VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Sept 3: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has claimed Deoghar DC Manjunath Bhajantri lodging an FIR against him for violating air traffic norms at the Deoghar airport was a desperate act of retaliation.
“He is agitated as I have put him in the dock of the High Court in a contempt matter as he is deliberately creating obstructions so that the Deoghar airport doesn’t get the night landing and take-off facilities. And what left him further annoyed is my letter written to the Election Commission of India seeking his removal as the District Election Officer of Deoghar district,” Dubey stated when asked about the reasons for fresh bickering.
Dubey shot off a letter to the ECI on August 23 where he stated that the updating of the voters’ list in the Deoghar district of Jharkhand is taking place in contravention of the decisions of the ECI hence the entire exercise is illegal.
In the letter, Dubey pointed out that the ECI in 2021 had dismissed Manjunath Bhajantri in his capacity as the District Election Officer because of the blatant misuse of power via illegal means for immoral reasons.
“The said individual, however, has been carrying the exercise of updating voters list in Deoghar and has violated the decision of the Commission showing disdain about the constitutional and administrative set-up of the nation,” the letter reads.
The ECI has now made an inquiry from the office of the chief electoral officer of Jharkhand reasons if the ECI order was not executed.
The dispute between Godda MP and the Deoghar DC has been going on for the last one and half years. Nishikant Dubey alleged the DC of implicating him in false cases. The dispute erupted after an FIR was lodged against Nishikant Dubey, MP Manoj Tiwari, and others for forcefully taking clearance from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for taking off from the Deoghar airport on August 31.
In the FIR lodged on September 1 by the security in-charge Suman Anand at Kunda police station, it has been alleged that the MP forced the ATC to give a clearance for taking off though the Deoghar airport doesn’t have a night take-off or landing facility.
