Gautam Gambhir is the BJP candidate for the East Delhi seat.
Highlights
- Gautam Gambhir is the BJP candidate for the East Delhi seat
- AAP's Atishi has alleged that he holds two voter ID cards
- Mr Gambhir is up against Atishi and Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely
Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir today hit out at Aam Aadmi Party's Atishi, his rival for the East Delhi parliamentary seat, over the two-voter ID allegation. The AAP leader has approached the court, alleging the former cricketer holds two voter ID cards, which is illegal, and sought his disqualification. The case, in which the 37-year-old faces a jail for a year, will be heard on May 1.
Mr Gambhir, who had not responded to the matter so far, took a swipe at AAP today, calling it "negative politics".
"When you don't have a vision and have done nothing in the last 4.5 years, you make such allegations. The Election Commission will decide this. When you have a vision you don't do such negative politics," Gautam Gambhir said.
The BJP has accused Ms Atishi's party chief, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, of holding three voter identity cards in 2013. A BJP spokesperson has said Mr Kejriwal's wife now holds three voter identity cards - one each for Delhi, UP and West Bengal.
False declaration in the matter of electoral rolls is a criminal offence, "punishable with jail time of up to one year," Ms Atishi has said in a series of tweets. She claims he has two voter IDs in two separate constituencies of Delhi -- Karol Bagh and Rajinder Nagar.
Gautam Gambhir, who had long expressed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined the BJP last month and was nominated for the East Delhi seat.
East Delhi is witnessing a three-cornered contest between Atishi, Gautam Gambhir and Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely, who was a minister in the government of the party's three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Delhi votes on May 12 - the counting is on May 23.