New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the nomination filed by comedian Shyam Rangeela for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat where he was to take on PM Modi among others.
Rangeela in a video claimed he was among the 36 nominees out of the 55 vying for the seat to have been rejected, NDTV reported.
Only the affidavits of 15 candidates including PM Modi and Congress pick Ajay Rai cleared the scrutiny process.
Alleging several hurdles in the nomination process, he earlier said he was unfairly singled out and denied assistance during the filing at the District Magistrate's office.
‘Today, the District Magistrate told me that there was some issue with my documents and that I did not take the oath. They did not let the lawyers go in with me and called me alone. My friend was beaten up. Modiji may act and cry, but I don't want to cry here,’ Rangeela reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Varanasi District Magistrate's office cited deficiencies in Rangeela's affidavit and non-compliance with formalities as a reason for rejection of his nomination.
"27 nominations were submitted yesterday and 32 were rejected today, I feel like laughing at the Election Commission, should I laugh? Or should I cry?" he was quoted as saying.
Varanasi District Magistrate S Rajalingam wrote on X that nomination paper was scrutinized in the presence of the candidate and was informed about the deficiencies, adding ‘Your nomination paper has been cancelled because the affidavit submitted by you was incomplete and you did not take the oath/affirmation, a copy of the order of which has also been made available to you.’
Rangeela, who used to be a ‘staunch supporter’ of PM Modi, changed his stance saying that the circumstances evolved over the past decade made him to contest against PM Modi.
"In 2014, I was a follower of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I shared many videos supporting the Prime Minister. Videos were also shared against Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. Seeing them, one could say that I will vote only for the Bharatiya Janata Party for the next 70 years. But the situation has changed in the last 10 years. I will now contest against the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha polls as an Independent candidate," he reportedly said.
Varanasi has long been a BJP stronghold particularly after Narendra Modi began contesting in the seat.