Varun's candidature will not be cancelled: Rajnath

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of reconsidering the decision rejecting Election Commission's advice against candidature of Varun Gandhi and said the party would back him to the hilt.

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of reconsidering the decision rejecting Election Commission's advice against candidature of Varun Gandhi and said the party would back him to the hilt.

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"Against the advice of the EC, I said that the candidature of Varun Gandhi will not be cancelled at any cost and I would go to his constituency (Pilibhit) for campaigning," Singh told NDTV.

When pointed out that the Allahabad High Court has noted that there is prima facie case against Gandhi for his alleged hate-speech, the BJP president said that one has to wait for the final judgement.

"Let the final judgement come. In many cases, there is a prima facie case but later the person is not found guilty sometimes," he said, adding that Gandhi had told him that the voice in the CD is not his. Singh said the "complete CD is doctored".

"Varun told me that the voice in the CD is not his, he told me the name of that person (who doctored the tape) too, but I would not like to name him," he added.

Gandhi was in the eye of a political storm after he allegedly made a hate-speech against a minority community during campaigning in Pilibhit from where he is facing the electorate.

The Election Commission, after receiving a complaint, had advised BJP to cancel his candidature and field another candidate.