The Election Commission sought the permission of the Delhi High Court on Monday to shift the EVMs, used in Lok Sabha elections in the North West Delhi constituency, from a college. BJP MP Hans Raj Hans won from the constituency.
The EC application was filed in a pending petition challenging the election of Mr. Hans to the Lok Sabha on the ground stating that he had filed an affidavit with false information with his nomination for the 2019 elections.
The plea came up before Justice Jayant Nath who said it would be heard along with the main pending which is already listed for September 18. The main election petition has been filed by Congress leader Rajesh Lilothia against Mr. Hans.
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The EC, in its plea, sought permission to relocate the EVMs and Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails from the college, saying it was urgently required for restoring educational activities that are being hampered because of their storage.
It was also required to be relocated for the recording of votes in the elections to be held in future, the EC said.
The court had earlier sought response of Mr. Hans and the EC on the petition by Mr. Lilothia, who had contested the elections from North-West Delhi parliamentary constituency against the BJP leader.
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It had also asked the EC to preserve the documents filed by Mr. Hans during the pendency of the petition.
The petition, filed through advocates Vikram Dua and Sunil Kumar, alleged that the singer-turned-politician had made false declarations with regard to the income of his wife, having liability of ₹2.5 crore and also about his education.
The plea alleged that Mr. Hans had also concealed information and committed corrupt practices.
It said that in his affidavit filed for contesting 2009 Lok Sabha election, he had disclosed his highest education qualification as ‘PREP’ completed in 1981 from DAV college, whereas in the 2019 polls affidavit, he mentioned his highest qualification to be ‘matric’ completed from a government school in 1977-78.