Former top cop does poll U-turn

Former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey has decided not to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, citing that candidates don't matter in the political system.

Mumbai: Former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey has given up on his plan to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, just four days after saying he was contemplating it. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Pandey said, “The system, after all, is only parties. Candidates don’t matter.”

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On April 28, it was reported that Pandey is likely to contest the election as an independent candidate from the Mumbai North Central constituency. He would have been up against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ujjwal Nikam, a well-known lawyer, and Varsha Gaikwad, the Mumbai Congress chief.

“This campaign for North Central started as a suggestion by a resident of Vakola and caught the imagination of some and fear of many. Some said I was on a leash and others spent the night oil to convince how I was spoiling the possible June party. And alongside this, herding started and shepherds were alerted,’’ read his post on X.

“All this was normal, but what has weighed the most is calls by people I regard the most. Calling me [in the] early hours, stating their unstinted support, but doubting if this will not damage me personally. The system, after all, is only parties. Candidates don’t matter. So before it hurts either the shepherds or the party goers, I plan to wait,” he added.

Panday was appointed the police commissioner of Mumbai in February 2022 during the Maha Vikas Aghadi rule, before retiring in June the same year. He was then arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation later that year in connection with the National Stock Exchange phone-tapping case. After spending nearly five months in jail, the Delhi High Court granted him bail in December 2022.