The president of Gorkha Janmukti Morch (GJM), Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha Gurung, who is the chief of the outfits’ women wing, are all set to be declared elected unopposed in the Gorkha Territotial Authority (GTA) polls as other contestants withdrew their nomination papers on Wednesday.
Two more senior GJM leaders — general secretary Roshan Giri and assistant general secretary Binay Tamang — are also set to be elected unopposed.
On Wednesday, 31 candidates withdrew their nominations. The last day for withdrawal is Thursday. With this, GJM candidates are set to be elected unopposed in at least 22 of the 45 seats. On Tuesday, which was the last day for filing nominations, the GJM candidates were set to be elected unopposed in 13 seats.
Eight of the 13 CPM candidates withdrew from the polls on Wednesday, while one Trinamool Congress nominee has decided not to contest the July 29 elections.
The nomination paper of the sole candidate pitted against Giri was rejected, paving his way for election.
In Darjeeling, seven candidates withdrew their nominations, while 21 candidates did the same in Kurseong. In Kalimpong, three candidates withdrew their nomination papers. Nominations of 17 other independents were rejected during scrutiny due to error in their documents.
“This is our victory. We have won even before we contested the election and it reveals that people want us. The candidates are scared of people of the hills and that is why they have withdrawn their nominations,” said Giri.
Meanwhile, there are reports of intimidation and threat to the candidates who had filed their nomination against GJM candidates. Even though the police have not recieved any written complaint about intimidation, they have started inquiring into two cases in Sukhia Pokhri and Sadar police station areas based on verbal complaints, said Kunal Agarwal, SP of Darjeeling district.
AIGL, which has opted to stay out of the fray, has moved Calcutta High Court saying there was no reservation in the election notification for SCs, STs, OBCs and women.
-expressindia
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