Mangaluru, Apr 24: Althaf Kumpala, the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate for Mangaluru constituency, who secretly withdrew his nomination without informing his party leaders, today claimed that he was forced to do so by the workers of a national party.
His claim comes after JD(S) leaders expressed shock over the move of Althaf Kumpala who had gone incommunicado after secretly withdrawing nomination.
“I did not run away from contesting the election. Instead, I was taken away by a few persons who are the followers of Congress candidate while I was returning after offering prayers at Ullal on April 21 and was forced to sign a form on the withdrawal of the nomination, which I was forced to submit to the Returning officer. I have not fallen prey to any inducement. I have submitted a complaint to the Commissioner of Police and sought police protection,” he alleged.
JD (S) state spokesperson M B Sadashiv said “our candidate had submitted a petition to the returning officer to reconsider his nomination, which has been rejected.”
He said that the JD(S) candidate is in a mentally weak state following the series of incidents and “we have instilled confidence in him. Congress was scared of our candidate who was well-known in the community. The incident is a black mark in the history of Dakshina Kannada,” he said.
In a reply to the petition submitted by Altaf, Mangalore constituency returning officer said that Altaf had withdrawn his nomination on April 21 at 3.35 pm. The notification in this regard has been issued under Form 6 rules 9 (2). There is no scope in the law to reconsider the already withdrawn nomination.
When contacted Congress candidate sitting MLA U T Khader, rubbished the allegations as false. "The Congress workers had not pressurised JD(S) candidate to withdraw nominations. He had withdrawn nominations on April 21 and JD (S) leaders are levelling allegations after three days of the incident."
"It is sad that the incident of withdrawal of nomination has occurred in the constituency where JD(S) leader and MLC B M Farooq represents. Altaf had withdrawn the nomination following the differences of opinion within the JD(S) leaders in the constituency. Moreover, two congress leaders against whom Altaf had levelled allegations of threatening him were his close friends," he said.
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