EC rejects nomination of BSP candidate terminated IPS Pankaj Choudhary

Jaipur: Election Commission rejected the nomination form of terminated IPS officer Pankaj Choudhary on Wednesday on the grounds that he did not attach the letter of termination from his services by government or permission certificate from EC with his nomination form. 

Pankaj Choudhary filed his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Monday from Barmer-Jaisalmer seat on the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) ticket. The party also fielded Pankaj’s wife Mukul Choudhary from Jodhpur seat.

According to the rules, no officer can contest the election after being terminated by central or state government from his/her services due to any reason. The officer didn’t permission for the same before filing his nomination.

The Congress has fielded former BJP MLA from Barmer Manvendra Singh against BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary on Barmer seat.

Chaudhary was terminated from his service due to the alleged grave personnel misconduct. He, without legally separating from his wife, was living with another woman and fathered a child, as per the reason cited for his dismissal. An order from the ministry of home affairs (MHA) dated February 19 was pasted outside his official residence at Gandhi Nagar in Jaipur on March 7.

The IPS officer had been at loggerheads with the government for a long time, publically criticizing its policies in the BJP government as well as the Congress government.

IPS Pankaj Chaudhary was in controversies over the past year several times due to his statements. He accused senior IPS and IAS officers of corruption. He reopened the case of history sheet Ghazi Fakir, father of local Congress MLA Saleh Mohammed in Barmer.

The dates for upcoming Lok Sabha Elections were announced by Election Commission of India. Polling in Rajasthan on 25 seats will be held on April 29 (Phase 4) and May 6 (Phase 5). The results will be announced on May 23.