A dramatic turn of events took place on Tuesday at the collectorate when former Maharashtra minister and three-time Congress MLA Anees Ahmed narrowly missed his chance to file a nomination for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, arriving just one minute past the 3:00 pm deadline. Ahmed, who previously represented the Muslim-majority Nagpur Central constituency, had recently left the Congress to join the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar.
After parting ways with the Congress, Ahmed traveled to Mumbai to meet with Ambedkar, who welcomed him into the VBA and handed him official authorization (AB forms) to contest from his former Nagpur Central constituency. Ahmed returned to Nagpur on Monday evening, planning to file his nomination the next day. However, his arrival at the election office was met with complications. According to Ahmed, security personnel delayed him, citing objections to his entourage of five people and an incident involving a bench at the security checkpoint. Despite resolving these issues, the final delay caused him to reach the office moments after the 3:00 pm cut-off.
Ahmed expressed frustration over the situation, noting that the delay at the security checkpoint proved costly. "I reached the election office on time but was held up by security for the last few crucial minutes. They objected to my entourage of five and a disturbance involving a bench. By the time it was sorted, the doors were closed," he explained. Before aligning with the VBA, Ahmed had reportedly received an offer from Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM to contest the elections from any constituency within Maharashtra.
Initially rejecting this offer and opting to remain in Congress, Ahmed decided to resign when the party selected another candidate for Nagpur Central. He subsequently submitted his resignation to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and joined the VBA. The Election Commission of India recently confirmed that Maharashtra’s Assembly elections will occur in a single phase on November 20, 2024, with vote counting scheduled for November 23, just ahead of the Assembly’s term ending on November 26.