Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 | EC approves vote transfer for AAP's Patparganj candidate Avadh Ojha, Kejriwal thanks poll body

New Delhi: Clouds over candidature of Aam Aadmi Party's Avadh Ojha, an educationist, in Patparganj blew over after he was not able to register as a voter in Delhi, with party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claiming that the Election Commission has ordered his inclusion in the electoral rolls.

The development came after Kejriwal and other senior leaders met the Election Commission. Kejriwal thanked the EC for allowing the registration of Ojha as a voter in Delhi, which is a legal requirement for contesting the Assembly election.

Ojha is registered as a voter in Greater Noida and was announced as an AAP candidate for Patparganj in place of former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who shifted to Jangpura seat. Delhi is going to polls on February 5 and the counting of votes will be held on February 8.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said Ojha had on December 26 last year applied to register as a candidate by submitting Form 6 but there was no response about whether it was accepted or not. When enquired, he was told to submit Form 8 as it was a case of transfer of vote.

“He submitted Form 8 on January 7. As per the EC manual, the last date for filing such applications is ten days before the last date of nominations, which is January 17 in this case. The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer has first issued an order saying that January 7 is the last date for such activities,” he said.

“However, within 24 hours, mysteriously another order was issued making the deadline January 6, which is against rules and EC manual. Why was this second order issued? This is to debar Ojha deliberately from contesting,” he said.

Kejriwal said the EC can consider the application under special circumstances.