 "Why did BJP issue show cause notice to its former minister Jayant Sinha?")
On the day of Phase-5 of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has initiated measures against former Union Minister and MP Jayant Sinha for reportedly not casting his vote.
The party has issued a show cause notice against him, accusing him of abstaining from “organisational work and election campaigning” ever since Manish Jaiswal was declared a candidate from the Hazaribagh seat in Jharkhand. Sinha, the incumbent MP from the high-profile seat, had expressed his desire not to contest the Lok Sabha polls back in March.
‘Image of BJP tarnished’
The letter sent by State General Secretary of the party Aditya Sahu on Monday (May 20) criticised Sinha for not casting his vote, saying his actions had tarnished the image of the BJP.
“Ever since the party has declared Manish Jaiswal as its candidate from Hazaribagh, you are neither taking interest in election campaigning nor in organisational work. Despite this, you did not consider it appropriate to exercise your right to vote in this great festival of democracy. The image of the party has been tarnished by this attitude of yours. As per the instructions of State President Babulal Marandi, you are requested to give clarification in this regard within two days,” reads the letter.
The party has asked Sinha to explain his stand within two days. The 61-year-old is yet to respond to the notice.
Notably, the letter comes days after the state Congress said that Jayant Sinha’s son Aashir Sinha has joined the party.
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Jayant Sinha opts out of Lok Sabha elections
On March 2, Sinha, in a post on X, requested BJP chief JP Nadda to relieve him of direct electoral duties. He said he wanted to focus his “efforts on combating global climate change in Bharat and around the world”. Hours later, the BJP announced Jaiswal as its candidate from the urban constituency in Jharkhand, which was once represented by Yashwant Sinha and later his son, Jayant Sinha.
Sinha had won the Hazaribagh seat by a margin of 479 thousand votes in 2019, defeating Congress’s Gopal Sahu.
Another MP who made an identical post was Gautam Gambhir, who said that he wanted to be relieved of his political duties to focus on his “upcoming cricket commitments”.
The BJP has fielded Harsh Malhotra from the east Delhi constituency, replacing its incumbent MP Gambhir.
The election machinery of the BJP, which has conducted extensive surveys and held long deliberations on every Lok Sabha seat decided not to repeat Gautam Gambhir and Jayant Sinha.
Polling was held in three constituencies in Jharkhand’s second round of Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday. In the Gandey assembly bypoll where jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren is the JMM contestant, 68.26 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise.
Hazaribagh registered the highest voter turnout of 64.32 per cent, followed by Chatra (62.96 per cent) and Koderma (61.86 per cent).
Voter turnout in Phase-5 of Lok Sabha polls
The Election Commission (EC) on Monday said nearly 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded on 49 seats that went to the polls in Phase-5 of the Lok Sabha polls.
With Phase-5, voting has concluded on 428, or 79 per cent of the seats, and 25 states and Union Territories, including Maharashtra, had their final phase of polling on Monday.