140 nominations quashed, some plan to move court

MUMBAI: Election officials have rejected

nominations

of two sitting corporators — Dilip Patel and Pratiksha Ghuge — along with 138 others on “technical” grounds, effectively ending their dream of contesting the

BMC

election on February 21.

On Saturday, Patel’s nomination was rejected over a 2015 court order. He remained unavailable for comment. Ghuge plans to move court. She alleged her nomination was rejected over a “silly” reason—an affidavit page that was missing from her submitted documents.

In 2015, the BMC had disqualified senior BJP corporator Dilip Patel following a court order for submitting a forged caste certificate in the 2012 BMC election. Patel had got a stay on his disqualification and had been attending BMC meetings. He had filed his nomination from Ward 58, Goregaon, on Friday.

Ghuge had negotiated to get a Congress ticket at the very last moment. She is a sitting NCP corporator from Ghatkopar and was exploring the option of contesting on a BJP ticket. On Friday, though, she learned that the BJP did not intend to nominate her and she contacted Congress. “It is the returning official’s high-handedness. They told us that one of the pages in the affidavit was missing. The rejection was over a technical mistake at their end. We will file a writ in court,” said Pratiksha’s husband Raju Ghuge.


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