The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of former BSF constable and Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav against rejection of his nomination from Varanasi.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the plea saying, “We don’t find any merit to entertain this petition.”
Yadav had moved the top court challenging the decision of the Returning Officer (RO) to reject his nomination papers, saying it was intended to “give walkover” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also contesting from Varanasi.
The RO had on 1 May rejected the nomination papers of Yadav, who was dismissed from BSF in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops.
The poll panel official held that Yadav failed to furnish a certificate as mandated under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act to the effect that he has not been “dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the state”.
Yadav has sought setting aside of RO’s decision and the apex court’s nod to contest elections from high-profile Varanasi seat where poll is slated to take place on 19 May, the last phase of the election.
The Samajwadi Party had initially fielded Shalini Yadav as its candidate to contest against Modi and later nominated the sacked BSF jawan.
(With PTI inputs)