'Sent my vote through postal ballot': Jayant Sinha responds to BJP's show cause notice | Read FULL letter here

Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament Jayant Sinha stated on Wednesday that he was "surprised" to receive a show-cause letter from the BJP, which asked him to explain why he abstained from voting in the current Lok Sabha elections and from participating in the campaign trail.

In response to BJP's Jharkhand general secretary Aditya Sahu's letter, Sinha said that he voted through the postal ballot process as he was overseas for "personal commitments".  "I was very surprised to receive your letter and discover that you have released it to the media as well," Sinha, the current MP from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh constituency, wrote in a two-page letter to Sahu.

Sinha responded to Sahu's accusation that he has not participated in "organisational work and election campaigning" since Manish Jaiswal was announced a candidate for the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha constituency, claiming that he has not been invited to "any party events, rallies, or organisational meetings."

"The party announced Shri Manish Jaiswal ji as its candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. My endorsement was evident when I congratulated Shri Jaiswal ji on March 8, 2024, an event that was well-documented on social media and demonstrated my unwavering support for the party's choice," he said.

"If the part wanted me to participate in any election activities, you could surely have contacted me. However, not a single senior party official or MP/MLA from Jharkhand reached out to me. I was not invited to any party events, rallies, or organizational meetings," he said.

Having been a part of the BJP for more than 25 years, Sinha said that his "organisational work and development in Hazaribagh have been appreciated widely," which was seen in his "record" wins in the general elections of 2014 and 2019.

Jayant Sinha, who in March had announced that he wouldn't contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, also said that he had requested BJP national president JP Nadda to relieve him from his "direct electoral duties".