleging the withdrawals resulted from pressure exerted jointly by the BJP and Congress.
AAP state frontal president Praveen Ram on Tuesday alleged that the BJP and Congress had together pressured and “hijacked” five of the party’s candidates and made them withdraw their nomination forms.
He claimed the two parties had acted together because AAP could neither be “managed” nor intimidated.
“BJP and Congress have together pressured five Aam Aadmi Party members (candidates), hijacked them, put pressure on them and hatched a conspiracy to make them withdraw their forms,” Ram said.
The latest development leaves AAP with 32 candidates in the fray for the 44-seat civic body spread across 11 wards.
The party had initially announced 29 candidates, before 41 of its candidates filed nomination papers by the September 26 deadline.
Following scrutiny on September 28, four AAP nominations were rejected, while five candidates withdrew their nominations on the final day for withdrawal, bringing the party’s final tally to 32.
Ram alleged that the withdrawals were part of a broader understanding between the BJP and Congress, pointing to the defection of two Congress councillors elected in the previous GMC election to the BJP.
“Congress leaders joined BJP, proving BJP-Congress collusion,” he said, according to the party’s statement.
“It directly means that Congress and BJP are together carrying out the entire planning. Today it has been proved that both together hijacked five Aam Aadmi Party candidates, put pressure on them and carried out a conspiracy to make them withdraw their forms,” Ram said.
The allegations come amid a wider political dispute over the nomination process in Gandhinagar.
Congress has separately alleged that its candidates and their relatives were being pressured to withdraw their nominations, while the BJP has rejected such allegations as baseless.
Ram appealed to voters in Gandhinagar to respond to the BJP and Congress through the election, alleging that the two parties had “strangled democracy”.
The Gujarat State Election Commission’s schedule provides for polling to the GMC’s 44 seats across 11 wards on October 11, with voting to be held through electronic voting machines.
Vote counting is scheduled for October 13, while October 12 is reserved for re-polling, if required.
The nomination process began with the election notification on September 21, followed by the September 26 deadline for filing nominations, September 28 for scrutiny, and September 29 for withdrawal.
The GMC last went to the polls in 2021, when the BJP won 41 of the 44 seats, while Congress won two and AAP one.
–IANS
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