Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Samajwadi Party's (SP's) candidate nomination for the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh was rejected by the returning officer during scrutiny on Friday. The Congress had previously allocated the seat to the SP under the seat-sharing agreement within the opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc. The BJP has fielded the sitting MP and its state unit president Vishnu Dutt Sharma from Khajuraho.
Reason of cancellation
"The Panna district collector, who is also the returning officer, rejected the nomination papers of Meera Yadav as she had not signed the `B form' and also failed to attach a certified copy of the 2023 Assembly elections voters' list," a senior official told reporters.
SP candidate's husband to move high court
Meanwhile, Yadav's husband Deep Narayan Yadav told reporters that they would move the high court against the returning officer's order. "The form was verified yesterday after scrutiny. There is a rule that if there is any discrepancy, it is the duty of the returning officer to get it rectified even if the candidate is illiterate. Yesterday, the form was found to be alright. Today, two shortcomings were pointed out. First, the voters' list attached to the form is not certified or it is old. Signature was supposed to be made at two places, but it was made only in one place," he added. Yadav also claimed that they did not get a certified copy of the voters' list till April 3, and hence attached a copy that was available.
However, this is not the first time a candidate's nomination paper has been cancelled during scrutiny. There have been several occasions when a candidate's nomination paper was cancelled, resulting in a walkover to rival candidates.
Here's list of past cases:
Lok Sabha Polls 2009: Nomination of Congress' Vidisha candidate cancelled
The nomination of the Congress candidate from the Vidisha constituency, Rajkumar Patel, was rejected by the Election Commission ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. This made the election of Sushma Swaraj, the then BJP's candidate from the seat, almost a walkover. The returning officer had rejected the nomination of Patel on the grounds that the Congress candidate submitted form 'A' after the prescribed time limit. Swaraj went on to register a massive victory garnering almost 79 per cent of the total votes polled.
Lok Sabha Polls 2014: BJP candidate's nomination in Tamil Nadu
The nomination paper of BJP candidate S Gurumurthy from Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris (reserved) constituency was rejected during scrutiny ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. According to officials, the rules for filing nominations were not complied with by the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. Even the papers of BJP's standby candidate D Anbarasan were rejected. This made things relatively easier for DMK's A Raja, who won the election by a margin of 1,04,940 votes.
Lok Sabha Polls 2019: SP candidate and BSF jawan Tej Bahadur's nomination from Varanasi
Dismissed BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency was rejected in 2019. Yadav was served notices by the Varanasi returning officer over discrepancies in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him. Prime Minister Modi had won the seat for the second time in a row by a margin of 4,79,505 votes.
Lok Sabha Polls 2024: SP leader Azam Khan's aides' nomination from Rampur
The Election Commission rejected the nomination papers of Asim Raja and Abdul Salam, who are close aides of senior SP leader Azam Khan and intended to contest from Rampur. Raja and Salam had submitted their papers as candidates from the SP and independent, respectively. This occurred after the party declared Muhibullah Nadwi as its official candidate on the final day of poll nominations on April 3, amidst considerable drama. While Muhibullah's papers were cleared, approximately 12 candidates had their nominations cancelled by the EC after scrutiny, according to the Rampur district magistrate.
Telangana Assembly polls 2023: Congress leader's nomination from Nagarjunasagar
Ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections in 2023, the Election Commission had rejected the nomination papers of Senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy for the Nagarjunasagar constituency. Another Congress leader Kunduru Jayaveer went on to win this seat by a margin of 55,849 votes.
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