MP assembly polls: Caste certificate of Congress candidate for tribal seat challenged

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to the state government on a plea seeking direction to the authorities to probe the authenticity of the caste certificate of Congress' tribal candidate Ekta Thakur from Sihora assembly constituency in Jabalpur in the upcoming state polls.

Thakur is one of the 30 women candidates fielded by the Congress in the state, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given candidature to 28 women in the November 17 polls to the 230- member state assembly.

The Congress has announced candidates for all 230 seats, while the BJP has announced nominees for 228 assembly segments till now.

Sihora seat is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community.

A single judge bench of the high court comprising Justice Vivek Agrawal issued notices on Wednesday while hearing the petition filed against Thakur, the petitioner's counsel said.

Renuka Bai and Naval Singh Barkade - both belonging to a tribal community in Kundam tehsil in Jabalpur district - in their plea sought direction to the state government and others to probe the genuineness of the tribal status caste certificate of Congress candidate Ekta Thakur, the petitioners' counsel Rohit Paigwar told PTI.

The petitioners under the Right to Information (RTI) Act sought documents related to the issuance of caste certificate to Thakur. But they were denied documents on the grounds of non-availability of these papers with the concerned department, he submitted.

Paigwar told the court that the petitioners made a complaint to the concerned authorities but their action is awaited.

The court issued notices to Ekta Thakur, the state government, Jabalpur district collector, sub divisional officers of Shahpura and Patan (Jabalpur) and additional collector (gramin) Jabalpur.