The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday cancelled the nomination of Samajwadi Party’s (SP)s Lok Sabha candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav from Varanasi.
The Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was dismissed from his service after he complained in a video about the poor quality of food served to the armed forces. The SP has pitted him against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
The SP had replaced Shalini Yadav with Tej Bahadur, who had earlier filed his papers as an Independent candidate.
The EC had sent notice to Tej Bahadur on Tuesday asking him to clarify the discrepancies in two sets of nomination papers he filed.
In the first set of papers as an Independent candidate, he had mentioned about his dismissal from the Border Security Force.
However, in the second nomination filed as a Samajwadi Party candidate, he had omitted details of his dismissal.
As per the rules, a dismissed employee needs to submit a clearance from the EC that states he has not been sacked for “corruption or disloyalty to the state”.
Yadav accused the BJP of stopping him from fighting elections. He Called the move “wrong” and dictatorial.
Tej Bahadur Yadav’s counsel Rajesh Gupta said they will approach the Supreme Court.
