Kamlesh Singh files Nomination

Kamlesh files papers from jail
Anupam Sheshank | Ranchi

Jailed former Minister Kamlesh Singh on Tuesday filed his nomination from Hussainabad constituency in Palamu district as an NCP candidate from Birsa Munda Central Jail. Since Singh could not go to his home constituency, two of his proposers filed the nomination there on his behalf.

Kamlesh Kumar Singh’s wife Madhu Singh also filed her nomination in Hussainabad on Tuesday. Madhu filed her nomination papers to avert any crisis arising out of Kamlesh Singh’s papers going the wrong way.

The turncoat politician who was nabbed by the vigilance department in connection with a disproportionate assets case from Hussainabad on Monday was brought to Ranchi this morning and taken straight to the special vigilance court, which remanded him to 14 days judicial custody. The court, however, gave him the liberty to go to his constituency for a day to file his nomination papers for the ongoing Assembly elections in the State.

Singh was taken to the jail from where he was supposed to fly to Hussainabad. Nationalist Congress Party general secretary and Singh’s mentor Tariq Anwar, who is already camping in Ranchi since Monday, arranged a chopper for his protégé since it was the last day to file nominations there, but the helicopter that came to Ranchi airport well in time at 1 pm could not finally fly due to everal reasons.

Kamlesh Singh’s confidante Prabhat Singh said the Air Traffic Control and the home department nods took time to come even though the court had already allowed Singh. The proposers for Singh are Ram Chandar Choudhary and Sudarshan Prasad Singh.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) permits a contestant to file his/her nomination paper through the proposer. Since, Kamlesh Kumar Singh is now under judicial custody he is free to file his nomination either in person or through his proposer.

Tuesday being the last day of nomination, the jailed former Minister took no chance and through his two proposers got his nomination filed before the Returning Officer in Hussainabad, 80 kilometers from Daltonganj.

Sources close to the Singh family said that once Kamlesh Singh’s papers pass the scrutiny then in that case his wife will withdraw her candidature.

Palamu has thus seen four contestants filing their nomination papers from behind bars. The contestants who are behind the bars are Keshwar Yadav (former maoist), Yugal Pal (former maoist), Vikas Dubey (in Garhwa jail now) and the former Water Resources Minister, KamleshSingh.

Since, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a recognised and registered party, Kamlesh Kumar Singh got his nomination paper filed with just two proposers. Had the NCP been in an unregistered and unrecognised there would have been a fleet of 10 proposers for the nomination.

Meanwhile, the dramatic arrest of Kamlesh Singh on Monday, just a day before the end of the nomination has created a wave of sympathy for this contestant. Sources said the electoral fortunes of Kamlesh have gone up with his arrest.

Kamlesh Kumar Singh’s wife Madhu Singh told The Pioneer that her husband has been made a victim of political conspiracy in order to dent his electoral history. She said: “People of Hussainabad would stand by them.”


There is something wrong with a system which allows a person to contest elections when he has been arrested on corruption charges for possessing disproportionate assets.
Either the charges are false and the opposing politicians are using indirect means to prevent an honest man? from contesting or a dishonest man is taking advantage of our electoral system.(Of course a politician and an honest man are antonyms)
Both these possibilities exist.
The CBI and the ED has been made so subservient to the centre that black becomes white and white becomes black depending upon the instructions of the central government. Unless this feeling is corrected that these agencies work only for the central government, people will always doubt their integrity.
Once this is corrected, then the next stage should be to correct the electoral system so that people who have been arrested should not be allowed to contest.
Those who have been convicted by any court should also not be allowed to contest notwithstanding the person may be out on bail and he may have filed an appeal in a higher court.
Once a conviction is on a persons head, he should be barred from contesting.