New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to decide by Thursday on rejection of the nomination papers of sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who wants to contest against Prime Minister Modi from Varanasi. Polling in Varanasi is slated only in the last phase on May 17 and so why not allow Yadav to contest, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked. It asked the EC counsel to seek instructions and apprise it by Thursday. Advocate Prashant Bhu-shan, appearing for Yadav, referred to an earlier verdict to the court and said election petitions can be filed during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.
Yadav, who was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops, was fielded by the Samajwadi Party as its candidate for the Varanasi seat. Yadav, in his plea, termed the decision of the poll panel as discriminatory and unreasonable and said it should be set aside to allow him to contest. The SP had initially fielded Shalini Yadav as its candidate against Modi and later nominated the sacked BSF jawan.
