Delhi HC quashes AAP MLA's election; BJP slams Kejriwal for giving him ticket once again

Reacting to the Delhi High Court verdict on Friday pertaining to AAP leader and former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, BJP’s Kapil Mishra lamented the delay in the judicial proceedings. The Delhi HC set aside Tomar’s election as the MLA from the Tri Nagar constituency in the 2015 Assembly elections for the wrong declaration of educational qualification in his poll affidavit. Mishra highlighted the fact that the decision had come just days before the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. Moreover, he slammed Kejriwal for giving him the election ticket once again despite possessing a fake degree.

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Controversy over Tomar's degree

Tomar comfortably won the Assembly election in 2015 trouncing his BJP opponent Nand Kishore Garg by a margin of 22,311 votes. However, he was embroiled in controversy just months later as an FIR was registered against him at the Hauz Khas police station on June 8, 2015, under sections pertaining to cheating, forgery, forgery with an intent to cheat etc. His arrest by the Delhi police for allegedly obtaining a fake law degree on the very next day rankled AAP, who accused the Centre of political vendetta. On July 24, 2015, Tomar was released on bail. Interestingly, it was former AAP MLA Kapil Mishra who replaced Tomar as the Law Minister back then.  

Read: AAP Trying To Convince MLAs Who Are Unhappy Over Delhi Election Tickets: Sisodia

AAP declares the list of all candidates

46 sitting MLAs have been re-nominated by the AAP. On the other hand, 15 new candidates have been given tickets. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia will contest from New Delhi and Patparganj respectively. In a significant development, Atishi who is considered to have played an integral role in the Delhi government’s school education reforms will contest the Assembly elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, she lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir from the East Delhi constituency. On similar lines, Raghav Chadha- the national spokesperson of AAP, who also lost in the Lok Sabha elections has been given an opportunity to contest from the Rajinder Nagar constituency. 

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