SC reserves order on Tej Bahadur's plea against rejection of nomination paper to contest against PM

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday reserved order on sacked BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur's plea challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict which had dismissed his election petition against the poll panel's decision to reject his nomination papers to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The apex court, which refused to accept the request of Yadav's counsel to adjourn the hearing, observed that whether his nomination was rightly or wrongly rejected depends on his eligibility.

"Why should we grant you liberty for adjournment. You are abusing the process of law. You argue," a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde told Yadav's counsel.

The counsel argued that Bahadur had earlier filed his nomination as an independent candidate and later as a candidate of the Samajwadi Party.

The Returning Officer on May 1 last year had rejected the nomination papers of Bahadur, a Samajwadi Party candidate, who was dismissed from BSF in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the quality of food served to the troops.

While rejecting the nomination papers of Bahadur, the Returning Officer had observed that "the nomination paper is not accompanied by certificate issued in the prescribed manner by the Election Commission to the effect that he has not been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the state".