RANCHI: Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani's nomination has been put on hold following a technical discrepancy in the nomination papers filed on Monday.
The matter has been referred to the Election Commission of India, and further action will be taken based on the guidelines received from there.
The objection was raised by Congress party, following which the decision was taken to put his candidature on hold.
The scrutiny exercise was carried out at the office of the Returning Officer at the Jharkhand Assembly premises. While the nomination papers of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) nominee Baidyanath Ram and Congress candidate Pranav Jha were accepted as valid, a final decision on Nathwani's candidature was deferred pending clarification on certain issues.
Representatives of both the Congress and the JMM objected to Parimal Nathwani’s nomination, alleging discrepancies in the documents submitted by the independent Rajya Sabha candidate. In light of the objections, the Returning Officer sought further clarification before taking a final decision on the validity of his nomination.
According to sources in the Congress and JMM, three issues were raised during the scrutiny process.
The first pertained to variations in the way the candidate’s name was recorded across documents, with "Parimal Nathwani" and "Nathwani Parimal" appearing interchangeably. Election officials, however, are understood to have viewed this as a procedural irregularity.
The second objection related to an incomplete section in the nomination papers, for which clarification was sought by the authorities.
The third and most significant objection concerned the disclosure of criminal antecedents, with the objectors alleging that the relevant information was either incomplete or not furnished in the prescribed format.
Following the scrutiny, Nathwani visited the Assembly Secretariat and submitted his responses to the queries raised by election officials. Several senior BJP leaders were also present in support of his candidature.
Members of Nathwani’s camp asserted that all concerns raised during scrutiny had been satisfactorily addressed and were unlikely to impact his nomination.
However, the Returning Officer has yet to issue a formal order on the matter.
Meanwhile, Nathwani or his authorised representative has been directed to submit a detailed written response by Wednesday morning, following which, the Returning Officer will take a final call on the validity of his nomination.
If cleared, Nathwani’s candidature could pave the way for a closely contested triangular fight for Jharkhand’s two Rajya Sabha seats.