The State Congress party on Wednesday registered a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) demanding rejection of the nomination of Vikram Usendi, BJP candidate for Kanker seat, for his alleged involvement in offering Rs 1 crore to an independent candidate, Mahendra Gavde, and luring him to withdraw his nomination. The party also demanded registering FIR against Usendi.
A delegation of state Congress party, including Mayor Dr Kiran Mayee Nayak, media-cell in-charge Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, president of the Congress party’s legal cell Fizal Rizvi and others met with CEO Sunil Kujur and handed him a complaint letter in this connection.
In the letter, the Congressmen alleged that BJP convener for Kanker lok Sabha seat Kamlesh Thokne and Tikeshwari Sinha had proposed paying Rs 1 crore to independent candidate Mahendra Gavde for withdrawing the nomination from Kaker lok Sabh seat.
Sugrivram Sinha, a resident of Kariha village in Kanker, has released an affidavit to the media exposing the deal. The Congress leaders told media persons that they have handed over an audio recording of the deal to the CEO and have also sent a copy of the same to the Election Commission of India (ECI). For preventing ‘purchasing’ of candidates immediate action should be taken in this connection, they demanded.