Congress targets BJP’s Nandigram candidate Hasirani Rath over ‘60+’ age, 1965 Class X declaration

A claim in an election affidavit has put BJP’s Nandigram bypoll candidate Hasirani Rath at the centre of a legal controversy, after Congress flagged what it describes as a glaring contradiction between her stated age and educational qualification.

The Congress moved the Calcutta High Court on September 23, challenging details furnished by Rath in her election affidavit.

The party has particularly questioned her declaration that she is ‘60+’ while also stating that she passed her Class X board examination in 1965.

According to the petition, if Rath’s stated age is taken as fact, she would have been born around 1965-66.

Yet, on Page 10 of the same affidavit, she has stated that she passed the Secondary/Madhyamik examination in 1965. Congress has argued that the two declarations cannot ordinarily be reconciled, as they would suggest that she completed Class X either in the year of her birth or before it.

Rath’s affidavit identifies the institution from which she allegedly passed Class X as ‘Chowkhali Ganga Pada Milan Kanya Vidyapith’ (HS), with 1965 mentioned as the year of passing.

Congress has also raised questions over the name of the institution, saying the school is actually known as Chowkhali Ganga Padma Milan Kanya Vidyapith.

The petition submitted by Congress takes particular exception to the educational qualification claim.

It argues that Rath is effectively asking the electorate, the returning officer and the court to accept that she appeared for and cleared a Class X examination either before she was born or at an age far below the ordinary age at which students sit for the examination.

Congress spokesperson Ajitesh Pandey said the returning officer had a responsibility to scrutinise the documents submitted by candidates.

According to him, the party sought an inquiry into Rath’s educational background and, specifically, verification of her Class X certificate after the discrepancy came to its notice.

Pandey further said Congress did not object to the original scrutiny because Rath’s nomination papers were not available to the party at that stage and were subsequently uploaded on the Election Commission of India website.

The party, he said, would consider an election petition if Rath’s nomination ultimately remained intact.

The matter was mentioned before a single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Rao by Congress leader and senior advocate Riju Ghoshal.

The High Court permitted the petition to be filed and listed the matter for hearing.

The BJP, however, has rejected the allegations. The party has maintained that the discrepancy was caused by a typographical error in the affidavit and that Rath actually studied in Class X in 1980.

The election office has also said Rath passed matriculation from the same school under the system applicable at the time and that she was born in 1965.

Rath herself has said she has full faith in the law and would abide by the decision of the court.

The Congress has also questioned whether the school cited in the affidavit had the relevant recognition for Class X in 1965. Reports have cited claims that the institution, which opened in 1963, initially operated only up to Class V and received government approval to teach up to Class X in 1973.

These claims are among the matters Congress wants examined.

The controversy comes at a politically charged moment in Nandigram, where the Assembly bypoll is scheduled for October 6, and counting will take place on October 9.

The bypoll was necessitated after Suvendu Adhikari vacated the Nandigram seat while retaining Bhabanipur, having won both constituencies in the 2026 Assembly elections.

The BJP subsequently fielded Rath, the mother of Chandranath Rath, a former aide of Adhikari who was shot dead on May 6, two days after the BJP won the Bengal elections. The CBI has since filed a chargesheet against 11 accused in the killing.

The Nandigram contest has witnessed further upheaval after Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate backed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction, withdrew her nomination on September 18. Banerjee subsequently extended support to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.

Pradhan was arrested shortly afterwards in connection with old cases linked to the 2007 Nandigram violence, prompting Congress and the TMC to question the timing of the action, while the BJP has denied political interference.

With the election now weeks away, the dispute over Rath’s affidavit has added another legal layer to an already closely watched Nandigram contest.

The immediate question before the High Court is whether the discrepancies cited by Congress warrant an official verification of Rath’s age and educational credentials, and what consequence, if any, such an inquiry could have for her candidature.