The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Election Commission, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, and others on a writ petition seeking cancellation of his candidature in the upcoming Assembly elections on the grounds of his residential status.
Congress leader Kiran Walia, pitted against Mr. Kejriwal from New Delhi , has moved the petition alleging that the AAP chief had illegally declared himself a resident of the Capital, as he wanted to become an elector from Delhi. She said that Mr. Kejriwal had submitted a false affidavit to the Election Commission in this regard.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru asked the respondents to make their stand clear on February 4, when the case will come up for hearing. The court agreed to hear the plea early after the petitioner’s counsel submitted that a delayed hearing would make the petition infructuous.
Ms. Walia, former Delhi Health Minister, said in her petition that though Mr. Kejriwal was a resident of Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, he had falsely declared himself to be an ordinary resident of Delhi for the past 22 months to get his name included in the electoral rolls of the New Delhi constituency.
Accusing Mr. Kejriwal of twisting and manipulating the law, the petition said he had himself furnished his Ghaziabad address before various courts in his personal bonds earlier.
The petition said Mr. Kejriwal had filed an application in November 2014 for his enrolment as an elector on the address of Vitthal Bhai Patel House, Rafi Marg, but had filed a separate application for shifting his name to a residence in B.K. Dutt Colony, Lodhi Road, after the first application was rejected by the Election Commission.
Form 8-A, filled in by Mr. Kejriwal to get his name and address in the electoral roll shifted was not maintainable as he was no longer an elector in the voters’ list of the city, according to the petition. He ceased to be an elector from Delhi, when the EC rejected his application for enrolment as a resident of Vitthal Bhai Patel House, it said.
“The question of transposition does not arise,” said the petition, while pointing out that Mr. Kejriwal had yet to file a fresh application for enrolment as a voter in Delhi under Form 6 of the EC rules. Besides, objections to the residential details furnished by him on affidavit were still pending.
Seeking the court’s directions for deletion of Mr. Kejriwal’s name from the electoral rolls of New Delhi, the petition said the EC had facilitated an “outsider and non-resident of Delhi” as a candidate by accepting his nomination papers. It also sought directions to the CEO to decide on the objections and applications against the inclusion of Mr. Kejriwal’s name in the voters’ list.
A similar petition moved by Maulik Bharat, a non-government organisation, citing the RTI replies on Mr. Kejriwal’s residential status, will also be heard on February 4 along with Ms. Walia’s plea.
