Nomination of INDIA bloc’s SP candidate from Khajuraho seat in M.P. rejected: officials

The nomination papers of Meera Yadav, the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho, were rejected by the returning officer, officials said on Friday.

Ms. Yadav was fielded by the SP after replacing Manoj Yadav who was earlier given the ticket to contest the seat, which has been given to the Akhilesh Yadavled party as part of its seatsharing arrangement with the Congress in the INDIA coalition.

The BJP has fielded its State unit president and sitting MP V.D. Sharma from the seat.

Panna District Collector and returning officer Suresh Kumar Mishra rejected Ms. Yadav’s nomination form as she had not signed at one required place in the form and had not attached a certified voters list of the 2023 Assembly election, an official said.

Reacting sharply on the development, SP national president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that if the candidate had not signed at the required place, why was the form accepted, and demanded judicial inquiry into the matter.

“Cancelling the nomination of India Alliance’s SP candidate Meera Yadav from Khajuraho seat is a blatant murder of democracy. It is being said that if the signatures were not there then why did the inspecting officer take the form. All these are excuses and frustration of the defeated BJP. Those who can cheat in front of the court’s camera, what kind of conspiracies they must be hatching behind the back after getting the form,” Mr. Yadav wrote in a post on X.

Returning officer rejected Meera Yadav’s nomination as she had not signed at one place in form

Akhilesh blasts BJP

“BJP is liar not only in words but also in actions and is guilty of making the entire administrative system corrupt. There should be a judicial inquiry into this incident as cancelling someone’s nomination is a democratic crime,” he added. Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari claimed that the candidate has a photocopy of the same form she submitted and her signature is in place at the required spots.

Khajuraho will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.