‘Shirtless’ trade union leader files papers for Ranchi seat

Ranchi/Gumla: Donning only a dhoti without any shirt, trade union leader Anjani Kumar Pandey on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the Ranchi Lok Sabha seat as an independent. Pandey, who is in his 50s, was accompanied by a group of supporters who also came to the district collectorate building without their shirts on.
Pandey said, “I came without a shirt on to highlight the plight of farmers. It is how farmers, workers and labourers are across the country today. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, but the ordeals of the marginalised people should be highlighted. Both BJP and Congress are equally responsible for their plight and today the aam aadmi of the country is living on the brink because of their policies.”

He claimed, “I have the support of 16 trade unions and mazdoor sangh.” Pandey, the general secretary of the Jharkhand General Kaamgar Sangh, said his basic source of income is from running the trade union and fighting for the cause of labourers, farmers and marginalised people. He had also fought the last general elections, but was unsuccessful. Pandey, who is also a member of the Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Party, an unrecognised political group, said this would be his fourth contest in elections. He added that his colleagues are also candidates in Lohardaga, Singhbhum and Giridih seats.

On Apirl 6, another candidate of the party, Sania Oraon, a labourer by profession, filed his nomination for the Lohardaga seat in a similar manner before the returning officer in Gumla. Oraon, a resident of Ghaghra block in Gumla, works at a bauxite mine in Pat region of Netarhat plateau falling under Bishunpur block.