Vadodara: It took the election officials more than 24 hours after the deadline of withdrawal of nomination of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) polls to declare the final list of contesting candidates for ward 13. This happened as the form of a candidate had been cleared despite he having three children.
The two-child norm had already claimed the candidature of two persons for the VMC polls on the day the forms were scrutinised on Monday. It came to light only on Tuesday night that a candidate Yashwant Raval had remained in fray from ward 13 despite having three children.
The revelation led to panic as his form was cleared by the same returning officer who had rejected the form of Dipak Shrivastava on the same grounds. Sources said that on Monday after hectic deliberations, a notice was issued to Raval and he was called for a hearing. His nomination was rejected after the hearing by the election officer.
BJP candiates have alerady started campaigning in Vadodara
Vadodara: Dipak Shrivastava, son of heavyweight BJP Waghodiya MLA Madhu Shrivastava, may consider himself a victim of the scheming by BJP to keep him out of polls, but it was strong evidence dug up by rivals that actually led to his ouster from the poll fray owing to the two-child norm.
Political circles were already abuzz with rumours that Shrivastav had three children in the run up to the ticket distribution. But few would have imagined that his MLA father had adopted one of his three children. Dipak kept denying that he was a father of three children on the ground that he legally had only two children.
Vadodara: BJP’s decision of not giving tickets to those who were above the age of 60 years and to those elected on three occasions and relatives of leaders, has left many in the party surprised. These include heavyweights who were eyeing tickets for themselves or their relatives in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) polls.
Waghodiya MLA Madhu Shrivastava’s son Dipak Shrivastava was a corporator from the Waghodiya Road area and is eyeing a ticket again. Similarly, Dabhoi BJP MLA Shailesh Mehta is eyeing a ticket for his son Dhrumil Mehta. Shailesh was also a corporator, along with Dipak from the same ward. Former BJP MP from Chhota Udepur, Ramsinh Rathwa and former BJP MLA from Sankheda Abhesinh Gadvi had also sought tickets for their children.