Fearing BJP poaching, MP Congress won’t trust its candidates with B-forms

BHOPAL: After repeated poaching by ruling BJP and betrayals through turn-coats before Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the Congress might no longer blindly trust its candidates with the nominations B-form.

PCC office-bearers confirmed that the B-form (which is mandatory and evidence that a contestant in the fray is representing a certain political party) will not be submitted by Congress candidates during filing of nomination papers.Rather, it will be given to a reliable office-bearer of the Congress party who after filing of nomination papers by the candidate will personally submit the B-form in the collectorate.

Dates for filing of nominations for the upcoming assembly election starts from November 2 and ends on November 7.

"Ruling BJP has mastered the art of horse-trading. They have done it before and will leave no stones unturned this assembly elections when the tide has turned against them. Congress party will be careful and take all measures to protect party candidates," said Narendra Saluja, state Congress media committee convener.
Another senior Congress office-bearer explained, "To prevent situations like Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi defecting on the floor of the house before a no confidence motion or Rajkumar Patel not submitting his B-form within deadline and Bhagirath Prasad joining the BJP after he has been declared the Congress candidate, the party this time has decided that a reliable office-bearer be sent with the crucial B-Form."

The B-form will be directly submitted by the Congress party to the collectorate at the very last moment to avert the BJP’s poaching tactics, he said. The rule will be applicable for all 230 candidates even though many seniors like leader of opposition Ajay Singh, Govind Singh, KP Singh, Ram Niwas Rawat are above suspicion.

Congress received its first major blow from the state BJP when in July 2013, just months ahead of the last assembly elections, party deputy leader of Opposition defected on the floor of the house during a no confidence motion discussion against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

The no-confidence motion was being moved by leader of opposition Ajay Singh when Chaturvedi got-up, protested against it and announced he was switching sides. A gleeful BJP rushed him to the state party office and gave him primary membership of the party.

Senior leader Digvijaya Singh’s follower Rajkumar Patel was Congress candidate for Lok Sabha polls 2009 from Vidisha against Union minister Sushma Swaraj. Patel’s nomination was rejected on technical grounds since he failed to submit the compulsory B-form within stipulated time and Sushma Swaraj got a cake-walk victory with a margin of over four lakh votes. Rajkumar Patel claimed he was innocent but was suspended from the party for six years.

Retired IAS and BJP MP from Bhind Bhagirath Prasad was a classic example of turn-coat betrayal. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prasad was given a ticket to contest as Congress candidate from Bhind Lok Sabha constituency for the second time. He contested the seat in 2009 as Congress candidate but lost. Congress declared Prasad as candidate from Bhind on Saturday March 8. The very next morning, Bhagirath Prasad walked-over to the BJP and contested the polls from the same Bhind seat. He won.

Another name is Ajit Borasi who became the Congress’ candidate by default in 2013 assembly polls. Congress gave the ticket to Kamal Parmar from Alot seat but Parmar failed to submit some vital papers including his caste certificate and bank details. Ajit Borasi was denied ticket by the Congress but the B form had his name as the alternative candidate.