SC rejects Tej Bahadur's plea to contest from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav's plea against the rejection of his nomination from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. There's no basis of the plea, said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi while rejecting it. 

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The top court on Wednesday had asked the Election Commission of India to respond on the cancellation of Yadav's nomination from Varanasi within a day. The poll panel had rejected Bahadur's nomination over "discrepancies" in the application. 

The SP-BSP-RLD combine in Uttar Pradesh had named Yadav as their alliance candidate from Varanasi. 

The former BSF constable had moved top court challenging the rejection of his nomination papers by the Election Commission of India to contest general election from Varanasi constituency, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also contesting. In his petition, the dismissed BSF jawan alleged that his nomination papers were cancelled at the behest of the BJP-led government at the Centre, adding that he had replied to the Election Commission's giving a thorough explanation over the difference in reasons. 

"My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. We produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court. We have been told that we did not produce the evidence that was asked from us before 11 am. Whereas, we had produced the evidence," he had said.

In January 2017, Yadav shot into limelight after posting four videos on social media complaining about the sub-standard food given to soldiers at his camp along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. The videos sparked intense outrage across the country. The BSF later refuted his allegations and Yadav was dismissed from the service after an inquiry.