EC moves Delhi HC for permission to shift EVMs of North West Delhi LS seat

The Election Commission sought permission of the Delhi High Court on Monday to shift from a college the EVMs of Lok Sabha elections in the North-West Delhi constituency, from where BJP MP Hans Raj Hans has won.

The EC application was filed in a pending petition challenging the election of Hans to the Lok Sabha on the ground that he had filed affidavit with false information with his nomination for the 2019 elections.

The plea came up before Justice Jayant Nath who said it would be heard along with the main pending which is already listed for September 18.

The main election petition has been filed by Congress leader Rajesh Lilothia against Hans.

The Election Commission (EC), in its plea, sought permission to relocate the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) from the college saying it was urgently required for restoring educational activities that are being hampered because of their storage.

It was also required to be relocated for recording of votes in the elections to be held in future, EC said.

The court had earlier sought response of the Hans and EC on the petition by Lilothia, who had contested the elections from North West Delhi parliamentary constituency against the BJP leader.

It had also asked the EC to preserve the documents filed by Hans during the pendency of the petition.

The petition, filed through advocates Vikram Dua and Sunil Kumar, alleged that the singer-turned-politician had made false declarations with regard to income of his wife, having liability of Rs 2.5 crore and about his education.

The plea alleged that Hans had also concealed information and committed corrupt practices.

It said in his affidavit filed for contesting 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he had disclosed his highest education qualification as 'PREP' completed in 1981 from DAV college, whereas in the 2019 polls affidavit, he mentioned his highest qualification to be 'matric' completed from a government school in 1977-78.

In North West Delhi, AAP's Gugan Singh lost by over six lakh to BJP candidate Hans.