BJP's Birbhum Candidate Swap: Ex IPS Debashish Dhar's Candidature Cancelled, Debtanu Bhattacharya Steps In to Fill in his Spot

The district election office on Friday cancelled the candidature of former IPS officer Debasish Dhar, nominated by the BJP from West Bengal's Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency, citing technical grounds. In his place, the BJP has nominated senior party leader Debtanu Bhattacharya, who filed his nomination papers on Thursday. The election in Birbhum is set for May 13, with TMC's Satabdi Roy as the primary rival against the BJP.

Debashish Dhar expressed his intent to challenge the decision in the Calcutta High Court, stating, "Due to some technical reasons, my candidature has been cancelled. I will knock on the doors of the Calcutta High Court after consulting my party leaders. I think the reasons cited are baseless." Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court declined urgent listing of a plea by BJP's Debashis Dhar contesting the cancellation of his nomination from Birbhum constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The court cited a settled legal position against entertaining writ petitions on the cancellation of nomination papers.

The candidature of BJP candidate Debasish Dhar from Birbhum was cancelled after he failed to produce the 'No Due Certificate'. Dhar, was unable to file the final release order after resignation. Consequently, BJP finalized the nomination of Debatanu Bhattacharya on the last day, making him the official candidate.

It is important to note that Dhar served as the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Cooch Behar during the 2021 Bengal elections, where the Sitalkuchi firing incident occurred, resulting in the deaths of five voters on polling day. He had been placed on compulsory waiting after the firing in Cooch Behar. Debashish Dhar had recently resigned from the Indian Police Service (IPS) to join the BJP.