I don't understand this. While I am sympathetic to the circumstances and obliged to concur that the rule might need to be rethought, it seems clear there was a violation albeit unintentional.

It is a testament to the candidate that he volunteered to step down. Perhaps the best thing to keep community confidence is to follow the rules that were set out in advance and not change them or waive them on an ad hoc basis in the middle of an election.