The name of Awadh Ojha, the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from Patparganj constituency for the upcoming Delhi assembly election, has been approved for transfer from Greater Noida to Delhi by the Election Commission of India (ECI), party chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.
The approval means that Awadh Ojha can now file his nomination for the February 5 Delhi election. It came after an AAP delegation, led by Arvind Kejriwal, met ECI officials to address the issue.
“The good news is that Awadh Ojha’s vote will be shifted and the commission has issued an order to transfer his vote, and he will be able to file the nomination,” Kejriwal was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
The AAP supremo had earlier alleged irregularities in the electoral process, claiming that Ojha had filed Form 8 to transfer his vote on January 7, the official deadline. He also accused the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer of unlawfully advancing the deadline to January 6.
According to Kejriwal, the move was an attempt to “deliberately debar” Ojha from contesting the upcoming elections. He said that the alleged move was against the law.
BJP response to Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations on Awadh Ojha’s vote transfer
Delhi BJP responded to Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations regarding the transfer of Awadh Ojha’s name from Uttar Pradesh electoral rolls to Delhi. Virendra Sachdeva, the president of the state BJP unit, asked Kejriwal why his party waited until the last day to complete the process.
“I have a simple question for Arvind Kejriwal. When Awadh Ojha joined the AAP on December 2 and it was decided that he would contest the elections, why did they wait till the last date of the vote transfer process?” Sachdeva said on the issue, according to a PTI report.
“Kejriwal is himself facing a massive defeat in the New Delhi assembly constituency and the AAP convenor has a habit of levelling allegations against the election machinery before the polls, Sachdeva added.
Ojha had joined AAP last month at the party headquarters in the national capital in the presence of senior leaders like Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. With assembly polls in Delhi just weeks away, the political battle between the AAP and BJP is intensifying and both parties are trading allegations over a barrage of issues.
Voting will be held for the assembly polls in Delhi on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8.
(With PTI inputs)