The Allahabad High Court on Friday issued a notice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a petition challenging his election from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, PTI reported. The plea was filed by former Border Security Force constable Tej Bahadur Yadav, whose nomination papers to stand for the Lok Sabha election against Modi in Varanasi were rejected in May.
Justice MK Gupta fixed the hearing on the matter for August 21. In his plea, Yadav claimed that his nomination papers had been wrongly rejected, and hence Modi’s election as a member of Parliament should be declared null and void.
Yadav had been fielded as a candidate by the Samajwadi Party, but the Election Commission rejected his nomination as he had failed to submit a certificate verifying that he had not been sacked from the security forces. In its notice rejecting Yadav’s nomination, the poll panel had said that government employees who have been dismissed for “corruption or disloyalty to the state” shall be disqualified from campaigning for five years.
When he filed his nomination, Yadav had admitted that he was dismissed from service. However, later, he reportedly omitted this from his nomination form. The Election Commission had ordered the former soldier to produce a no-objection certificate from the BSF.
The former soldier had moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s decision, but the top court rejected his petition.
Yadav was sacked from the Border Security Force after he posted a video on social media in January 2017 about the watery dal and burnt rotis served to soldiers. The video sparked outrage, prompting the Prime Minister’s Office to ask for a report. Yadav was dismissed after a court of inquiry found him guilty on charges of indiscipline for going public with his grievances.
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