In another shock to the Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission has rejected the candidature of Tej Bahadur Yadav, the sacked BSF jawan from Varanasi. His nomination was found ineligible under section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav’s nomination for Varanasi rejected, he says, "will go to Supreme Court." pic.twitter.com/t6asrStAyC
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019
With discrepancies in his nomination form, Tej Bahadur was asked to produce a certificate which asserted that he was not sacked on counts of corruption or disloyalty to the government as required under rules for candidates who are former government employees. Section 9(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states “A person who having held an office under the Government of India or under the Government of any State has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State shall be disqualified for a period of five years from the date of such dismissal.”
Failing to produce any document certifying the above conditions, Tej Bahadur’s candidature for Varanasi was rejected and he had been dismissed from service in April 2017, which is just a year ago. Tej Bahadur was in the spotlight in 2017 after he had shared a few videos on Social media alleging poor quality of food being served in the Jammu Kashmir camp. He had also alleged that senior officers were selling ration provided to the camp in the market, and the soldiers were being served poor quality food.
Following his video Home Ministry and the PMO had ordered probe into the whole incident, and it emerged that allegations made by Tej Bahadur were baseless. It was also found that raising concerns on the social Media instead of proper channels was in violation of rules ultimately considering his past record and activities Tej Bahadur was dismissed from service in April 2017. Tej Bahadur had been arrested four times in the past for misbehaving with the officers, abusing and threatening them.
The Mahagathbandhan cried foul over his disqualification and started attacking the government and the EC instead of looking at the technical short comings of the nomination form for Varanasi. “When they (the ruling government) are asking for votes in the name of nationalism, they should have faced a soldier. People who dismissed him from his job because he complained about food, how can those people be called real patriots?” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Arvind Kejriwal going a step further has alleged a conspiracy behind rejection of Tej Bahadur’s resignation. “There will be fewer incidents in history when the Jawan of the country is compelled to challenge their PM. However, this is the first time in history when a PM got scared of the competition from a soldier that in spite of facing him, he got his election nomination cancelled. Mr. Modi, you have turned out to be very weak. The country’s jawan has won,” Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Twitter.
इतिहास में ऐसे कम मौक़े होंगे जब उस देश का जवान अपने PM को चुनौती देने को मजबूर हो
पर इतिहास में ये पहला मौक़ा है कि एक PM एक जवान से इस क़द्र डर जाए कि उसका मुक़ाबला करने की बजाए तकनीकी ग़लतियाँ निकाल कर नामांकन रद्द करा दे
मोदी जी, आप तो बहुत कमज़ोर निकले। देश का जवान जीत गया https://t.co/Bwb9qJEmyf
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 1, 2019
The liberal brigade adding to the efforts to mislead also took twitter to cry hoarse :
“Tej Bahadur’s nomination cancelled. A small hearted and cowardly ruler has shown his complete inability to face any kind of challenge.”
Tej Bahadur’s nomination cancelled. A small hearted and cowardly ruler has shown his complete inability to face any kind of challenge.
— Subhashini Ali (@SubhashiniAli) May 1, 2019
“But does not let Tej Bahadur, a jawan, contest elections! Because of course our men are just there to be at your disposal to send off to wars and when martyred because of your mediocre governance and intelligence failures to be used to garner votes BUT NEVER to contest. Tch”
But does not let Tej Bahadur, a jawan, contest elections!
Because of course our men are just there to be at your disposal to send off to wars and when martyred because of your mediocre governance and intelligence failures to be used to garner votes BUT NEVER to contest. Tch https://t.co/aTf2OEhckx
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) May 1, 2019
The SP candidate for Varanasi Tej Bahadur is set to be replaced by the SP’s original choice Shalini Yadav, however the sequence of events only prove that, how a blatant attempt to use a sacked army jawan to counter the narrative of a robust national security was used to cater to political greed. The ‘liberal’ brigade also supporting this move is just another example of hidden nexus between greedy politicians and anti-nationals which are admant to remove Narendra Modi from the top post by hook or by crook.
