Panna (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 5 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Khajuraho parliamentary seat Meera Yadav's nomination paper for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections has been rejected citing a lack of signature at one place in the form and old certified copy voter list, candidate's husband Deep Narayan Yadav said.
According to the official list of validly nominated candidates, the name of SP candidate Meera Yadav is not available in the list. A total of 14 candidates which includes BJP candidate VD Sharma, BSP candidate Kamlesh Kumar and 12 independent candidates are valid candidates to contest the poll.
Besides, returning officer and Panna collector Suresh Kumar also issued a letter in which he mentioned the reasons for not accepting the nomination of the SP candidate.
SP Candidate Yadav had filed the papers on Thursday, April 4, last day to file the nomination for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls.
Candidate's husband Deep Narayan Yadav told reporters, "Yesterday, after checking, it was verified. Also, there is a rule in the rule book that if there is any shortcoming and even if there is an illiterate candidate, then it is the responsibility of the election officer and the people concerned to correct it. But yesterday the paper was declared ok. Now it is said that there are two shortcomings in it. The certified copy of our voter list is old and there is a lack of a signature at one place."
"If it was looking old then we should have been informed and we would have arranged a new one as we had time. Collector said that the nomination was rejected due to the said two reasons. I can say that if there were any shortcomings then the Collector should have informed about it yesterday, we could have fulfilled it. Now, we will go to the High Court and the Supreme Court," he added.
Meanwhile, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav demanded a judicial enquiry into the matter.
"Cancelling the nomination of INDIA Alliance's SP candidate from Khajuraho seat, Meera Yadav, is a murder of democracy. It is being said that if there was no signature then why did the returning officer take the form. These are all excuses and the frustration of the defeated BJP. Those who can deceive in front of the court cameras, what conspiracies would they be hatching behind the back after getting the form? BJP is not only a liar in words but also in actions and is also guilty of corrupting the entire administrative system," Yadav posted on X.
"There should be a judicial inquiry into this incident also, cancelling someone's nomination is a democratic crime," he further wrote.
On the other hand, BJP candidate VD Sharma said, "As far as Khajuraho is concerned, we enjoy contesting elections. I am wondering why this happened to the opposition candidate who was contesting against me. Elections should be fought, it is fun."
Besdies, the Congress party wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of India demanding to suspend returning officer Suresh Kumar.
Notably, Khajuraho is Madhya Pradesh's only constituency assigned to Samajwadi Party, a member of the INDIA bloc, as part of a seat-sharing deal with the Congress.
Khajuraho will go to poll in the second phase on April 26 with six other parliamentary seats in the state.
Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh are scheduled to be held in the first four phases of the total seven phases dated April 19, April 26, May 7, and May 13.
The votes will be counted on June 4.(ANI)
