Hyderabad: Out of 45 turmeric farmers who set out from Nizamabad district, only 15 could file their nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting
The farmers alleged that local police and Election Commission officials did not allow all of them to file their nomination and staged a dharna before the office of the returning officer.
The 45 had gone to file their papers to protest against the non-constitution of the Turmeric Board in Nizamabad and the unremunerative prices they are getting for their produce. They thought contesting from the constituency where the Prime Minister was contesting would provide them a national platform.
Speaking to mediapersons in Varanasi, the farmers said the BJP leaders and police had threatened the locals who had come forward to support them. Because of this, the farmers were not able to get proposers from among the locals.
EC officials rejected the nominations of 35 farmers as there are no proposers. They said that to threaten them, Intelligence Bureau officials had conducted raids at the Silk City lodge where the farmers were stayed to browbeat them.
Earlier, 180 turmeric and red jowar farmers had filed their nomination papers for the April 11 elections to the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.
