Independent candidates from Varanasi accuse EC of bias towards Narendra Modi after poll panel axes nominations on flimsy grounds

A large number of disgruntled citizens have made a beeline for Varanasi to pin Prime Minister Narendra Modi down in this key electoral battlefield. Most of them know they will not be able to defeat him, but they will use the forum this high-profile constituency provides to highlight long-standing grievances before the nation. Over a hundred candidates filed their nomination papers as Independent candidates from Varanasi, but these were pared down to around 26. As so many nominations were axed, several candidates accused the Election Commission of bias towards Modi. [caption id=“attachment_6519241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow on 25 April in Varanasi. Twitter/BJP4India[/caption] The most high-profile rejection was the nomination of former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav , who was hoping to contest against Modi on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Yadav accused the BJP of resorting to “dictatorial steps” to stop him from fighting the elections. “My nomination was rejected even though I furnished a NOC (No-Objection Certificate) from the BSF, which was required by the Returning Officer (RO). I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. We produced the evidence but still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court,” Yadav said after he learnt that his nomination had been cancelled. Yadav’s ire is justified. He had first filed his nomination as an Independent on 24 April and then on the Samajwadi Party ticket on 29 April. “If there were any issues with the nominations, why wasn’t I informed earlier? Despite lack of time, our legal team furnished all details to the RO,” he said. While the Varanasi district administration said the nomination was cancelled because Yadav didn’t produce the required document in time, the district magistrate clarified that an individual dismissed from service from a state or Central government post in the last five years has to obtain a certificate from the Election Commission stating that he was not dismissed on the grounds of disloyalty or corruption. He was told to produce the NOC by 11 am this morning (1 May) as this was the deadline, but he failed to do so, and his nomination was rejected, the Varanasi district magistrate explained. The Election Commission also highlighted “discrepancies” in Yadav’s two nominations as further justification for rejecting his papers. In the nomination he filed as an Independent, Yadav mentioned his dismissal from the BSF, but in the second nomination submitted on 29 April as a nominee for the Samajwadi Party, he did not mention this fact. A senior poll panel official, quoting the rule book, said that five years must pass before an individual dismissed from government service can seek nomination for a Lok Sabha election, otherwise he has to get an NOC from the department in which he had served. “This is done to ensure that there are no charges of corruption against him or charges of disloyalty,” the official said. But Varanasi-based activist Aflatoon, who heads the Samajwadi Jain Parishad, blames the Election Commission on two counts. “Constable Tej Bahadur Yadav should have been told to produce the NOC when he had first applied on 24 April. That did not happen, which is strange, to say the least. If there’s a question of corruption and disloyalty, how can Pragya Singh Thakur be allowed to contest. given that she has been charged with terror-related crimes? Why these double standards?” Aflatoon questioned. BSF had dismissed Yadav for flouting standard operating procedures when he went public with a video  to expose the poor quality of food jawans on the border were served. He had shot the video clad in military fatigue. Yadav has tried to put up a brave face, insisting that he was “being stopped from fighting the elections as the ‘nakli chowkidar (fake watchman) of the country was afraid of the asli chowkidar (real watchman)”. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Rai Dhupchandi believes that Yadav’s nomination from Varanasi was rejected because he represented the aspirations of the toiling farmers and jawans. A group of turmeric farmers who had travelled all the way to Varanasi from Telangana and Tamil Nadu are also unhappy with the treatment meted out to them. These 54 farmers had arrived in Varanasi last week after raising money with great difficulty. They wanted to file their nominations to draw attention to the hardship they and their brethren face at home. [caption id=“attachment_6531851” align=“alignright” width=“380”] Turmeric farmers from Telangana arrived in Varanasi to file nominations, contest against Narendra Modi. ANI[/caption] But again, this lot had to face the hostility of the local administration. Not being fluent in Hindi came with its own problems, and they complained that when they went to the bank, the officials their refused to give them the challans they needed to file their nominations. Eventually, only 25 farmers were able to complete their formalities because when they arrived at the collectorate, the farmers alleged, the RO refused to accept them because their proposers had not accompanied them. One of these farmers said, “It was almost as though the entire official machinery in Varanasi, especially the Election Commission, was pitted against us, and it seemed to be intentional.” A senior official of the Election Commission said this criticism was misguided. “We could not understand why so many candidates waited till the last minute to file their nominations. Nominations began to be filed from 22 April, and the last date was 29 April. If these individuals had applied earlier, then after scrutiny of their entries, they would have had the time to rectify their errors. Many of them had incomplete forms; others didn’t know they needed their proposal to be signed by 10 people. Only candidates with the backing of a political party need a proposal from just one person,” the official explained. He went on to add that all rejections are given in writing. “These individuals are free to go to court and seek further redressal,” he added. There was a great deal of sloganeering on Tuesday outside the Varanasi collectorate after the Election Commission handed out rejections to over 70 applicants, accepting the nominations of merely 31 candidates of the lot that filed. The poll panel and Varanasi administration are now gearing up for voting day as they will have to keep a minimum of two machines at each polling booth. The constituency has 1,819 polling stations, which means each will need 36 to 38 EVMs. “Each EVM has 16 candidates in one ballotting unit, of which one is NOTA. So when we keep two machines, we will have to cancel the second NOTA option,” the official said. These selected candidates have just a little over two weeks to campaign. They all admit that defeating the prime minister is going to prove to be a Herculean task, though they hope the aam aadmi will take cognisance of the issues they wish to highlight.