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“The nominating committee made the decision that someone with this as part of their history was not appropriate as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative party,” Prentice said in an interview.

“The facts are now clear to people and I think it helps people understand.”

At the end of March, the 30-year-old Lall was blocked by the party from running in Chestermere-Rocky View for undisclosed reasons, leaving former Wildrose MLA Bruce McAllister to be acclaimed in the riding.

In a restraining order from December 2007 obtained by the Herald, Lall’s ex-girlfriend wrote “he has not stopped harassing me since we have broken up and stopped talking in Feb. 2007.”

“He is extremely verbally abusive towards me and my family … the respondent has threatened me and my family and has shown to be aggressive and short-tempered. He is incredibly unstable and I am scared because I have no idea what he wants or will do next,” states the restraining order application.

Lall confirmed the order was put in place, but said he is now close friends with the woman and that she spoke to the PC party’s private investigator about it earlier this year.

“We were young, she embellished it. She explained it all to him,” said Lall, who runs a non-profit agency.

The woman told the Herald she is “diplomatically civil” with Lall and “has no current issues with what has happened in the past.” She would not comment on Lall’s suggestion she had embellished the matter or whether he should be allowed to run.