Samajwadi Party's (SP) Lok Sabha candidate from Khajuraho constituency Meera Yadav's nomination form was rejected by the returning officer on Friday, saying that it was “incomplete”. According to officials, Yadav had not signed the ‘B form’ and also failed to attach a certified copy of the 2023 assembly elections voters' list.
Following the scrutiny by the returning officer, Yadav's husband Deep Narayan Yadav asserted that they would move the high court over the issue. “The form was verified yesterday after scrutiny. There is a rule that if there is any discrepancy, it is the duty of the returning officer to get it rectified even if the candidate is illiterate…Yesterday, the form was found to be alright. Today, two shortcomings were pointed out,” he said, as quoted by the news agency PTI.
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He also claimed that they did not get a certified copy of the voters' list till April 3, so they attached a copy that was available. “We requested him (returning officer) that we still had time as we had come before 3 PM (deadline), and it could be rectified. He should have told us yesterday about it and we could have done it by now,” he added.
Akhilesh Yadav hits out
{{/usCountry}}He also claimed that they did not get a certified copy of the voters' list till April 3, so they attached a copy that was available. “We requested him (returning officer) that we still had time as we had come before 3 PM (deadline), and it could be rectified. He should have told us yesterday about it and we could have done it by now,” he added.
Akhilesh Yadav hits out
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav hit out over the rejection of Yadav's nomination form, calling it a “blatant murder of democracy”.
“It is being said that if the signatures were not there then why did the inspecting officer take the form? All these are excuses and frustration of the defeated BJP. Those who can cheat in front of the court's camera, what kind of conspiracies they must be hatching behind the back after getting the form,” the SP chief wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He added, “BJP is a liar not only in words but also in actions and is guilty of making the entire administrative system corrupt…There should be a judicial inquiry into this incident as cancelling someone's nomination is a democratic crime.”
Notably, the Congress had left the Khajuraho seat for SP as per their seat-sharing agreement. Notably, the BJP has fielded sitting MP and its state unit president Vishnu Dutt Sharma from the constituency.
(With inputs from PTI)