Ghaziabad: Barely a few days before newly elected public representatives of urban local bodies in Ghaziabad are to be sworn in on December 12, the election of BJP's mayor candidate Asha Sharma has been challenged by her Samajwadi Party rival Rashi Garg. In a petition filed in the district court on Friday, Garg has alleged that requisite documents, including a ticket authorization letter from the BJP state unit's president, were not annexed to the nomination papers of Asha Sharma.
"The authorization letter from the president of the political party that fielded Asha Sharma was not annexed to the nomination papers. This has to be submitted in a particular format as required by the state election commission as Annexure 7(B). The candidate is deemed as an Independent in the absence of this annexure," Garg's lawyer SP Chaudhary told TOI.
Earlier, rival political parties had raised objections to Asha Sharma's candidature on November 8 when nomination papers of candidates were scrutinized by election officials. Sharma's nomination papers, which had been cleared by returning officer Rajesh Yadav, following a spot inquiry, were incidentally never uploaded onto the website of UP state election commission unlike those of other candidates. The papers are still not available on the website, 10 days after she was declared winner in the mayor polls of Ghaziabad.
On November 8, opposition parties had complained that the authorization letter furnished by Asha Sharma was not endorsed by Mahendra Nath Pandey, the state unit chief of the BJP who had been designated to nominate candidates for urban local body elections. Sharma had instead furnished a letter by which Mahendra Nath Pandey had designated BJP district unit president Basant Tyagi to nominate candidates in Ghaziabad on his behalf.
Sharma later won the mayor polls with a vote share of 49.86% which is the highest among all the 16 mayors who were elected in UP.
Garg's petition was heard on Friday in the court of additional district judge Shashi Bhushan Pandey. District judge Brajesh Pandey is likely to pass an order in the matter on Monday before Sharma is sworn in as the mayor on December 12.
"I am still not aware about the details of the petition. The court will reply to the petition accordingly. If there are complaints of oversight in the scrutiny of nomination papers, election officials are answerable. Defeated candidates raking up the issue because of sour grapes," Sharma told TOI.
"The authorization letter from the president of the political party that fielded Asha Sharma was not annexed to the nomination papers. This has to be submitted in a particular format as required by the state election commission as Annexure 7(B). The candidate is deemed as an Independent in the absence of this annexure," Garg's lawyer SP Chaudhary told TOI.
Earlier, rival political parties had raised objections to Asha Sharma's candidature on November 8 when nomination papers of candidates were scrutinized by election officials. Sharma's nomination papers, which had been cleared by returning officer Rajesh Yadav, following a spot inquiry, were incidentally never uploaded onto the website of UP state election commission unlike those of other candidates. The papers are still not available on the website, 10 days after she was declared winner in the mayor polls of Ghaziabad.
On November 8, opposition parties had complained that the authorization letter furnished by Asha Sharma was not endorsed by Mahendra Nath Pandey, the state unit chief of the BJP who had been designated to nominate candidates for urban local body elections. Sharma had instead furnished a letter by which Mahendra Nath Pandey had designated BJP district unit president Basant Tyagi to nominate candidates in Ghaziabad on his behalf.
Sharma later won the mayor polls with a vote share of 49.86% which is the highest among all the 16 mayors who were elected in UP.
Garg's petition was heard on Friday in the court of additional district judge Shashi Bhushan Pandey. District judge Brajesh Pandey is likely to pass an order in the matter on Monday before Sharma is sworn in as the mayor on December 12.
"I am still not aware about the details of the petition. The court will reply to the petition accordingly. If there are complaints of oversight in the scrutiny of nomination papers, election officials are answerable. Defeated candidates raking up the issue because of sour grapes," Sharma told TOI.
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