Delhi: Drama over Ojha’s name in voter list

Only a person registered as a voter in Delhi can contest the state assembly elections. But no such rule applies for the Lok Sabha elections

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the transfer of party leader Awadh Kumar Ojha’s name from the electoral roll in Greater Noida to Delhi.

Awadh Ojha. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The development took place after a delegation of AAP leaders led by Kejriwal met ECI officials over the issue, alleging irregularities and claiming that there was a deliberate attempt to debar Ojha — the party’s candidate from the Patparganj seat — from contesting the Delhi elections.

Only a person registered as a voter in Delhi can contest the state assembly elections. However, no such rule applies for the Lok Sabha elections

In response to Kejriwal’s allegations, the New Delhi district election officer said that the submission of an applications for the addition of a name does not automatically result in additions in the electoral roll.

On Monday afternoon, Kejriwal at a press conference said that Ojha had on December 26 applied to shift his vote from Greater Noida to Delhi by submitting Form 6.

“However, he received no response. Someone advised him that since his vote was already registered in Greater Noida, he should submit Form 8 instead of Form 6 for transfer. Accordingly, Avadh Ojha submitted Form 8 on January 7,” the AAP chief said.

“The Delhi chief election officer (CEO) had initially issued an order stating January 7 as the last date for submitting Form 8. However, mysteriously, the officer issued another order, changing the deadline to January 6. Why was this second order issued?... Was this change deliberately made to debar Avadh Ojha from the election?” he said.

The AAP delegation then met ECI officials to allow Ojha’s vote to be shifted to Patparganj. They also reiterated malpractices by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the New Delhi constituency — where Kejriwal will contest from.

After the meeting, Kejriwal said, “ECI has issued orders to shift the voter registration of Avadh Ojha, and his vote will now be registered in Delhi. Consequently, he will be able to file his nomination. I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Election Commission for this.”

Ojha, who accompanied the delegation, said, “The issue has been sorted out and my voter’s card will be made on Tuesday. I will file nomination on Wednesday.”

In response the official X account of the New Delhi district election officer posted: “Submission of applications for addition and deletion of electors in the electoral roll does not automatically result in the addition or deletion of names. Each application under Form 6 (for addition) and Form 7 (for deletion) is carefully scrutinized and disposed in strict compliance with the norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI).”

Officials in the Delhi CEO office said that all the forms received for addition, deletion, or modification in the electoral roll are disposed or decided by EROs as per ECI guidelines.

“All the claims and objections are duly displayed in the notice board of the EROs inviting objections. Only after giving due notice, forms are decided by the EROs… The ERO, New Delhi assembly constituency is examining the allegations levelled by the AAP and action will be taken as per ECI guidelines,” they said.

Separately, the BJP slammed Kejriwal, claiming that his remarks about the New Delhi seat reveal that he has “completely lost political ground in Delhi”.

“Arvind Kejriwal is certainly going to suffer a massive defeat in the New Delhi assembly constituency, and out of sheer desperation, Kejriwal is now laying the groundwork to justify his defeat on February 8 by levelling allegations against ECI,” Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.