SP nominee's papers rejected in Khajuraho, party to move HC

Bhopal: The nomination form of Samajwadi Party’s candidate from Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh was rejected after scrutiny by the returning officer on Friday, suggesting that the prospects of BJP nominee ‘getting a walkover’ in the upcoming polls.

“The local returning officer rejected the SP candidate Meera Yadav’s nomination papers 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 officer of Panna, district under which Khajuraho falls, said.

The Congress had left the seat to SP under a seat-sharing arrangement within the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A. bloc. State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma is seeking re-election from the seat.

The SP announced to move the High Court against the order, while questioning the decision by the returning officer to reject the nomination form.

“Any discrepancies, if found in the form, could have been rectified by the returning officer during the filing of nomination as per the rule. We will move the High Court against the returning officer’s order”, national spokesman of the party Yash Bhartiya told this newspaper.

Bhartiya also dropped hints that the party is weighing the option of extending support to another candidate in the fray in the seat as the last resort.

SP supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav alleged ‘BJP machinery’ behind the rejection of the nomination form of his party’s candidate, and called it ‘murder of democracy in public’. “It is said that the nomination form was rejected on the ground that there was no signature by the candidate in it. If that is the case, then why did the officer concerned accept the form in the first place”, Yadav questioned in a post on his social media platform ‘X’.

He alleged a conspiracy by BJP in the rejection of nomination form. Khajuraho is going to LS polls in the second phase polling in Madhya Pradesh on April 26.