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AAP MCD bypoll candidate alleges tampering of votes in Ashok Vihar ward, moves Delhi court

After hearing the petition, Principal District and Sessions Judge Nisha Sahay Saxena of the Rohini court issued notice and listed the matter for December 24.

AAP candidate Seema Goyal has moved a Delhi court alleging vote tampering in the Ashok Vihar MCD bypollAAP candidate Seema Goyal has moved a Delhi court alleging vote tampering in the Ashok Vihar MCD bypoll

Seema Goyal, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate in one of the 12 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) where bypolls were held in November, has moved a Delhi court alleging “tampering of votes”.

After hearing the petition, Principal District and Sessions Judge Nisha Sahay Saxena of the Rohini court issued notice and listed the matter for December 24.

Goyal had moved a petition challenging the results of the MCD bye-elections of the Ashok Vihar ward. She had claimed that 801 voters had been “erroneously” added in the A-Block polling area. She also claimed that two polling stations “located outside the jurisdictional boundary” had been “unlawfully” included in the electoral roll.

“The purported margin of victory is shown as 405 votes. This result is highly improbable, inconsistent with the earlier count, and indicative of manipulation, wrongful acceptance of invalid votes, wrongful rejection of valid votes, and possibly unlawful addition of ballots from the misallocated polling areas, including the areas illegally added from Ward 64 and the two misallocated polling stations listed above,” the petition claimed.

It added, “During the counting process, a highly suspicious, unexplained and prima facie fraudulent reversal of the election result occurred. After completion of all 10 out of 10 rounds of counting, the  petitioner, Seema Goyal, was leading by 179 votes. However, after an unexplained delay and after certain counting officials moved to an inner enclosure, suddenly and unexpectedly the Respondent No. 1 Smt. Veena Asija (BJP) was declared as the purported Returned Candidate.”

In her petition, Goyal also stated that a written complaint had been lodged with the Returning Officer, requesting immediate intervention but no action was taken.

Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023. Professional Background Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University. Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories. Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts. Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials. Recent notable articles In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories. 1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.  2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation. 3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police. Signature Style Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public. X (Twitter): @Nirbhaya99 ... Read More

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