Tej Bahadur Yadav’s nomination cancelled: The Election Commission on Wednesday cancelled the nomination of former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav from Varanasi. Terming the poll body’s decision as a conspiracy, Tej Bahadur Yadav said he will approach the Supreme Court. Yadav was fielded as a joint candidate of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance.
The Samajwadi Party had earlier given ticket to Shalini Yadav to contest the May 19 Lok Sabha election against Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is seeking a second term from Varanasi.
Tej Bahadur Yadav, who had earlier filed nomination as an independent candidate, was asked by the Election Commission to explain reasons behind his sacking from the BSF. The central poll body had asked Yadav to produce an No Objection Certificate from the BSF. However, he failed to produce the NOC leading to action by the EC.
Alleging that the Election Commission was acting on the behest of PM Modi, Yadav had earlier claimed that there were no issues with his nomination documents at the time of filing. “PM Modi appears to be afraid that a real chowkidar will defeat him in election,” the former BSF jawan had said.
Tej Bahadur Yadav was sacked from BSF after he posted a video, which went viral in January 2017, claiming that bad quality food was being served to jawans . The Prime Minister’s Office had also asked for a report from concerned authorities over Yadav’s claims in the video. Th BSF ordered a court of inquiry into the matter. Yadav was later dismissed after it was established that he was guilty of indiscipline.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who filed his nomination from Varanasi last week, is looking to secure a second term from the temple town from where he had won by a margin over three lakh votes in 2014. The Congress has given ticket to Ajay Rai again after days of speculation over Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature from Varanasi.