SC nixes ex-BSF jawan's plea challenging PM Modi's election from Varanasi
TNN Bureau. Updated: 11/24/2020 2:48:36 PM
National
New Delhi, Nov 24: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur's plea that challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election from Varanasi constituency.
"We are of the opinion that the petition was rightly nipped in the bud by the Allahabad HC. The Civil Appeal is thereby dismissed", a bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian remarked while rejecting Bahadur's plea.
Bahadur, a BSF jawan, wished to contest 2019 general elections from Varanasi constituency on a Samajwadi Party ticket against BJP's PM candidate. However, his nomination was rejected by the Returning Officer (RO), citing his failure to submit a certificate that he was not sacked from BSF for either corruption or disloyalty.
Bahadur challenged RO's decision in Allahabad High Court claiming that his nomination was rejected to set up an easy win for PM Modi but his petition was trashed by the court.
The jawan then approached the Supreme Court in February 2020, which announced the verdict today.