Congress suffers a jolt in Ramtek reserved seat

Mumbai: In a shocking jolt to the Congress, the caste certificate of Rashmi Barve, who is the grand old party’s candidate for the Ramtek (Scheduled Caste) seat in Nagpur district, was rejected leading to a question mark over her nomination.

Barve has not been able to secure any immediate relief from the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.

The development came as the Returning Officer/Election Commission of India (EC) commenced the scrutiny process of the nomination papers filed by all the candidates for the 5 Lok Sabha constituencies of the Vidarbha region, which goes to polls in Phase-1.

The Social Justice Department’s Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee rejected the caste certificate of Barve.

If the ECI too rejects Barve’s nomination paper on this count, then the Congress’ dummy candidate and her husband Shyamlal Barve shall contest the seat, according to reports reaching here.

The order came after a person filed a complaint recently questioning the caste certificate of Barve, claiming she had not followed the due legal process to acquire it.

“What has happened is politically motivated,” said Barve, who was the candidate of Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi.

It may be mentioned Maha Yuti fielded Umred MLA Raju Parve resigned from Congress and as a legislator to join the Shiv Sena in place of sitting two-time MP Krupal Tumane.

Reacting to the development, Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the BJP is using the formula of “saam daam dand bhed” against the Congress and its allies. “The Lok Sabha elections of the country which is considered as a celebration of democracy. In such a time, the impartial behaviour of the government agencies is expected, however, that is not happening. That is why Rashmi Barve's caste certificate has been canceled by the committee. The committee which issues the caste certificate cannot cancel the caste validity certificate. The committee issued a notice on the caste certificate on March 20 and canceled the certificate within eight days,” he said.

Wadettiwar pointed out that Amravati sitting MP Navneet Rana's caste validity certificate was revoked by the Bombay High Court, but she remained an MP for five years pending a case in the Supreme Court, and is now fielded by the BJP.

In a related development, Congress general secretary has filed a complaint with the Election Commission against state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule. “Bawankule falsely claimed that there was an order and judgment from the Supreme Court in favour of

Navneet Rana following her joining the BJP. This deliberate spreading of false information is a clear attempt to influence voters and violates not only the model code of conduct but also constitutes a crime under the Indian Penal Code and amounts to contempt of court,” he said.