New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition filed by sacked BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur challenging the rejection of his nomination papers by the Returning Officer of Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency from where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting.
The bench after hearing counsel Prashant Bhushan for the petitioner and senior counsel Rakesh Diwedi for the Commission in a brief order said, “We don’t find any merit to entertain this petition. Dismissed”. Mr Bhushan then said he would file an election petition before the competent court. In a writ petition Mr. Bahadur urged the court to set aside the order passed by the returning officer on May 1 and to allow him to contest the polls scheduled for May 19. He submitted that he filed his nomination papers on April 29 and he was asked to produce a certificate that he had not been dismissed from service either for corruption or disloyalty to the nation.
The ROrejected the nomination on the ground that he was dismissed from the government service on April 19, 2017 and five years period from the date of such dismissal has not elapsed, in terms of section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 1951.
