Ex-BSF man’s Tej Bahadur Yadav nomination cancelled in Varanasi
NEW DELHI /VARANASI : The nomination of ex-soldier Tej Bahadur Yadav against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi Lok Sabha seat has been cancelled by the Election Commission.
“We have been verbally told about the decision, but we are still waiting for a written order,” BBC quoted Rai as saying. Tej Bahadur Yadav, a former Border Security Force (BSF) soldier, was fielded by the Samajwadi Party as candidate against PM Modi. He also found support from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had fielded its chief Arvind Kejriwal against Modi in 2014.
Yadav, first shot to fame in 2017 after he posted a video complaining about the poor quality food was being served to the soldiers posted at India-Pakistan border. The video went viral on social media, prompting the government to order an official inquiry. However, four months after going public with his complaint, he was sacked by the BSF allegedly for “making false allegations”.
According to the reports, the Election Commission has said that sacked government employees can’t contest the elections for five years. The poll body had also issued a notice to Tej Bahadur over allegedly discrepancies in the two affidavits he filed.
In his first nomination as an independent candidate, he reportedly mentioned in his affidavit that he was sacked by the BSF but didn’t mention the information in his second affidavit as Samajwadi Party candidate.
“I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm yesterday. We produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected,” said Tej Bahadur Yadav.The former security personnel told reporters that his nomination papers were cancelled at the behest of the Centre even though he had replied to the notice explaining the difference in reasons. As soon as the news of the cancellation spread, Samajwadi Party workers gathered at the Collectorate
“When they are asking for votes in the name of nationalism, they should have faced a soldier. People who dismissed him from his job because he complained about food, how can those people be called real patriots?” Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said.On Tuesday, in a dig at the BJP, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal tweeted, “Vote for the soldiers directly – in Varanasi… If your patriotism is not hollow”.(With Inputs from Varanasi ).
