Allahabad High Court adjourns hearing on plea challenging election of Modi from Varanasi

Source: indiatoday.in

Former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav was not given an opportunity to be heard by election authorities before rejection of his nomination papers for Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency polls, his counsel claimed on Wednesday in the Allahabad High Court which was hearing his election petition.

The petition was filed by Tej Bahadur Yadav challenging the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi parliamentary constituency in the recently held Lok Sabha election.

Tej Bahadur Yadav’s nomination papers were rejected by the District Returning Officer of Varanasi on May 1, 2019, following his failure to submit a certificate that he was not sacked from the Border Security Force (BSF) for either corruption or disloyalty.

In the election petition, Yadav alleged that his nomination paper was wrongly rejected by the Returning Officer of Varanasi and requested the court to declare null and void Narendra Modi’s election as a member of Parliament from Varanasi seat.

Appearing on behalf of Tej Bahadur Yadav, senior advocate Dharmendra Yadav argued that the petitioner was not given an opportunity to be heard before rejection of his nomination paper.

Dharmendra Yadav also filed an application for some amendment in the petition which was allowed by the court.

After hearing the counsel for the petitioner, the court fixed July 19 for the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the high court also issued a notice to BJP MP from Badaun Sanghmitra Maurya on an election petition filed by Samajwadi Party candidate Dharmendra Yadav.