Sagar: Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly, Dr. Govind Singh, on Thursday slammed the BJP after its party MLA Rahul Lodhi was accused of pressurizing a Dalit woman candidate to withdraw her nomination in order to ensure an unopposed victory for his wife, Umita Singh, a BJP hopeful for the upcoming MP Panchayat elections 2022. The former candidate, identified as Jamuni Bai Ahirwar, has filed her nomination from ward no. 8 of Tikramgarh District Panchayat, where Singh, too, has filed her nomination. The Congress leader said the heavy-handedness amounted to 'murder of democracy. Lodhi, significantly, is the nephew of former MP CM Uma Bharti.
"Uma Bharti's nephew, BJP MLA Rahul Singh Lodhi, has surrounded the house of a candidate of district panchayat member. Rahul Singh Lodhi is pressurizing candidate Jamuni Bai to withdraw her nomination. He, along with the police, tried to kidnap the candidate. This is the murder of democracy," Singh said. Meanwhile, Ahirwar's husband Pankhua Ahirwar, while speaking to ETV Bharat, said that his house had been blockaded by 10 to 15 cars for the last 24 hours, which have stopped all movement from or into the house.
"My wife does not want money or anything else. She just wants to contest the elections, regardless of whether she gets any votes or not. They are intensely torturing us. I complained to the police, but the personnel from Baldevgarh Police Station to are pressurizing us to withdraw the nomination. We have decided that we will all die by suicide if we are further pressurized and not allowed to contest elections," Ahirwar explained.
