Just before elections, political parties grapple with rebel candidates

As the deadline to file nominations draws closer all parties are facing problem of tackling rebel candidates

Some have committed suicide, some have resigned from the party and some are just out to avenge their humiliation – as the last date to file nominations draws near, all parties are battling with the problem of tackling rebel candidates.

Getting a party nomination is a matter of prestige, for the career of any political worker for the next five years is decided by whether he can secure the nomination or not. Getting the nomination suggests not just that you are the most popular public servant in the party's judgment, but also that you have some standing in the community.

In the Agar constituency in Madhya Pradesh, Narsingh Malviya of the Congress, 40 something and a 'loyal soldier of the party' drank poison and killed himself because of the humiliation of being denied a nomination.

In Chhattigarh, former MLA and niece of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and former BJP Mahila Morcha National chief Karuna Shukla quit the party after levelling serious allegations against the BJP after she did not get a party nomination. She went a step further and reached Rajnandgaon to support Alka Mudaliar, the wife of Uday Mudaliar who was killed in Naxal attack in Darba ghats. Alka is contesting against chief minister Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon.

Shukla clarified that she had not come to support Congress---sending an overt signal that she was there to damage the BJP. She is not contesting the election but will surely damage the party in  some pockets. “I would rather die than rejoin the BJP” she declared dramatically.

In Madhya Pradesh, unidentified men attacked the BJP headquarters and smashed glass on the strength of a rumour that the sitting BJP candidate was going to replaced by another person. “This has not been done by BJP workers. Twelve or thirteen men came in four-wheelers and broke the glass with chairs. The police are investigating,” BJP assistant media in-charge Sanjay Khoche said. A TV channel put out a report that the MLA from Bhopal was being replaced. His supporters might have done this, said police.

The Vice President of a state party unit is not a small man. Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Manak Agrawal quit the party after he was denied ticket to contest from Hoshangabad. He accused senior leader Suresh Pachouri, a nominee from Bhojpur, of scuttling his candidature at the behest of a company involved in sand-mining with alleged links to the family of Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. Yesterday, Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan, one a Rahul Gandhi's lietenants and one of the people responsible for reviving the Congress in one part of Madhya Pradesh was locked up in her office for several hours after Rajkumar Ahir was denied a nomination. “They (the workers) calmed down after I met them one by one and told them that I would communicate their grievances to the leadership. These are all committed workers,” she said in the workers' defence.

In Chhattisgarh, there are more BJP rebels than Congress has: because the stakes are higher, given that the BJP is in power and amid a feeling that it might suffer from the effects of incumbency, rebels are trying to extract their pound of flesh.

In all, BJP has 18 rebel candidates contesting against the party’s official candidate in the state having a 90-member assembly. Congress rebels are fewer; giving advantage to the party to take on ruling BJP with full might.

The BJP is aware of the damage that the rebels had been inflicting. But its leaders are playing it down. “Such incidents (of rebel contesting against the official candidate) are common,” senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.

In Rajasthan and Delhi the situation is no better. The BJP firmly put a stop to Vijay Goel's self-projection as Chief Minister by announcing Harsh Vardhan as its chief ministerial aspirant. But a rebellion has broken out in the BJP over this. Former five-term MLA HS Balli has turned a rebel on being denied a nomination. In Rajasthan permanent rebel Kishori Lal Meena has launched the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) which is a club of rebels from all parties: it doesn't matter if you are a rebel from the Congress or the BJP: if you need a platform, a symbol, etc – the documentation paraphernalia of contesting an election – The RJP will provide it to you. In Delhi, the newest political party is the Aam Aadmi Party. Even that has rebels !

State	Last date for nomination	Polling date
Chhattisgarh (Phase 1)	October 25	November 11
Chhattisgarh (Phase 2)	November 1	November 19
Madhya Pradesh	November 8	December 1
Delhi	November 16	December 4
Mizoram	November 16	December 4

Source: Election Comission of India

Recent rebel candidates

Candidate	Reason
B. S. Yeddyurappa	Left the BJP in November 2012, after the party asked him to resign as Chief Minister of Karnataka following allegations of corruption against him. Later, formed his political party  Karnataka Janata Paksha.
Keshubhai Patel	Formed Gujarat Parivartan Party, after saying he had been sidelined within the Gujarat BJP.
Maheshwar Singh	Formed Himachal Lokhit Party with former BJP leaders in Himachal Pradesh.