Asim Raja
Credit: X/@asimrajasp
Rampur (UP): The election office on Thursday rejected candidature of Asim Raja as Samajwadi Party's nominee from Rampur Lok Sabha seat on technical grounds.
Muhibullah Nadvi had also filed his papers as the SP candidate on Wednesday, when the party declared him its official candidate.
District Magistrate Jogender Singh said that Raja's nomination paper was rejected as some documents were not attached to it.
Raja is considered close to senior SP leader and former minister Azam Khan.
He had unsuccessfully contested for the state assembly in a 2022 bypoll after Azam Khan was disqualified from the House, following a court verdict which sent him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.
Rampur Parliamentary seat saw a piquant situation for the SP as two persons claiming party's nominee filed nomination on the last day of nomination for the first phase of elections.
Rampur will go to polls on April 19.
Nadvi is the imam of Parliament Street Jama Masjid in Delhi, had also filed nomination as SP candidate from Rampur on Wednesday.
Raja had also claimed himself to be the official SP candidate but the party later declared Nadvi as its official candidate.