On Wednesday, the Supreme Court reserved the order on the petition challenging the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Varanasi parliamentary seat. The statement was presented by the fired Border Security Force (BSF) soldier Tej Bahadur challenging the rejection of his candidacy by the scrutineer on May 1, 2019.
During the Lok Sabha elections last year, the teller had argued that Bahadur failed to produce a certificate confirming that the state did not fire him from his job on grounds of corruption or disloyalty. He was fired from BSF in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the quality of the food served to the troops.
Bahadur claimed that he was not given enough time to present the certificate and the election official went ahead with the dismissal of his nomination. On May 1 last year, he approached the Election Commission of India to obtain the certificate, but was unable to obtain the same. The lawyer also argued that Bahadur had previously submitted his nomination as an independent candidate and later as a candidate for the Samajwadi Party.
Bahadur had approached the high court after the Allahabad High Court rejected his petition on December 6, 2019, claiming that he was neither a candidate nor a constituent of Varanasi to challenge the prime minister’s choice.
Bahadur’s lawyer had distributed a letter requesting the adjournment, but the Supreme Court refused to suspend the session and stated that this matter is adjourned for the third time. “We are listening to you because the defendant is the only office in India. It’s the PM’s office. We don’t want this to take place this way, ”the court stated. “Why should we give them the freedom to postpone the session? You are abusing the legal process. You argue, ”a bank headed by India Chief Justice SA Bobde told Bahadur’s lawyer.
Modi was represented by lead attorney Harish Salve, while attorney Pradeep Kumar Yadav appeared on behalf of Bahadur.
(With contributions from the agency)
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