Ex-BSF Tej Bahadur Yadav’s, who filed his nomination against Narendra Modi for Varansi LS seat, got his nomination rejected by the Election Commission.
According to India Today, Tej Bahadur had filed nomination as an Independent but was later named by the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance as the candidate from the seat, and was supported by Arvind Kejriwal of AAP, who had taken on PM Modi in 2014 and got more than 2 lakh votes.
According to EC officials, Tej Bahadur Yadav presented differing accounts over why he was sacked from the BSF in his nomination papers.
Tej Bahadur Yadav was dismissed from service after he complained about the poor quality of food served to the personnel.
Tej Bahadur Yadav was dismissed by the Summary Security Force Court (SSFC), a court of inquiry which found that he had damaged the "image of the BSF" when he uploaded a video clip on the "substandard food" on social media, triggering an uproar.
"In the first nomination papers, Bahadur had said he was sacked from the BSF, but in the nomination papers filed as the SP-BSP candidate he did not mention that," District Electoral Officer Surendra Singh told news agency IANS.
Writing a letter to Tej Bahadur Yadav, EC said any government employee who has been dismissed for "corruption or disloyalty to the state" should be disqualified from campaigning for a period of five years.
The rules state that a dismissed employee of the central or state government has to submit a clearance from the Election Commission that states he has not been sacked for "corruption or disloyalty to the state". Those dismissed for these reasons cannot contest elections for five years after the dismissal.
"I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm yesterday. We produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected," Tej Bahadur Yadav told NDTV.
Calling the move "wrong" and dictatorial", Tej Bahadur Yadav said he would go to the Supreme Court.
According to NDTV, the Samajwadi Party had announced Shalini Yadav as the Mahagathbandhan candidate from Varanasi. She also filed her nomination on Monday. Party sources said it was a back-up in case there was a glitch with Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination.
