The Opposition BJP in Chhattisgarh has filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Raipur seeking action against 83 Congress candidates, alleging they had not furnished their criminal record details to the Election Commission of India (ECI) within 48 hours of their selection.
The Congress, however, claimed that the BJP was levelling false allegations against the ruling party candidates.
A Congress spokesperson said the party had not given tickets to people with "criminal tendencies", and that they would fulfil the criteria laid down by the ECI.
The Congress has so far declared candidates for 83 out of the total 90 seats in the State which will go to the polls in two phases on November 7 and 17.
In the complaint submitted to the CEO on Saturday, the BJP has cited the Supreme Court's order, according to which political parties must submit to the ECI the criminal antecedents of candidates within 48 hours of their selection, the BJP's State legal cell convener Jaiprakash Chandravanshi said in a statement.
The Congress neither submitted the criminal records of its 83 candidates to the ECI nor published it on the party's website, social media or in two newspapers, including a national and a local, which amounts to violation of the apex court's order, Mr. Chandravanshi claimed.
The list of Congress candidates who have not declared their criminal records has been enclosed with the complaint seeking appropriate action against them for alleged contempt of the SC's orders, Mr. Chandravanshi added.
State Congress spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur said his party had not given tickets to people with “criminal tendencies”, and alleged that it is the BJP’s “character to protect criminals and field them in elections”.
The BJP has been levelling false allegations against Congress candidates who have a "clean image", Mr. Thakur said. "We will fulfil the criteria laid down by the Election Commission," he added.
Voting in 20 Assembly constituencies out of the total of 90 will be held in the first phase on November 7 for which filing of nominations ended on Friday.
Candidates from the Congress, BJP and other parties have filed their nominations for the first phase and it is mandatory for the nominees to disclose their criminal antecedents, if any, in the nomination papers.
