As its Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination, the Congress on Monday said there is a "threat to democracy" and wondered if there is a free and fair poll when the Election Commission "looks the other way" while candidate after candidate is being "intimidated".

The Congress' Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate Bam withdrew his nomination on Monday, a fortnight before polling in the constituency. After withdrawing his nomination, Bam reached the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Indore.

Monday is the last day for withdrawal of nomination in the Indore Lok Sabha seat, where polling will be held on May 13.

Asked about the development, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "The gentleman in question has multiple universities and colleges in the state that we spoke about. One of the charges slapped against him was of murder. It is not natural, normal or ordinary that somebody just withdraws their candidature and joins the BJP." "When we say democracy of India is under threat, this is the threat we speak about. The threat is to coax candidates, to put pressure on them to withdraw, to intimidate them, to intimidate their proposers and that is what is happening," she alleged at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here.

She said those who question the party on where is the threat to democracy, this signifies that there is a "threat to democracy".

"When intimidation is of the kind that people are having to withdraw from electoral contests, where is a free and fair election. Where is a free and fair election when the prime minister delivers a hate speech but he is not held responsible, the notice goes to the party president, where is a free and fair election when the Election Commission looks the other way when candidate after candidate is being intimidated," Shrinate said.

The Congress had fielded Bam (45), a newbie in the poll arena, against sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani (62) from the Indore seat, which is a stronghold of the saffron party.

Bam has not contested a single election in his political career so far.

The Congress offered him the opportunity to contest from Indore at a time when several party workers, including three former MLAs of the party, have switched sides and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Indore, the largest constituency in the state in terms of number of voters, has 25.13 lakh electors.

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