Mumbai: In an interesting twist ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate from Nagpur Central who missed the deadline by few minutes to file his nomination papers, joined back Congress party today (Saturday, November 2). On October 29, Ahmed claimed that despite reaching the office before 3 pm, he was not allowed to file his nomination papers.
Ahmed is a three-term MLA and was a cabinet minister when the Congress was in the power in Maharashtra. He exited the Congress party and joined Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA on October 28 and was nominated from Nagpur Central.
अनिस अहमद जी पूर्व में मंत्री रह चुके हैं और कई बार विधायक रहे हैं।
— Congress (@INCIndia) November 2, 2024
हमारे लिए ख़ुशी की बात है कि अनिस अहमद जी कांग्रेस पार्टी में शामिल हो रहे हैं।
: महाराष्ट्र कांग्रेस प्रभारी श्री @chennithala pic.twitter.com/WcVS2YYKLE
He officially rejoined the party in presence of Congress Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala in Mumbai on Saturday.
Congress Had Denied Ticket To Ahmed
Ahmed, a senior politician once a close associate of late Ahmed Patel of Congress and a staunch Gandhi family loyalist, was denied the ticket by the Congress from his traditional North Nagpur seat which has a sizable Muslim and Halba community votes. The Congress preferred to give the ticket to a youth leader Bunty Shelke, a runner-up of the 2019 assembly elections. The BJP has fielded its youth leader, Pravin Datke, replacing its three-term MLA Vikas Kumbhare.
Ahmed resigned from the Congress party and rushed to Mumbai where he met VBA president Prakash Ambedkar who welcomed him into his party and offered him AB forms to contest from Nagpur Central seat. Ahmed returned to Nagpur on Monday and prepared papers for his election. However, he failed to file his nomination papers on time.
Nagpur, Maharashtra: Former Congress minister Anees Ahmed says, "I honestly arrived here before 3 o'clock. You all took my picture, and my timing is recorded on all of your phones. You know exactly what time I went inside. I had entered before 3 o'clock, but I wasn't allowed to… pic.twitter.com/UkG3wUTrJs
— IANS (@ians_india) October 30, 2024
"I reached the election office but was unnecessarily held up by security men for precious last minutes. I sorted out with them but was then the door to the polling office was closed as it was already the 3 pm deadline" Ahmed had said.
Welcoming Ahmed back to the Congress, party's state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala said, "Ahmed is a longtime Congressman and was member of Youth Congress too. He joined VBA to contest the elections, but missed deadline to file his nomination. For some reason he has now resigned from VBA and came back to Congress. We are glad he is back."