Jesse Ramdeo

Ju­bi­lant cel­e­bra­tions on Nom­i­na­tion Day for one po­lit­i­cal par­ty were near­ly eclipsed over re­ports that a can­di­date had been re­placed af­ter al­le­ga­tions that a dark cloud was hang­ing over his head.

How­ev­er, Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­nied knowl­edge of any move to change the par­ty’s pick for Cou­va North, Ravi Rati­ram.

Re­ports from se­nior par­ty of­fi­cials which al­leged­ly sur­faced ear­ly on Nom­i­na­tion Day claimed that Rati­ram’s can­di­da­cy had been re­voked and he was sub­se­quent­ly re­placed by tem­po­rary sen­a­tor Rishi Tri­pathi.

How­ev­er, fol­low­ing the fil­ing of her nom­i­na­tion pa­pers at the of­fice of the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer for Siparia in Pe­nal, Per­sad-Bisses­sar ad­vised that any­one with con­cerns about the Cou­va North can­di­date could take it to the po­lice and that there had been no plans to re­move him from the slate.

She made the com­ment while speak­ing to the me­dia sur­round­ed by sup­port­ers, tas­sa drum­mers and a mu­sic truck.

“I am the leader of this par­ty, I am al­so the head of the par­ty’s screen­ing com­mit­tee. I have no knowl­edge of what you are speak­ing about. The can­di­date for Cou­va North is Ravi Rati­ram. If there are al­le­ga­tions then take it to the po­lice. If you have is­sues against him that are il­le­gal, take it to the po­lice,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

On­ly a few days ago, the UNC’s pick for Lopinot/Bon Air West Tris­ton Bon­terre III was re­placed. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the can­di­date had asked to be with­drawn and the par­ty ac­cept­ed.