SHILLONG: Serazul H. Kharkongor, the candidate of the Northeast India Development Party (NEIDP) whose candidature was rejected, has decided to take legal course and go ahead with contesting the February 27 elections.
The candidature of Kharkongor was rejected since he did not provide details of expenditure incurred for the last polls.
The Election Commission (EC) disqualified Kharkongor on December 13, 2016, under Section 10A of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, because he did not submit expenditure details of the 2013 election. His disqualification period is from July 8, 2016 to July 8, 2019.
But the NEIDP candidate from Mahendraganj denied this saying he had already submitted all documents related to expenditure in the last election when he was a candidate from Tikrikilla.
“I have submitted by post my documents, weighing about 450 gm, related to election expenditure to Shira (Mahendraganj returning officer DD Shira) on April 11, 2013,” Serazul said and added that Shira was the returning officer in Tikrikilla in 2013.
Kharkongor is among the three candidates whose nominations were cancelled during the scrutiny of nominations on February 8.
The last day for withdrawal of candidature is Monday and Kharkongor intends to contest the election from Mahendraganj, which is represented by Congress MLA Dikkanchi D Shira, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s wife.
When asked, Kharkongor said he was surprised to hear that he was disqualified because he did not receive the December 2016 order of the EC.
When contacted, Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor said rejected candidates are free to take up the matter with the EC.
Asked why Kharkongor’s papers were not rejected on the day he filed his nomination, the CEO said the nominations of all candidates were to be screened on the scrutiny day and the decision to accept or reject was taken on the day.
Till date, 374 candidates, including a few stand-by candidates, are in the fray.
