SC dismisses plea of sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur against nomination rejection

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the plea of former BSF jawan ad Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav over rejection of his nomination from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.

A Bench headed by CJI Gogoi dismissing the plea said, “We don’t find any merit to entertain this petition”

Sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as Samajwadi Party candidate from Varanasi rejected by Election Commission on May 1. Tej Bahadur Yadav was fielded to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

Following the rejection, he moved to Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission's decision to cancel his candidature.

In March, Tej Bahadur had announced that he will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Varanasi against PM Modi.

According to EC officials, Tej Bahadur Yadav presented differing accounts over why he was sacked from the BSF in his nomination papers.

"In the first nomination papers, Bahadur had said he was sacked from the BSF, but in the nomination papers filed as the SP-BSP candidate he did not mention that," District Electoral Officer Surendra Singh told reporters.

"You have not submitted the certificate to the effect that whether or not you were dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty with your nomination papers," Varanasi RO Surendra Singh said in the notice.

The BSF constable was sacked in 2017 after he posted a video of him complaining about the food served to the forces. Reportedly, he has challenged his dismissal in the court and the case is in the trial stage.

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