Scrutiny of Parvez Hashmi's nomination papers postponed till Thursday: poll official

Two independent candidates from Delhi's Okhla assembly constituency have raised objections to the nomination filed by Congress candidate Parvez Hashmi from the seat, following which poll authorities postponed scrutiny of his papers till Thursday morning, officials said. The objections have been raised by Asif Mohd Khan and Babar Riyaz on the nominations filed by Parvez Hashmi and his covering candidate Shaila Hashmi on January 21.

The Independents have alleged "deficiency and concealment of information". January 21 was the last day to file nominations for the Februray 8 Delhi polls and 29 nominations were received from 18 candidates, the officials said.

"We have received objections from two candidates on the nominations filed by Parvez Hashmi and Shaila Hashmi, his covering candidate," an official said. The objections are "under consideration" and a written request has been received from Parvez Hashmi's counsel for giving time for submitting a reply or a clarification on the objections raised, he said.

The scrutiny of papers filed by Parvez Hashmi and Shaila Hashmi has been "adjourned till tomorrow by 10 am as per provisions in the RO Handbook," the official said. Scrutiny of nominations of 16 other candidates were completed on January 22, he said. Meanwhile, sources in the BJP claimed that the standing counsel of Delhi government on Wednesday "appeared during scrutiny of nomination papers" of AAP's Rajinder Nagar candidate Raghav Chadha.

BJP's Rajinder Nagar candidate R P Singh has "strongly condemned" the Delhi government for sending its standing counsel to allegedly "influence the electoral process" headed by a SDM level official, who happens to be a Delhi government employee, sources said. The BJP candidate has said that Arvind Kejriwal's party has "no respect for moral or legal values and works in a anarchic way," sources said.

Sources in the BJP also claimed on Wednesday that polling authorities have sought reply from AAP's Karol Bagh candidate Vishesh Ravi after the saffron party filed objection to the nomination filed by Ravi. Ravi has not disclosed in his affidavit an alleged case of cheating or extortion pending against him in Delhi High Court listed for March 25, they claimed.

Also, Ravi in 2013-2015 nominations has submitted that he is a "graduate" but in 2020 nomination he has disclosed his educational qualification as class X pass only, BJP sources claimed. BJP's Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra in a tweet on Wednesday alleged that AAP was trying to get his "nomination cancelled".

"Poll officials have found my papers correct and rejected all complaints," he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)