Minister held for misbehaving with poll official gets bail

Bhopal, Nov 12 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Tukoji Rao Puar and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate were granted bail Wednesday, a day after they were arrested for allegedly misbehaving with an election official.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Jasbir Kaur granted them bail on a mutual bond of Rs.5,000 each. It had Tuesday sent them to judicial custody till Nov 24.

Puar and BJP candidate Phool Chand Verma applied for bail after state BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar met them at Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital in Indore, where they were admitted after they complained of chest pain Tuesday night.

Police had Sunday registered a complaint against Puar and Verma for obstructing government work and misbehaving with the official.

Puar allegedly threw papers at Sanjana Jain, the returning officer of the Sonkach constituency in Dewas district, after she turned down his demand to reject the nomination papers of former minister Sajjan Singh Verma, the Congress candidate from the constituency.

Puar reached Jain's office with Phool Chand Verma after completion of scrutiny Saturday and insisted that Sajjan Singh Verma's nomination be cancelled as his papers were not in order, police said.

When Jain explained to the minister that she had reviewed the objections raised against Sajjan Singh Verma's nomination and found his papers valid, Puar allegedly threw papers at her table and used abusive language against her, police said.

After the two left her office, Jain submitted a report along with the video footage of the incident to the Election Commission of India through district returning officer Navneet Kothari.

Kothari, besides forwarding the complaint to the poll panel, also sent a copy to the Dewas police, which then registered a case against the two leaders.

Elections for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly will be held Nov 27.

The Congress Monday demanded that the poll panel take the 'most stringent' action against the minister for displaying 'violence and arrogance' towards the returning officer.