Delhi HC issues notice to Parvesh Verma on plea challenging his election from New Delhi

Verma defeated former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal by over 4,000 votes in the polls held in February.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday issued a notice PWD and water minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma on a plea challenging his election from the New Delhi assembly constituency in the recently concluded Vidhan Sabha polls.

Delhi cabinet minister Parvesh Verma. (Photo from X)

The plea sought directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct fresh polls for the seat, from where Verma was elected, on grounds that the election was held without following the prescribed procedures and guidelines.

Verma defeated former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, which the latter represented since 2013, by over 4,000 votes in the assembly elections held in February.

A bench of justice Jasmeet Singh sought ECI’s response in the plea filed by one Vishvanath Agarwal, who was nominated by the Nationalist Congress Party but could not contest the polls from the constituency due to non-acceptance of his nomination form.

The court sought response from other candidates who had contested the elections from the constituency including Varma, Kejriwal, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, and fixed May 27 as the next date of hearing.

Agarwal’s plea, also seeking to declare the entire election as null and void, painted a picture that the returning officer (RO) failed to conduct free and fair elections by engaging in unfair, biased, illegal practice and denied him free access to his room.

It went on to add that the RO abused the procedure established by law and the guidelines set forth in the Handbook for Returning Officer, by locking his room from inside during the time allotted for receiving nomination papers and opening the same few minutes before the stipulated time.

“The proceedings adopted in the filing of nomination is bad in law as the issue pertains to statutory duty of respondent number 3 (RO) conferred upon him by the Constitution and the statute enacted thereunder,” the plea stated.