Court to hear complaint against Kejriwal on Feb 7

A local court will hear on February 7 a complaint filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly giving "misleading information" in his affidavit filed ahead of the assembly elections.

The petition came up for hearing today before Metropolitan Magistrate Swati Katiyar who said she would go through the complaint before hearing the matter.

"Let me go through the file and let me see the provisions. You come on February 7," the magistrate said.

During the brief hearing, advocate Rahul Raj Malik told the court that provisions of the Representation of the People Act were there in the complaint filed by an NGO.

The complaint alleged that Kejriwal had "wilfully misled" the Election Commission by concealing his correct address and suppressing the market value of his property.

The petition was filed by NGO Maulik Bharat Trust, through its office bearers, alleging "wilful concealment and suppression of correct address and value of the aforesaid property amounts to commission of a criminal offence under section 125A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 punishable with six months of imprisonment and/or fine or both".

"The aforesaid facts and circumstances clearly make out a case of blatant violation, suppression, misleading facts and information not only from the electors but also from Election Commission of India...," the petition said.

Earlier, the NGO had approached the Delhi High Court with a plea seeking quashing of nomination papers of Kejriwal on the ground of "illegalities" in his affidavit filed before the poll panel.

The high court had refused to entertain the plea and directed the petitioners to approach a magisterial court for the remedy.

The NGO in its petition before the high court had alleged that Kejriwal violated provisions of the Representation of People Act by submitting an incorrect affidavit regarding details of his assets and income at the time of filing his nomination papers.