Prime Minister Narendra Mod is contesting from Varanasi, but candidates like Sunil Kumar Bind, 37, who spent six days at the office of S Rajalingam, the returning officer and district magistrate of Varanasi, wanted to contest against PM Modi. But Six days later, Rajalingam handed him a rejection slip. Bind was not alone!

Of the 41 people who had filed nominations, 33 were rejected, leaving Varanasi with its least competitive electoral fray in decades. Compared to 26 candidates in 2019 and 42 in 2014, there are only seven candidates contesting elections in Varanasi this time.

Eight applicants, including those whose nominations were accepted, told Scroll that this was by design.

They allege that initially, Rajalingam and his assistant returning officer processed nominations at a snail's pace. Later, they spent hours going through the affidavits filed by at least 14 independent candidates linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

On May 14, the last day to file nominations, the returning officer accepted 27 applications. But by evening, his office informed the applicants - including Bind - that their affidavits had problems. For instance, many of them had not been administered oaths, a crucial prerequisite for nomination. It is prescribed by Article 84A of the Constitution, where applicants have to swear allegiance to the Constitution to "uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India".

The oath had to be administered by Ramalingam or his assistant returning officer. The guidelines laid out in the Election Commission of India handbook for returning officers instructs them to "advise the candidate to make the oath or affirmation immediately after presenting their nomination papers and in any case not later than the day previous to the date of the scrutiny".

However, applicants told Scroll that the returning officer did not advise them to take the oath, violating guidelines laid down by the Election Commission of India.

During the scrutiny of the applications on May 15, officials cited these problems to reject the affidavits of 33 applicants from Varanasi.

Varanasi will vote on June 1 - the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.