BJP Asansol candidate Pawan Singh steps aside from Lok Sabha contest
The Hindu
Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh withdrew his name from the Lok Sabha poll contest from Asansol seat in West Bengal
Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh withdrew his name from the Lok Sabha poll contest from Asansol seat in West Bengal on March 3, a day after the BJP named him as its candidate from the constituency currently represented by Trinamool Congress's Shatrughan Sinha.
In a post on X, Mr. Singh thanked the BJP leadership for his candidature but added that he will not be able to contest from Asansol "due to some reason".
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Though he did not specify the reason behind his decision, his candidature had drawn criticism from the TMC, which is in power in West Bengal, which alleged that many of his songs were crude and depicted women, including those from the State, in a vulgar way.
Asansol is home to a sizeable migrant population, and the BJP had hoped that Mr. Singh would be an effective counter to Mr. Sinha, the actor-politician who was in the saffron party for decades before walking out in 2019.
The BJP apparently decided to nudge Mr. Singh to step aside from the contest to defuse the controversy, more so when the party has seized on the Sandeshkhali row to go after the TMC leadership.
Many women in Sandeshkhali have accused suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates of sexual assault and land grabbing. Sheikh and many of his cronies have been arrested.
The Election Commission of India will hold a press conference on June 3, a day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls. Till the 2019 parliamentary polls, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase of polls, but the practice has been done away with.