The Opposition Congress on Thursday suffered a setback on Thursday  as the Social Justice Department’s Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee rejected the caste certificate of Rashmi S Barve, its Lok Sabha candidate from the Ramtek (SC) constituency.

The Social Justice Department’s order came after a person logged a complaint with it recently, challenging the caste certificate issued to Rashmi by alleging that she had not followed the due legal process to obtain the certificate.

The controversy over Rashmi’s caste certificate erupted after the Election Commission of India (ECI) initiated the process of nomination papers filed by all the candidates for the five Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

In an effort to seek relief, Rashmi's team moved the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. The Nagpur HC benc is likely to hear the petition on Friday.

Undeterred by the rejection of Rashmi’s caste certificate, the Congress has readied the plan-B in the event of the ECI rejecting Rashmi’s nomination on the ground that the caste certificate is not valid.

“If our candidate Rashmi Barve’s nomination gets rejected on the ground of her caste certificate not being proper, we will field her husband Shyamlal Barve will file his nomination to contest the polls from Ramtek (SC) constituency. Shyamlal has already filed his nomination as a dummy candidate,” a senior Congress leader said.   

Hitting out at the at the Eknath Shinde-led MahaYuti government, Rashmi said that the move to cancel her caste certificate at the last minute was ‘politically motivated’ “ I have decided to challenge the rejection of  my caste certificate in the Bombay High Court,” he said

On its part, the MahaYuti has fielded a ruling Shiv Sena candidate Raju Parwe as its candidate from Ramtek-SC constituency in place of sitting two-time MP Krupal Tumane. The BJP, which had staked claim for Ramtek (SC) seat, may give up its claim over the seat.