Former IPS officer Debasish Dhar's nomination as BJP candidate from Birbhum cancelled

Kolkata: The district election office on Friday cancelled the candidature of former IPS officer Debasish Dhar, who was fielded by the BJP for West Bengal's Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency, citing technical grounds.

In his place, the BJP nominated senior party leader Debtanu Bhattacharya, who filed his papers on Thursday.

Dhar expressed his intentions to challenge the decision in the Calcutta High Court.

"Due to some technical reasons, my candidature has been cancelled. I will knock on the doors of the Calcutta High Court after consulting my party leaders. I think the reasons cited are baseless", he told reporters.

Bhattacharya, a former pracharak and cluster in-charge of Rarh region in the state, vowed to support the party's strategy against the TMC.

"I will do whatever my party asks me to do. We all are united and working together to fight the conspiracies of the Trinamool. It is a strategic move to foil their gameplan", Bhattacharya said.

Dhar had been put on compulsory waiting after the Sitalkuchi firing in Cooch Behar district in which five persons were killed in the 2021 assembly polls.

The election in Birbhum is scheduled for May 13, with TMC's Satabdi Roy as the main rival against the BJP.