Gautam Gambhir, BJP's East Delhi candidate, filed his nomination on Tuesday (File)
An objection raised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress on BJP's East Delhi candidate Gautam Gambhir's nomination papers over a technical discrepancy, has been dismissed by a poll officer. The two political parties were seeking rejection of his nomination. The officer held a hearing and overruled the objection, saying there is substantial compliance in Mr Gambhir's papers.
"At the time of scrutiny, Atishi Marlena along with Advocate Anish Dayal (Aam Aadmi Party) along with Mr Manjit Singh raised an objection that on the two affidavits filed by the candidate, the notarial stamp bears the date '18/04' on the first affidavit and "19/04" on the second affidavit, whereas the date of the stamp paper is of 23.04.2019," the poll officer wrote in an official release, adding similar objections were raised by Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely.
"Mr Gambhir's lawyer said that '18/04' and '19/04' were the serial numbers of the notary and not dates and the date of notarial stamp is on 23.04.2019 which has been stamped below and this there is no discrepancy," the poll body officer said.
Citing rules under the Representation of People Act, the officer said rejection of nominations were warranted only when there was a defect of substantial character.
Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday led a roadshow in the capital on his first day of campaigning after being named as the BJP candidate for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls from the vital East Delhi constituency.
"I was a cricketer, I am not a cricketer [anymore]. I did what I had to do on the cricket field, it's a different field and it's a different challenge... I have always had the right intention to do something good for the country and change a lot of things in the society and hopefully I touch a lot of lives. So I hope I can live up to the expectations," he said.
It was his "intentions" that set him apart from his main opponents the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, Mr Gambhir claimed.
Mr Gambhir has been a supporter of the BJP government's policies. Last month, he was welcomed in the party by senior leader Arun Jaitley.
Mr Gambhir has replaced Maheish Girri as the BJP candidate from East Delhi, lining up a clash with Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress and AAP's star candidate Atishi.
East Delhi, along with six other seats in the capital, will vote on May 12. Results are expected on May 23.