Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CGPCC) received another blow soon after fielding senior party leader, Malkit Singh Gaidu as its official candidate for mayor post from Jagdalpur Municipal Corporation as the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) rejected his caste certificate here on Saturday.
The seat has been reserved for a candidate of Other Backward Class (OBC). According to the sources, SDM SR Kurre had asked Gaidu to furnish all related documents to establish his claim of belonging to OBC in the given time limit. Besides, Gaidu was asked to submit his reply in written at the District Election Office.
The sources claimed that the officials concerned were not satisfied with Gaidu’s reply as he had written his caste as Punjabi, lohar, Gaidu and Sikh in the caste certificate while all these four castes do not come under OBC.
As per the SDM, Nayab Tehsildar first issued a temporary and later a permanent caste certificate to Gaidu. However, a scrutiny revealed that Gaidu was ineligible to obtain the certificate as he does not belong to OBC, thus the same was rejected by SDM. No official however commented on how OBC caste certificate was issued to Gaidu while the Congress leader was stated to seek legal advice in the matter.
Meanwhile, senior party leaders are learnt to start a fresh discussion to consider the name of Jagdalpur district wing’s president, Jatin Jaiswal or councilor, Santosh Yadav as their candidate for Jagdalpur mayoral post, in case Gaidu fails to contest the election on caste basis.