Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh): Allahabad High Court has issued a notice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with a petition challenging his election from Varanasi constituency in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The petition was filed by Tej Bahadur, ex-BSF jawan and SP candidate, whose nomination to contest from Varanasi was rejected by the Election Commission. The court will hear the case on August 21. On May 1, Yadav's candidature was rejected by the returning officer after he failed to submit a certificate on whether or not he was dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty to the government.
In his petition, Yadav alleged that his nomination papers were "wrongly" rejected and urged the court to declare Modi's election null and void as a member of Parliament from Varanasi. On May 9, the apex court had dismissed Yadav's plea challenging the rejection of his nomination by the Election Commission from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had said, "We don't find any merit to entertain this petition." Samajwadi Party had fielded Yadav as its candidate against Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi on April 29. Prior to that, he was in the fray as an independent candidate.
