Lucknow: Meera Yadav, the Samajwadi Party's (SP) Lok Sabha candidate for the Khajuraho constituency, faced a setback as her nomination form was rejected by the returning officer on Friday. Officials stated that the form was deemed “incomplete” due to the absence of her signature on the ‘B form’ and the failure to attach a certified copy of the 2023 assembly elections voters' list.

Following the scrutiny by the returning officer, Deep Narayan Yadav, Meera Yadav's husband, expressed their intention to challenge the decision in the high court. He pointed out that the form had been verified the day before without any issues, highlighting the duty of the returning officer to rectify discrepancies even for illiterate candidates. He also mentioned the unavailability of a certified copy of the voters' list until April 3, and their request for time to rectify the shortcomings.

In response to the rejection, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav criticized the move, calling it a “blatant murder of democracy.” He questioned the inspecting officer's decision to accept the form initially if the signatures were indeed missing, and accused the BJP of resorting to excuses and conspiracies.

Meanwhile, it's notable that Congress had ceded the Khajuraho seat to SP as part of their seat-sharing agreement, while the BJP nominated Vishnu Dutt Sharma, a sitting MP and state unit president, to contest from the constituency.

(With inputs from PTI)