The tussle and drama over party tickets in Uttar Pradesh have intensified with the release of the high-octane Assembly election dates. A video has now emerged on social media wherein a Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leader is seen crying profusely in the city Kotwali for being denied a ticket from the Charthawal seat of Muzaffarnagar despite paying the party Rs 67 lakhs for the same.
Sobbing inconsolably in front of the Uttar Pradesh police, BSP leader Arshad Rana alleged that a senior party leader, namely Shamsuddin Raeen, the West UP Convenor, sought Rs 67 lakh from him for a ticket two years ago, but he was removed from his ticket without his knowledge.
The BSP leader threatened to commit self-immolation if he did not get justice.
Arshad Rana, a resident of the Charthawal assembly constituency’s Dadhedu village, has been involved in the BSP for a long time. His wife had also run for District Panchayat member on the BSP ticket. Rana has been planning to run for the BSP’s Charthawal seat for a long time in the hopes of securing a party ticket.
BSP supremo Mayawati, on the other hand, had tweeted the day before that the party has fielded Salman Saeed for the Charthawal assembly seat.
1. मुजफ्फरनगर जिले के यूपी के पूर्व गृहमंत्री रहे श्री सईदुज़्ज़माँ के बेटे श्री सलमान सईद ने कल दिनांक 12 जनवरी को बीएसपी प्रमुख से देर रात मुलाकात की व कांग्रेस छोड़कर बहुजन समाज पार्टी में शामिल हो गए। श्री सईद को बीएसपी ने चरथावल विधानसभा की सीट से अपना उम्मीदवार बनाया है।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 13, 2022
Salman Saeed is the son of Sayeduzzaman, a Congress leader and former State Minister of State for Home. Rana was so upset by the news that he wrote about it on Facebook and afterwards travelled to the city Kotwali with his supporters. He claimed that party leaders made a spectacle of him and demanded that the money he gave as a bribe for the election ticket be returned to him.
Meanwhile, according to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, Arshad Rana has also filed a formal complaint against a BSP official. Inspector Anand Dev Mishra, in charge of City Kotwali, said the matter is being examined and that required legal action will be taken after the probe.
It may be noted, that the BSP is contesting in all 403 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. However, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati will not contest the polls, party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra said on Tuesday. Since elections are being held in several states, including Punjab and Uttarakhand, along with Uttar Pradesh, the BSP president will not contest the polls and help other party candidates win, Misra added.
