Nominations of 12 contestants for the Ranchi Lok Sabha constituency seat were cancelled after scrutiny on Saturday.
District election officer (DEO) cum deputy commissioner, Rai Mahimapat Ray informed the media that a total of 35 candidates filed nomination for the seat in 61 sets. "After scruitiny, nominations of 12 candidates were cancelled due to various reasons, all of whom have been given the order copies," Ray said.
Apart from the cancellation of the nomination, FIR has been registered on an independent candidate Enul Ansari. "He had left a few columns in form 26 empty because of which his nomination was cancelled. However, he was not ready to accept the rejection and created a ruckus, following which FIR was lodged against him," the DC said.
He informed that decision on nomination of Anjani Pandey, a candidate from Adiwasi Kisan Mazdoor Party has been kep on hold. This has decision has been taken as the DEO office received a complaint against the contestant that various criminal cases are lodged against him and he is an absconder.
"This information is not disclosed in the form submitted by the candidate. We have written a letter to SSP Ranchi and SP Aurangabad to probe in the matter and as soon as we get confirmation of the complaint being true, the nomination would be cancelled and the contestant would be arrested," Ray said.
The DC informed that last day of nomination withdrawal is April 22 till 3 PM, following which candidates will be allotted the symbols.
Meanwhile, the district public relations office informed that common people can connect with the DEO through various social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. "People can like the official pages and be informed about the various programmes of district administration as well as get election related information," a press note said. Also, people can lodge complaints and problems related to election on these pages.
In his press conference, the DC also informed about RAlly for Vote, a unique initiative of the district administration to increase voters' turnout in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
"The district administration, in association with Ranchi Adventure Wheelers, will be organizing an automobile rally on April 28 in which 13 organizations would participate. The rally would have a number of unique automobile models which the participants can see and click selfie with. As the youth are attracted to cars and bikes, we are hoping that the rally would help spread awareness among the young voters," Ray said.