File picture of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Even as the Vadodara district electoral office rejected the Congress plea for cancellation of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's nomination papers, the state Opposition has now requested the state election office to consider its plea.
The controversy broke out after the Gujarat chief minister, during submission of his nomination papers, filed an affidavit admitting for the first time that he is married to Jashodaben.
The Gujarat Congress has appealed to the election commission to reject his nomination papers and annul his state assembly membership as he had provided false information on earlier occasions.
However, Vadodara collector Vinod Rao said that the objections by the Congress had been rejected since only after a verdict in September 2013 it was made mandatory to fill all the columns in the disclosure affidavit.
The Gujarat chief minister filed his nomination papers on Wednesday and in his declaration included the name of Jashodaben in the spouse column. It is for the first time that he has revealed his marital status.
On earlier occasions during the state assembly elections in 2002, 2007 and 2012, Mr Modi had left that column blank. The Congress has alleged that Mr Modi has mislead the people by providing false information
"We have appealed to the state election commission to consider rejecting his nomination papers since he had lied in his earlier affidavits," said Gujarat Congress chief, Arjun Modhvadiya.