On Tuesday, Shyam Sundar Upadhyay alias Bittoo was named as the official Congress candidate for the Mathura mayoral election. Now, in a surprising action, the party has expelled him from its primary membership for six years with immediate effect, for his allegedly anti-party activities.
A statement issued by the All India Congress Committee said, “Hon’ble Congress President has expelled Shri Shyam Sundar Upadhyay ‘Bittoo’ from the primary membership of the party, for six years, for his anti-party activities, with immediate effect.” Upadhyay has been expelled from the party to favour Raj Kumar Rawat, another Congress candidate for the polls, who also filed a nomination under a Congress ticket for the same election.
Both Shyam Sundar Upadhyay and Raj Kumar Rawat had filed nominations with Congress tickets. But now Uttar Pradesh Congress State President Braj Lal Khabri has alleged that Shyam Sundar Upadhyay obtained the party’s ticket without authorisation and used that to file the nomination for the election to the post of Mayor of Mathura Vrindavan Municipal Corporation. According to the party, he applied as a Congress candidate using forged documents.
Hon'ble Congress President has expelled Shri Shyam Sundar Upadhyay 'Bittoo' from the primary membership of the party, for six years, for his anti-party activities, with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/PzyYhBLshc
— INC TV (@INC_Television) April 18, 2023
The Congress party has informed that Raj Kumar Rawat will be its candidate for the elections. However, Shyam Sundar Upadhyay will still be considered the Congress candidate officially, and therefore Rawat will be considered an independent candidate. Both the candidates had filed nominations with Congress tickets, but as Upadhyay filed his nomination first, he is the official party candidate.
Scrutiny of nomination papers was done on Tuesday after the last date for filing nomination papers on Monday. After that, the Returning Officer considered Shyam Sundar Upadhyay Bittu as the authorized candidate for Congress.
According to Vijai Shankar Dubey, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) and the election officer for the mayoral election, Raj Kumar Rawat will run for office as an independent candidate, on May 4. He stated that Rawat and Upadhyay had received form 7A from Brijlal Khabri, the head of the Uttar Pradesh Congress on April 16. He hadn’t, however, cancelled or withdrawn the form against anyone in the allotted period.
At 3 PM On April 17, the last day of nomination, Brijlal Khabri cancelled the letter of the authorized candidate for Upadhyay but did not issue the authority letter in favour of the other candidate. But Upadhyay had already filed his nomination before that, at around 11 AM, therefore the authority was valid at that time.
When more than one candidate has been granted form 7A, the person who files his nomination papers first is considered the official nominee of any party, as per the statutes governing the elections, reported the officer.
He remarked that because Upadhyay submitted his nomination paperwork first, he was recognised as the Congress’ official candidate. He informed that former BSP MLA Rawat, who recently switched to the Congress, will now have to contest the election as an independent.
Later the state Congress president wrote a letter to the returning officer saying that Raj Kumar Rawat is the official candidate of the Congress party. He also write that form 7A submitted by Upadhyay was unauthorised. However, for the Election officials, it was not acceptable as it came late, and therefore Upadhyay remains the official Congress party.
