The Allahabad High Court has issued a notice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a petition filed by former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav challenging Modi’s election from Varanasi Parliamentary constituency.
Yadav was planning to contest against the PM from Varanasi on Samajwadi Party’s ticket. His nomination was rejected by the Election Commission (EC) after he had failed to submit a certificate verifying whether he was fired from his service on charges of corruption or disloyalty.
Yadav’s advocate had contended before the court that his client was not given an opportunity to be heard.
Yadav had moved the Supreme Court in May calling the decision of the EC as discriminatory and unreasonable. However, the apex court had dismissed his plea stating that there is no ground for his claims.
In his petition, Yadav had urged the court to declare the PM’s election null and void alleging that his nomination was wrongly rejected.
Yadav, a former constable in the 29th battalion of the BSF, was dismissed from service in April 2017 after he was found guilty of several offences during an inquiry. The inquiry was conducted after he had posted four videos on Facebook on 8th and 9th January 2017, complaining about the alleged poor quality of food served in the camp. He had also accused the officials of selling the supplies provided to the camp by the government.
Prime Minister’s Office had then sought a detailed report from the Home Ministry on the allegations made by Yadav in the videos. He was sacked on disciplinary grounds.
Yadav had been a repeat offender in his career. On two occasions he was accused of using abusive language and threatening to shoot his superiors. In 2010, he was found guilty and was sentenced to 3 months of rigorous imprisonment.
Prime Minister Modi had won a second term as an MP in Varanasi with an overwhelming margin of over 3.8 lakh votes from his nearest contender on 23 May 2019.
