Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh BJP unit has withdrawn the candidature of Arun Singh, who was in the race for the Zila Panchayat president post in Unnao, hours after the Unnao gang-rape survivor released a video statement naming him as one of her attackers.
Singh, a relative of Uttar Pradesh Minister Raghvendra Pratap Singh, is the zila panchayat member from Auras ward in Unnao. He was elected panchayat member in elections held in April this year.
The BJP’s Unnao district president Raj Kishor Rawat confirmed to ThePrint that Singh’s name has been withdrawn from the polls.
“After discussions, we have withdrawn his candidature,” Rawat said. “Now, Shakun Singh will be our new candidate. She is at present the zila panchayat member from Ward Number 22, Fatehpur Chaurasi, in Unnao.”
The development comes hours after the survivor in the Unnao gang-rape case, in which former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar has been convicted, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to not endorse Arun Singh.
In a video statement, she alleged that Singh was involved in her gang-rape and in her father’s murder.
While Singh had not been booked in the gang-rape case or that of the woman’s father’s murder, he was named in the FIR in July 2019 along with Kuldeep Sengar when the Unnao survivor met with an accident. Singh was later acquitted in the case.
The Unnao gang-rape survivor, who is now an adult, was 16 years old when she was sexually assaulted by Sengar and others in June 2017. The girl had alleged that Sengar assaulted her on several occasions from when she was an 11-year-old, confined her in his house, forced her to give up her studies and even threatened her of dire consequences if she ever raised her voice.
Singh is the second BJP leader to lose out due to links to the case. On 11 April, in the first phase of the panchayat elections, the BJP had revoked the ticket it had handed out to Sangeeta, Sengar’s wife, who had been announced as the party candidate from Ward Number 22 of Fatehpur Chaurasi in Unnao. Sangeeta Sengar is the outgoing Unnao Zila Panchayat president.
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‘An aide of Sengar’
In her video statement earlier in the day, the victim alleged that Singh is a close aide of Sengar. “I want to know from the Prime Minister and the chief minister if the BJP government is with me or against me,” she said. “Arun Singh, who is one the accused in my gangrape and also in my father’s case, has got a ticket in the zila panchayat elections. Arun is a close aide of Sengar.”
“Why is the BJP government putting up with such accusations? On the one hand, they talk about justice but on the other, they distribute tickets to such people,” she added. “I want to know if the BJP government is with me or against. I am requesting the BJP high-command to cancel his ticket., she added.
UP BJP spokesperson Harish Srivastava had earlier told ThePrint that he had nothing to do with the candidate selection.
“In the zila panchayat polls, all the tickets are distributed with the consultation of district presidents. These names are recommended by respective district presidents,” he said.
Rawat, the Unnao district president, had earlier defended the party’s decision to back Arun Singh. “Our candidate Arun Singh is innocent. Allegations are wrong. He has not been proven guilty,” Rawat had said. “He is not an aide of Sengar. Arun Singh nirdosh hain, ye vipaksh ki sazish hai (Arun Singh is innocent. This is a conspiracy by the opposition)”.
Elections for the zila panchayat president polls are scheduled for 3 July.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
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