Delhi HC adjourns till March 2 plea against AAP candidate alleging discrepancies in election affidavit

Delhi High Court adjourned till March 2 the hearing on a petition filed against Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Karol Bagh candidate Vishesh Ravi alleging discrepancies in his election affidavit.

A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar adjourned the matter after Ravi sought more time to file a reply on the plea.

The petition, filed by BJP leader Yoginder Chandolia, alleged that Ravi concealed his educational qualification in his nomination paper filed at the Election Commission.

Earlier, the High Court had issued a notice to the Election Commission on the matter.

Chandolia had approached a division bench of the High Court after a single-judge Bench, on Monday, dismissed the petition against Ravi.

"It is settled law that suppression of pending criminal case and education qualification are substantial defect and in such case, the nomination form is liable to be rejected. Hence impugned Order is not sustainable," the petition said.

The petitioner sought to issue directions to call for the records of EC order dated January 22 and to scrutinise the nomination of Ravi in accordance with the various directions of the Supreme Court.

"It has been revealed in the media that AAP's Vishesh Ravi has stated in his 2013 poll affidavit that he graduated by completing B. Com from Chaudhary Charan Singh University in 2008," Chandolia had told ANI.

"But in 2015, he said that he is pursuing a BA from IGNOU. Now he has mentioned tenth class pass as his highest educational qualification. I filed a complaint regarding this with the returning officer but he asked me to approach the court," the BJP leader added.

Polling on 70 Assembly seats of Delhi will be held on February 8 and the counting of votes will take place on February 11.