Porbandar:

Even as BJP has not yet made any official announcement regarding candidates for Gujarat assembly polls, wife of cabinet minister Babubhai Bokhiriya, Jyotiben B Bokhiriya today filed her papers as the candidate of the ruling party on Porbandar seat which is currently represented by her husband.

It is understood that she has filed nomination as a ‘dummy’ candidate for the party and her husband who would file his papers after the official announcement of his candidature.

Returning officer cum SDM of Porbandar K V Bati said that Jyotiben was the first candidate to file papers on the seat and so far the only one till the expiry of the 3rd day since beginning of nominations on November 14 though a total of 23 forms have been purchased so far.

He also informed that it was not binding upon any candidate to provide the mandate of any party at the time of nomination. ‘One can do so anytime till the last date of nomination which in this case was up to November 21,’ he said adding that many dummy candidates of various parties also file papers without mandate and their candidature automatically gets rejected during scrutiny.

Notably, Bokhiriya belongs to Mer community which was dominant on both the seats of Porbandar district (the other being Kutiyana represented by NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja who is also Mer by caste).

Election in Porbandar would be held in the first phase on December 9.

My wife is in fact a dummy candidate: Bokhiriya

Porbandar:

Gujarat minister Babu Bokhiriya today clarified that his wife Jyotiben who filed nomination on his assembly seat Porbandar today as BJP candidate was in fact a dummy candidate.

Bokhiriya told newsmen that it was a normal procedure to field dummy candidate for any party and his wife has in fact filed papers as a dummy only.

Notably, BJP has not announced even a single candidate officially till the end of nomination time today.

In such circumstances filing of nomination by Bokhiriya’s wife that two as BJP candidate had given rise to a few speculations.

DeshGujarat