Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and BJP National President J.P. Nadda leaves after filing his nomination for Lok Sabha elections, in Varanasi, Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
When counting begins on June 4, one of the Lok Sabha constituencies the entire country will have their eyes on is Varanasi. The sitting prime minister himself is contesting from this seat, where a strange turn of events have unfolded in the past week.
Firstly, YouTuber Shyam Rangeela's nomination was rejected, after which he had put out a video message suggesting that he was not asked to take out by district magistrate S Rajalingam.
However, the DM's office replied to his video, where it said, "Your nomination paper was scrutinized in your presence and you were informed about the deficiencies. Your nomination paper has been cancelled because the affidavit submitted by you was incomplete and you did not take the oath/affirmation...."
Now, a report by Scroll has revealed that among 41 people who had filed nominations to contest the elections from Varanasi, 33 were rejected.
There were a total of 42 candidates for the Varanasi seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which was reduced to 26 in 2019. This time around, only seven nominations have been accepted.
One of the individuals whose nomination papers were rejected, Harpreet Singh, told the publication that despite him repeatedly asking the returning officer to administer his oath, he was ignored.
“I made the request thrice to the returning officer and thrice to the assistant returning officer,” Singh said, adding, “But they just kept ignoring me.”
Another such individual whose nomination was rejected told the publication, “This election is not an election,” adding, “We are given rations for two square meals and asked to shut up and be happy in this country. We are not free people.”
A third individual claimed who had gone to the DM's office to collect his treasury challan told Scroll that there was a long queue at the magistrate's office, which was mostly made of BJP workers who were letting "their friends slip into the queue and slowed down the whole process. It was excruciating.”
The publication also claims that after PM Modi filed his nomination on May 14, a number of other potential candidates crowded the DM's office, a number of whom are allegedly BJP workers.
DH has not independently verified these claims.