Not Allowed to Contest Elections Against Modi: Indian Comedian

A comedian known for his famous impressions of Narendra Modi has accused the authorities of not allowing him the paperwork to contest as an independent candidate once morest the prime minister.

Stand-up comedian Shyam Rangela, 29, said he wanted to contest once morest the 73-year-old prime minister from the northern city of Banaras, which has been Narendra Modi’s constituency since 2014, but local election officials have been collecting his nomination papers for the past three days. not doing

Votes will be cast in the seventh and final phase of the elections in Banaras, the religious city of Uttar Pradesh. This election will continue for six weeks and regarding one billion registered voters will vote in it.

Narendra Modi is uniquely seeking a third term as prime minister and his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, is expected to win a landslide majority.

Narendra Modi is seeking an unprecedented third term as prime minister and is expected to win a large majority for his Hindu nationalist BJP, which is riding on a populist and class-based agenda. The campaign is running.

Modi filed his nomination papers in the city on Tuesday morning following performing puja in the river Ganges and was shown on all major Indian news channels throughout the day. Strict arrangements were made at the nomination center before the Prime Minister’s arrival.

Rangeela, a stand-up comedian who went viral in 2017 for his comments on Modi on social media, said he queued up outside the nomination office from dawn to noon on Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

Hailing from the western state of Rajasthan, (the comedian) said that he was not even allowed to wait inside the office to file his nomination papers, let alone submit them.

In a video shared on his social media accounts, he said that it was not just me, they are not accepting nomination papers of any other independent candidate. They close the doors at three in the followingnoon. I am still less worried. People who had queued since 8 am are crying. They have neither eaten nor drunk water since morning, they waited till three o’clock in the followingnoon.

“Officers receiving nomination papers told us ‘please understand’. Even they look helpless.’

Speaking to The Independent in New Delhi before leaving for Banaras, Rangeela said that he had contested some major seats such as Surat in Modi’s home state of Gujarat due to what he described as ‘unfair and discriminatory treatment of political competition’. Decided to contest the election.

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner from Bala Surat, before opposition Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination papers were rejected and eight other candidates withdrew.

Local officials claim Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination papers were rejected due to discrepancies in the signatures of his proposers, but several local opposition politicians have leveled serious allegations of obstruction and police intimidation. .

“Modi is talking regarding taking 400 seats out of the total 543 seats,” Rangeela told The Independent. If they want, they can also take 450 seats. But if they get even two (lack of options) like that in a democratic country, that’s a problem because then you’re taking away people’s right to vote.’

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He argued that if Indian democracy is to flourish, the people of India must have options at the time of elections.

He said that he wants to fill the void for the voters, but he does not have the political acumen to pose a threat to the Prime Minister.

“I see the whole country there,” Rangeela said. I will stand once morest Modi and address all India from Banaras. I want the voters out there to at least listen to me and cast their vote. That’s the beauty of democracy, give people a choice.’

But when he reached Banaras on Friday to submit his nomination papers, he said he was not given a copy of the required form and had to wait in a queue for hours with other candidates.

He said others in the queue with him were asked to provide their government ID cards, 10 recommenders and submit their phone numbers for government forms.

As per the rules laid down by the Election Commission, at least one recommender of the candidates submitting nomination papers should be a registered voter of the same constituency.

Even during the hours-long third attempt on Tuesday, he was not allowed inside the office, Rangeela said.

In a video shared on his social media, he said, ‘I see today that democracy is being strangled, it has not been killed completely but I have seen democracy being strangled. They are not allowing anyone to enter the office.’

Rangeela did not even think of actually winning once morest the Prime Minister. He said that he would only see it as a victory to be allowed to contest the election once morest him.

“I don’t need the votes that Modi is protecting,” he said. All his voters can support him and those who want to vote for me can vote, but they should get at least one name to contest once morest Modi. The voting machine has no other name than Pramudi.’

“Whichever political party you belong to, I appeal to you to see how democracy is being slowly killed,” he said.

According to a report by the Times of India, Election Commission officials in Banaras have denied reports of discrimination once morest independent candidates.

He added that security measures were increased and all protocols were followed to allow Modi to personally submit his nomination papers.

Modi will not be running unopposed in Banaras – his biggest challenge in the city for the third time will be Ajay Rai of the opposition Congress party.

In 2019, the Congress finished third in the constituency, securing just 152,000 votes while Shalini Yadav representing the regional Samajwadi Party got over 195,000 votes.

Narendra Modi got more than 674,000 votes. This time the Varanasi results will be announced on June 4 along with the rest of the country.