Fake declaration against Padarath, a real advertisement

PRINCES TOWN candidate for the PNM Sharon Baboolal on Wednesday said she had no time to comment on a political advertisement bearing a striking resemblance to an official declaration advising voters not to vote for opponent Barry Padarath.

Newsday spoke with Baboolal twice yesterday on the issue. When first called, she said she needed to speak with her campaign manager before answering. When called a second time, she said she was “busy” and “had no time for that.”

The advertisement, dated August 4 and purportedly signed by Baboolal, appears to be a declaration of fact that Padarath’s candidacy is illegitimate. At the end of the five-point ad, potential voters are warned that any votes for Padarath will be null and void and would be thrown away.

The issue concerning Padarath’s candidacy was raised by the PNM. On Monday, the party’s chairman Colm Imbert alleged Padarath submitted the wrong form the returning officer on nomination day. Padarath, who was in mandatory state quarantine after returning to TT from the US, had his agent file his form. Imbert, however, claimed that since Padarath was in the country, he should have used a form requiring his signature and not his agent’s.

The law states: “No nomination paper shall be valid or shall be acted upon by the returning officer unless it is accompanied by consent in writing of the person therein nominated or, where the person is absent from TT, by the consent of his duly authorised agent, expressed in duplicate in the form set out as form 37 or 38 as the case may be in the prescribed form rules.”

The PNM has signalled its intention to challenge the legitimacy of Padarath’s candidacy. The Elections and Boundaries Commission, which has not made any declaration on the issue, said on Wednesday it will not comment on the matter as it may soon become the subject of court proceedings.

Padarath, in response to the ad, said it was pure desperation by the PNM and his constituents were fully supporting him.

“The PNM has been behind every nasty attack against me, but I am not fazed by the PNM and their imagination.”