Admitting that the failure to arrest Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) chief Brajesh Ganjhu while filing his nomination was as an Intelligence failure, the district administration of Chatra said that it was difficult to establish the identity more than 1,000 candidates taking part in 200 Panchayats in the district. TPC chief Gopal Singh Bhokta, popularly known as Brajesh Ganjhu, was recently nominated as a Panchayat Samiti Member from lawalong Panchayat in Chatra.
Remarkably, despite several cases registered against Ganju in several police stations of Chatra, the district administration failed to arrest Ganjhu when he had come to file his nomination along with his supporters. Ganjhu got elected unopposed as panchayat representative
“Although it is difficult to establish the identity of the each and every individual numbering more than 1,000 candidates for 200 Panchayats coming for nominations, I still consider it as an intelligence failure of police for not arresting him on time,” said DC Amit Kumar. Ganjhu could have been arrested while he had come to file his nomination, added Kumar.
The DC, however, said that legally contesting election was Ganjhu’s right and just for the basis of his criminal background, his nomination cannot be rejected. “I talked to the officials in the State Election Commission in this regard who said there is no bar on filing nomination. Anyone can contest election until and unless he has been convicted by a court of law,” the DC said.
The DC added that the district administration, taking lessons from this incident will now take preventive action so that such incident does not get repeated again in future.
The TPC chief, according to police, did not disclosed his identity while filing his nomination which was also proved during police investigations following which SP Surendra Jha wrote to DC Amit Kumar to take action against him.
“Generally, one has to reveal all his nick names along with his original name, but he never mentioned ‘Brajesh Ganjhu’ in his affidavit. Moreover, he did not disclose the cases registered against him in different police stations,” said a police officials requesting anonymity.
Figures suggest in lawalong block itself, there are more than 100 posts of Panchayat representatives out of which, 65 of the candidates got elected unopposed. Similarly, three of the 8 posts of Mukhia and 6 of the 10 posts of Panchayat Samiti members also got unopposed during the Panchayat elections. These facts directly suggest that no one dared to file their nomination against the kin of TPC and Naxal supporters in the area.
likewise, only two persons filed their nominations for the post of Jila Parishad Chairperson, one of which was Mamta Devi, who is also the wife of top TPl leader Kohram. Neelam Devi, wife of another TPC leader ‘Akraman’ on the other hand, has been elected as Panchayat Samiti member.