PM MODI’S 2019 ELECTION FROM VARANASI: EX-BSF JAWAN MOVES SC AGAINST ALLAHABAD HC ORDER
A plea has been filed in the SC challenging the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election from Varanasi in the 2019 general election.
Former BSF Officer Mr. Tej Bahadur has challenged the order of the Allahabad HC passed on December 16, 2019 by way of Civil Appeal, in which the court had dismissed the Election Petition of Bahadur on ground of lack of locus standi and that the HC has failed to appreciate the misuse of provisions under sections 9 and 33(3) of the representation of the People Act, 1951 by the District Election Officer.
The plea drawn by Advocate Pradeep Kumar and filed by Advocate Sanjeev Malhotra states that Election Petition by the Allahabad HC and had not taken in to account the merits of the case and had wrongly decided the plea on “mere technical grounds” of Order Vll Rule 11 CPC”.
The plea avers that the Allahabad HC has committed a ‘grave error’ in holding that the appellant has no locus as being an unregistered voter of the Varanasi Lok Sabha Constituency and being a non-resident of Varanasi.
In the light of that, the appellant contends that the HC has not taken in to account the settled law said down by the SC which states that any person who has filed nomination in any constituency and his candidature has been rejected by the Returning Officer, “then he has locus to file Election Petition on sole ground of his rejection order” apart from having completed the age of 25 years, being a Citizen of India, should not have been punished by any Court of law, is not guilty of any type of mortal turpitude and must be of sound mind.
The plea further purports to the sequence of events wherein the appellants nomination was rejected “unfairly” and “in a partisam manner” that led to filing of the earlier SLP preferred before the SC, which was in effect dismissed on May 9, 2019.
Ex-BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav had approached the SC challenging the decision of the Returning Officer to reject his nomination as from Varanasi Constituency, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seeking re-election.
Yadav had initially announced that he would take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi as an independent candidate.
Name: Shubhi Singhal
College: Law College Dehradun (Uttaranchal University)
