In a major blow to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, its Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on Monday, a fortnight before polling in the key constituency, amid indications he is headed to the Bharatiya Janata Party camp.
After Bam opted out of the race, the Congress in Delhi said there is a "threat to democracy" as the opposition party faced another crisis after its Surat candidate's nomination form was rejected over discrepancies last week, paving the way for the BJP nominee to get elected unopposed from the seat in Gujarat.
Witnesses said Bam (45), accompanied by local BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola, reached the collector's office and withdrew his papers.
On his way back, he left in a car with Mendola, ignoring questions from journalists. Mendola is considered a close aide of state minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.
District magistrate and returning officer Ashish Singh confirmed Bam has withdrawn his papers.
"Three candidates, including Congress candidate Bam, withdrew their nominations today (April 29) as per due procedure. The process has been videographed," Singh said.
Monday (April 29) was the last date for withdrawal of nominations by candidates in Indore, where voting will take place on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Besides Indore, seven more seats in Madhya Pradesh will go to polls the same day.
In all, nine candidates have withdrawn their nominations from the constituency, where 14 contestants are now left in the fray, Singh said.
Sitting Lok Sabha MP Shankar Lalwani (62) is the BJP candidate from Indore, a stronghold of the saffron party.
State cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya posted a picture on his X account in which Bam was seen sitting in a car with him along with Mendola. The minister said Bam was welcome to join the BJP.
"Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome to the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma," Vijayvargiya said in a tweet in Hindi.
Indore is the home district of state Congress president Jitu Patwari.
After withdrawing his nomination, Bam reached the local BJP office. A picture was also released by the BJP in which he was seen standing next to deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Dewda, Vijayvargiya and other party leaders.
BJP sources said Bam will soon formally join the saffron party.
In Delhi, the Congress said there is a "threat to democracy" and wondered if a free and fair poll is possible when the Election Commission "looks the other way" while candidate after candidate is being "intimidated".
Asked about the development in Indore, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "The gentleman (Bam) in question has multiple universities and colleges in the state that we spoke about. One of the charges slapped against him was of murder. It is not natural, normal or ordinary that somebody just withdraws their candidature and joins the BJP."
"When we say democracy of India is under threat, this is the threat we speak about. The threat is to coax candidates, to put pressure on them to withdraw, to intimidate them, to intimidate their proposers and that is what is happening," she alleged at a press conference at the AICC headquarters.
She said those who question the party on where is the threat to democracy, this signifies that there is a "threat to democracy".
"When intimidation is of the kind that people are having to withdraw from electoral contests, where is a free and fair election. Where is a free and fair election when the prime minister delivers a hate speech but he is not held responsible, the notice goes to the party president, where is a free and fair election when the EC looks the other way when candidate after candidate is being intimidated," Shrinate said.
Bam is a businessman by profession and his family runs private colleges in Indore city.
Indore city Congress unit working president Devendra Yadav expressed displeasure over the party leadership giving a ticket to Bam by ignoring grassroots workers.
Yadav noted, "I myself had sought an election ticket from Indore, but many grassroots workers of the Congress like me were ignored and the ticket was given to Bam due to his money power."
The Congress leader maintained he had in fact anticipated last minute withdrawal of nomination by the party candidate in Indore.
Meanwhile, police personnel were deployed outside the house of Bam in Patrakar Colony, where local Congress leaders and workers had gathered.
The Congress had fielded Bam, a newbie in the poll arena, against sitting BJP MP Lalwani. The Congress had offered him the opportunity to contest from Indore at a time when hundreds of party workers, including three former MLAs, switched sides and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Indore, the largest constituency in Madhya Pradesh in terms of number of voters, has 25.13 lakh electors.
