Delhi Police to probe Arvind Kejriwal's allegations against BJP's Parvesh Verma: Election official

Arvind Kejriwal had accused New Delhi BJP candidate Parvesh Verma of distributing cash and organising job camps in violation of the moral code of conduct.

The New Delhi district election officer (DEO) has forwarded Aam Aadmi Party's complaints against Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Parvesh Verma for distributing cash and organising job camps to the police for further investigation, news agency PTI reported.

New Delhi, Jan 09 (ANI): BJP Leader Parvesh Verma addresses the media, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo)(Vipin Kumar)

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had accused Parvesh Verma of violating the moral code of conduct (MCC) by setting up job camps under the "Har Ghar Naukari" campaign and distributing ₹1100 in cash.

“These things come under corrupt practices under the rules and regulations of the Election Commission. Parvesh Verma should be barred from contesting elections and his house should be raided to find out how much money he has at his house,” Arvind Kejriwal had said after meeting the Election Commission.

‘No evidence’ yet

The police were asked to investigate the facts of Arvind Kejriwal's allegations and take action under relevant sections of the Representation of Peoples Act, PTI reported.

New Delhi DEO said in an action-taken report submitted to the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi that instructions were also issued to prevent the holding of job camps on January 15.

In separate reports, the poll officials said that flying squads in charge of checking MCC violations did not find any camps or pamphlets, as the AAP alleged.

Collusion, voter deletion claims

Kejriwal had further alleged that the local election officer of the New Delhi assembly constituency had “surrendered” to the BJP.

“He is facilitating all the wrongdoings of the BJP...The ECI has assured us that they will not allow all these practices to happen and strict action will be taken...The local DEO and ERO should be suspended,” he alleged.

The former Delhi chief minister also raised allegations of arbitrary voter deletion from the electoral rolls of the New Delhi constituency. The poll official had rejected such allegations.

In a post on social media platform X, the district election officer said that field investigation did not prove any such allegation and that preventive measures were also taken.

Further, the election officer also addressed allegations of illegal additions and deletions, saying, “mere filling of form 7 and form 6 doesn’t amount to addition or deletion of names from the electoral roll”.

(With PTI inputs)