Chennai, April 15 (IANS): The BJP leaders and cadres are seething with anger at the party candidate from Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris constituency failing to file his nomination papers properly, and are demanding that responsibility be fixed for the fiasco.
The party members are not willing to accept the reason touted by S. Gurumurthy - vehicle break-down - for filing his nomination papers very late as the BJP's candidate for the high-profile Nilgiris constituency.
"There seems to be a pattern. In the mayor elections held here two years back, the party candidate's nomination was rejected for some infirmities. The party leaders at the centre should fix responsibility for the debacle. When cadres are slogging it out, the chosen candidate has not filed his nomination properly," a BJP member told IANS angrily, preferring not to be identified.
According to him, even the first-time contestants like the candidates of the newly-formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have filed their papers properly.
"The fiasco cannot be excused. Responsibility should be fixed. I hope after the election, action will be taken. Nobody believes in the reason given for not filing the papers properly," the BJP member told IANS.
The nomination papers of S. Gurumurthy from the Nilgiris (reserved) constituency, were rejected during scrutiny. The papers of the BJP's standby candidate D. Anbarasan were also rejected.
The seat is currently held by the DMK's A. Raja, who will now face the poll battle without one major opponent.
According to election officials, the rules about filing nomination papers were not complied with by the BJP candidates.
The BJP has sewed up a six-party alliance in Tamil Nadu and secured eight constituencies to contest the elections from.
The BJP fought with its allies to secure the Nilgiris constituency for itself as "Nilgiris ranked high on BJP's possible winning seats", a BJP leader said.
"The nomination papers are checked and cross-checked by a team that includes a lawyer and a chartered accountant. They must be knowing the importance of filing all the papers on time. Further, the poll officials themselves have called the candidate several times reminding him to file the balance papers," the BJP leader said.
According to him, the needle of suspicion points not only at the candidate but also at others.
The BJP has set up a committee to probe how Gurumurthy filed the improperly filled nomination papers.
While the party has put the lid on the issue, the pressure is building up and is expected to explode post poll, whether or not the BJP comes to power, a party official said.