Petition filed in Delhi High Court against election of BJP's Parvesh Verma who defeated Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma to an election petition challenging his election from the New Delhi seat in the 2025 assembly polls. .The petition filed by Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Vishvanath Agarwal claimed that his nomination form was not accepted by the Returning Officer, thereby tainting the elections results.Hence, he said that elections should be declared void and re-election should be held from New Delhi seat.Justice Jasmeet Singh briefly took up the case today when he issued notice to 26 respondents.The respondents include Verma, the Election Commission of India, the State Election Commission and other candidates who contested the elections from the New Delhi seat, including former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal.The matter will be heard next on May 27. Verma, who secured 30,088 votes, had defeated Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal by a margin of 4,089 votes..In his petition, Agarwal (petitioner) claimed that when he went to file his nomination form to contest the Delhi Legislative Assembly polls from the New Delhi seat, the Returning Officer's room was initially locked from the inside and guarded by security personnel. According to Agarwal, he was asked to wait to see the Returning Officer (RO) in a very crowded room. Agarwal added that he waited as instructed and that an eye was also kept on the RO's room. He waited as instructed but at around 2.50 PM that day, an announcement was abruptly made that only those who entered the RO's room by 3 PM would be considered for nomination, leading to chaos among several candidates who rushed to meet the RO. Agarwal added that many candidates and even staff members could not enter the RO's room due to the crowd. The deadline of 3 PM passed while they were waiting for candidates who were already inside the room to exit the room, the plea added. It is Agarwal's case that he continued waiting at the premises till around 8 PM to meet the RO but his nomination form was not accepted. Agarwal also accused the RO of threatening him and demanding that he leave the premises. Further, Agarwal said that he also approached the District Magistrate concerned and the Election Commission's authorities with his grievances over such a turn of events. However, his complaints remained unresolved, prompting him to approach the High Court for relief. He had earlier filed an appeal and a writ petition in the matter, which were dismissed as not maintainable. Therefore, he has now filed an election petition to declare the election as void. The plea was filed through advocate Kiral Bala Agarwal..[Read Live Coverage]