A petition has been filed in the Allahabad High Court by a Janhit Kisan Party (JKP) leader who intended to contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the Returning Officer rejecting his nomination form.
Filed by JKP leader Vijay Nandan, a native of Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district, the petition claimed that the District Election Officer wrongly rejected his nomination papers on the ground that the affidavit column was left blank and that no fresh affidavit was filed nor administered oath/affirmation.
As per the petitioner, all the documents on the checklist were properly received by the Assistant Returning Officer concerned as per the rules of the Election Commission of India. The Returning Officer and the Assistant Returning Officer were responsible for administering the oath/affirmation to the candidate.
After taking the oath/affirmation, the receipt seal was to be signed and given to the candidate; however, the same was not done, and his nomination paper was arbitrarily rejected, alleged the petitioner.
He said a careful and exhaustive reading of the impugned nomination form rejection order of the Returning Officer dated May 15, 2024, revealed a clerical mistake that could have been rectified at the time of scrutiny. However, the Returning Officer committed illegality by not doing so.
Had the Returning Officer acted legally and in consonance with law, he would have accepted the nomination forms submitted by the petitioner and allowed him to contest the election. By depriving the petitioner of his valuable right to contest the poll, respondent no. 4 acted contrary to law and his decision deserved to be interfered by the High Court, noted the plea.
The petition further contended that the nomination form of any candidate could be rejected only if there was any concealment of fact in giving a declaration, but in the present case, in the entire impugned order, nowhere was it mentioned that the petitioner concealed any information while submitting the candidature.
If the affidavit column was left blank, it was the duty of the Returning Officer to rectify the mistake. However, in the present case, instead of redressing the clerical error, the Returning Officer, in gross violation of natural justice, rejected the petitioner’s candidature, it alleged.
The petitioner further stated that the Assistant Returning Officer did not follow the rules of the Election Commission and therefore, was eligible for criminal punishment as per the rules of the Election Commission.
The plea submitted that 140 crore citizens of India had confidence in the Election Commission and cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections to elect the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of various states of the country so that they could develop the nation. A District Election Officer played an important role in this process.
However, the Varanasi District Election Officer violated all the rules to benefit a particular person by breaking the trust of 140 crore citizens of the country.