Manipur Minister Biswajit and congress candidate Neken at loggerheads over poll affidavit
Imphal: In the aftermath of filing nominations for the first phase of the upcoming 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly Election, INC candidate from Thongju AC Seram Neken has alleged that Works Minister and BJP candidate from the constituency Thongam Biswajit Singh has at least four criminal cases pending against the latter and that the pending criminal cases have not been disclosed by the Minister and the BJP party which is against the judgement passed by the Supreme Court and the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.
In a statement, Seram Neken who is also Imphal East Zilla Parishad Member claimed that the BJP candidate in his election affidavit didn’t mention Cril.(C) case no. 2 of 2022 pending in the Special Court for MLA/MPs No.2; Cril. (C) case no. 2 of 2022 pending in the Special Court for MLA/MPs No.2; Cril. Revision No. 1 of 2022 pending in the Session Judge, Imphal West and Cril. (D.V Act) case no. 5 of 2021 pending in the JMIC/IW/II.
He asked as to why the BJP candidate is trying to mislead the people of Thongju Assembly Constituency and people of the State by hiding his criminal cases from public disclosure and why the saffron party is concealing the criminal cases pending against its candidate.
He stated that the BJP-led government in the State has been claiming to be pro-people and pro-poor. However, the present government and the RD&PR Department have been holding the pending wages for the poor and unemployed MGNREGS workers since last financial year.
The INC candidate stated that all members of local bodies including 60 Zilla Parishads and 161 Gram Panchayats have been resorting to strike and bandh demanding release of pending funds for the last few months. However, the BJP-led government is remaining silent and neglecting the rightful demands of the local bodies and poor villagers of the State.
Will the poor Job Card holders and the members of local bodies support the BJP government and the BJP candidates in the ensuing Assembly election at this juncture, Neken asked.
Meanwhile, dismissing the allegations levelled by his rival INC candidate, Biswajit has clarified that there are no any criminal cases pending against him.
Addressing a press meet held at his Sanjenthong quarter on Thursday, Biswajit said that if there is any criminal case pending against him then Neken can prove it along with revealing the criminal numbers of the pending cases against him. He stated that whether the BJP candidates have criminal cases pending or not were all listed out as per the guidelines and direction of the Election Commission of India and High Court of Manipur.
He stated that the ‘unfounded’ allegations made by the Congress candidate has clearly proven that the grand old party has no system and is not well organised.
He stated that the nomination filling mentioned in the Election Model Code of Conduct, is to disclose those candidates convicted and filing FIR complaints against them. The Congress party needs to teach Seram Neken from the grassroots level, he added.
Maintaining that the BJP is a well organised political party whether in legal, expenditure and various political segments, he clarified that there are no any criminal cases which have not been disclosed from his side and from the party.
He stated that all the allegations made against him are compliant cases and it is very unfortunate that the Congress candidate is not well aware of complaint cases and criminal cases. At the same time, the Congress party should know that its candidate does not even know the difference between complaint and criminal cases, he added.
If a Congress candidate wants to know the truth, then he can visit every police station of the State and check. All the candidates of the BJP have submitted nomination papers after thoroughly cross-checking detailed personal profiles of all the BJP candidates. He stated that all the BJP candidates have filed the nomination papers as per the guidelines of Election Model Code of Conduct given by the ECI.
The Minister then disclosed that the last MGNREGA fund was not sanctioned as per the direction of the State Government and it was not his decision. He stated that if any individual or candidate wants to take up any case against any government servant or Minister then they have to get sanction from the Governor under Section 197 CrPC. He stated that if there is any criminal case against him then let Neken and the grand old party produce FIR case numbers. The INC candidate should not try to befool the people just for votes, he added.
Biswajit stated that the previous Congress government sanctioned only 17 man-days of work to job card holders in 2015-16 at the amount Rs. 161.25 crore and 23 man-days in 2016-17 at the amount of Rs. 334 crore.
After its formation, the BJP-led government sanctioned 43 man-days in 2019-20 at the amount of Rs. 628 crore; 61 man-days average in 2020-21 at the amount of Rs. 1306 crore. Out of the total amount, Rs. 737 crore was released to poor job card holders till March and remaining Rs. 569 crore was cleared in 2021-22. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the present government provided 53 man-days for 2021-22to all job card holders, he claimed.
