A sign for the Conservative candidate in Toronto-Danforth, Zia Choudhary, mysteriously appeared on the grounds of a school outside of his election district this weekend.

Choudhary told the Star that he doesn’t know how the sign made it to East York Collegiate Institute, and that neither he — nor his volunteers — are responsible for planting it on the school’s grounds.

Mina Bashta, the campaign manager for Nadirah Nazeer — the Conservative candidate running in Beaches-East York, where the school is located — also said he had “no idea” how the sign got onto school grounds.

Bashta said that Elections Canada asked Nazeer’s team to remove the sign and that they did so “within 20 minutes.” Elections Canada’s Nathalie de Montigny later told the Star that this request would have come from the office of the Commissioner of Elections Canada which enforces election rules.

Ryan Bird, manager of corporate and social relations for the Toronto District School Board, wrote in an email that he believes the sign was placed there sometime this weekend. Bird noted that “campaign signs are not permitted” on school grounds.

Choudhary’s team was involved in another sign showdown earlier this week after his staffers mistakenly planted a sign on the lawn of Katie Jeanne and Dan Lovranski’s East York home.

The couple said they never asked for the sign, and after they were initially told (incorrectly) by Elections Canada that they couldn’t remove it, planted a sign of their own which read: “Don’t vote for →”

Choudhary’s team eventually removed the sign from the couple’s lawn.

The Conservative candidate told the Star that his volunteers said that they had received permission to place the sign while door-knocking in late May.

Correction — Sept. 23, 2019: This article was updated from a previous version that misspelled Mina Bashta’s surname.

Clarification – Sept. 23, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version to include information provided by Elections Canada with respect to election rule enforcements.

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