Ex-minister Anees Ahmed returns to Congress after failing to file nomination as VBA candidate

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra minister Anees Ahmed, who missed the deadline by a whisker to file his nomination as Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate, returned to the Congress on Saturday.

AICC in-charge Ramesh Chennithala welcomed Ahmed back to the fold, which he had quit last week to contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections as candidate of the VBA from the Nagpur Central seat.

There was high drama at the Nagpur collectorate on October 29, as Ahmed missed the deadline for filing nomination by just a few minutes.

Ahmed, a Gandhi family loyalist who won the Nagpur Central seat thrice in the past on Congress ticket, stayed put at the collectorate till 8 pm on Tuesday, the last day of filing nominations, but his form was not accepted.

The deadline for filing nominations for the November 20 state polls was 3 pm.

Ahmed claimed he had to face obstacles like road closure, vehicular restrictions and security protocols at the office of the Returning Officer (RO).

He claimed he reached the collectorate before the 3 pm deadline, and his associates were sitting there with his token number, but he was not allowed inside the RO's office.

Earlier, Ahmed's resignation from Congress had led to concerns in the party that his candidature may split the Muslim votes and dent its prospects.

The Congress, this time, did not field Ahmed from the Nagpur Central constituency, which has a considerable Muslim population, and renominated Bunty Shelke, who narrowly lost to the BJP in 2019.