Rampur, 28 March (HS): On technical reasons, the electoral office rejected Asim Raja's nomination as Samajwadi Party candidate for the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday. Muhibullah Nadvi had also submitted paperwork as the SP candidate on Wednesday, when the party named him the official candidate. According to District Magistrate Jogender Singh, Raja's nomination form was rejected since it did not have certain papers.

Raja is regarded close to Azam Khan, a top SP politician and former minister. He unsuccessfully ran for the state legislature in a 2022 byelection after Azam Khan was disqualified from the House due to a court ruling that sentenced him to three years in prison for hate speech.

The Rampur Parliamentary seat presented a challenging scenario for the SP, since two candidates claiming to be the party's nominee filed nominations on the last day of the first round of elections. Rampur will go to the elections on April 19. Nadvi, the imam of Parliament Street Jama Masjid in Delhi, also submitted his candidacy as an SP candidate from Rampur on Wednesday. Raja had also claimed to be the legitimate SP candidate, however the party eventually announced Nadvi as the actual candidate.

Hindusthan Samachar/Abhishek Awasthi/Manoj