India's top court has dismissed a petition filed by a former serviceman challenging the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency in 2019.
The petitioner, Tej Bahadur Yadav, a former Border Security Force member, had not been able to run against Modi last year. Yadav's nomination was rejected by a poll official because he had been dismissed from service and therefore could not contest any election for five years.
Yadav was ousted from the BSF in 2017 after he featured in a viral video that made allegations about the quality of food being served to the security men guarding the de-facto India-Pakistan border, the Line of Control.
While attempting to fight political elections, Yadav challenged the poll official's decision to reject his nomination in the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh in December 2019. He also wanted the court to declare the election of Modi null and void.
The top court in the state, however, dismissed his plea on the grounds of lack of locus standi. He then filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the order of the High Court.
The Supreme Court also dismissed the petition, while upholding the decision of the Allahabad High Court.
Modi won the 2019 election from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 480,000 votes.