- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The candidate, who will contest as an independent, said politicians were making a donkey of people and hence he took the decided to ride on the animal.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN India, elections, be it national or provincial, never fail to entertain people with unique incidents. On Thursday (26), one such episode was witnessed in the poll-bound central state of Madhya Pradesh where a candidate took a donkey to reach the office to submit his nomination form.
Priyank Singh Thakur, who is contesting as an independent candidate from the state’s Burhanpur constituency in the November 17 election, told the media that politicians were making a donkey (fool) of people and he, therefore, decided to ride one while going to submit his election papers to make a symbolic statement.
He also said that two or three families were fooling people while development was also seen at their home.
According to a report by the Times of India, Thakur sought a ticket from Madhya Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by prime minister Narendra Modi to contest from the same seat but when denied, he filed his nomination as an independent candidate.
As Thakur rode on the animal, some of his supporters who joined him gave the slogan ‘Jai Jai Siyaram’ (Hail Lord Ram and Sita). He said he even sought a donkey election symbol but it was not available.
Thakur said the BJP made a mistake by not giving him a ticket and that he would extend support to that party if he wins the election. He said his way of campaigning during the election could be different but his message would be clear that voters would no longer remain foolish to vote for a few families.
The candidate also said that development, poverty and exposing corruption of senior leaders of both the BJP and the opposition Indian National Congress will be his main goal during the campaign.
In 2018, an independent candidate had won from Burhanpur who closely defeated an opponent from the BJP.
Results of the elections in Madhya Pradesh and four other states in India going to polls in November will be announced on December 3. These elections are being seen as the semi-final before next year’s ‘final’ — the general elections.
In the general elections of 2019, a man in the eastern Indian state of Bihar had gone to submit nomination papers riding on a donkey only to be booked under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
