Plea for FIR registration against defecting Congress candidate

A plea has been filed in a court here seeking registration of an FIR against Gautam Budh Nagar's Congress candidate Ramesh Chand Tomar who joined the BJP Thursday after expiry of the date for withdrawal of nominations.

Lawyer D.K. Sharma for petitioner Azad Khalid said a complaint was lodged with the police after the issue of Tomar joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to light.

When the police did not entertain the complaint, Sharma filed a petition in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunit Chandra under section 156(3) of the CrPC and prayed issuance of an order to the police to register an FIR against Tomar.

The petitioner submitted that Tomar after filing his nomination March 21 received donations worth crores of rupees and hence cheated over 1.5 lakh voters and over 35,000 Congress volunteers.

Therefore, an order to file a criminal case under sections 151, 153(a), 171, 405, 415, 416, 420, 469, 505(2) and 506 of the IPC be issued, he said.

Tomar announced his defection to the BJP after the date of withdrawal of nomination March 24, hence he lost the fundamental right to get the ballots of the voters. The petitioner said Tomar polled 1.3 lakh votes in 2009.

"The court of CJM Sunit Chandra heard the arguments from the lawyer and issued notice to the police, asking it to submit a reply by April 9."