The nomination of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Birbhum Lok Sabha seat candidate Debasish Dhar was cancelled during the scrutiny of nomination papers citing technical grounds. Mr. Dhar, a former IPS officer could not furnish a ‘no dues’ certificate from the State government.
The BJP leadership had over the past few days sensed some issue with the former IPS officer’s nomination. On Thursday, the last day of filing nomination papers for the fourth phase, senior party leader Debtanu Bhattacharya filed his nomination papers to contest from Birbhum Lok Sabha. The constituency located in south Bengal is going to polls on May 13. He is likely to be the BJP nominee in place of former IPS officer.
Former IPS officer Debasish Dhar had extensively campaigned since his candidature was announced by the party and the development has come as an embarrassment for the BJP.
“Due to some technical reasons, my candidature has been cancelled. I will approach the Calcutta High Court after consulting my party leaders. I think the reasons cited are baseless”, Mr. Dhar said.
The former IPS officer also added that a no dues certificate cannot be an issue for his disqualification and he had resigned before filing his nomination. Mr. Dhar’s petition was allowed before the division bench of the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court but the Court did not agree to an urgent hearing.
Mr. Dhar was the Superintendent of Police, Cooch Behar, during the West Bengal Assembly election of 2021 when the Central forces opened fire at a mob inside a polling premises at Sitalkuchi in the district on the polling day. The police officer had a falling out with the State government after the incident which claimed four lives. He was suspended and later put on compulsory waiting.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dhar’s replacement, Debtanu Bhattacharya is the party organisation man who is part of Rahr Bengal (south west Bengal) region.
“I will do whatever my party asks me to do. We all are united and working together to fight the conspiracies of the TMC. It is a strategic move to foil their game plan,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.
At Birbhum, the BJP is facing stiff competition from TMC’s Satabadi Roy, who is a three time MP. She had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election by a margin of nearly one lakh votes.
