Deadline over,many turned away

Several candidates from wards like Shahdara,Jhilmil,Vivek Vihar and Dilshad Garden got into an argument with the returning officer for the wards,Vivek Kumar Tripathi.

Candidate from Rastravadi Shiv Sena Ishwar Das,who was filing nomination from Shahdara,said: “I reached Vyapar Bhawan at ITO around 2.30 pm and gave my bio-data. There was some formality pending,and I was trying to complete it. When I went back,they refused to accept my nomination.’’

Uttrakhand Kranti Dal candidate Usha Hosain,who was also at the office to file her nominations from Vivek Vihar,complained of a similar problem. “They are not letting me file my nomination. I reached here exactly at 3 pm,but the official claimed that I was one minute late and he could not accept my papers’’ said Hosain.

Twenty-two-year-old Piyank Bharadwaj,who was to file nominations from Dilshad Garden,said he reached the office at 2.30 pm and started the process of filing his nomination. “All the papers were handed over by 3 pm,but they refused to accept it,’’ he claimed.

Many candidates from BJP party were also not able to file nominations. Usha Rani from BJP was unable to file nominations from Batavarpur. Delhi Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said such complaints were reported from some areas.

“Some of the candidates didn’t have their papers in place. A candidate cannot hold up the process because he or she does not have the relevant papers,’’ said Mehta.

Election officers claimed all candidates had enough time to file their nomination — the process started on March 19.

With the Congress revising its list in the past 24 hours,two party candidates filed their papers for the same seat — Milap Nagar.

“In the first list released by the party,Dev Prakash Sharma’s name was given. It was changed to Rahul Sharma on Monday morning. But both landed up to file nominations,’’ said a source from Congress.

The Delhi Election Commission said it was a party issue,and needed to be sorted out at its level. Meanwhile,the crowd of supporters outside all offices of returning officers slowed down the traffic in areas like ITO,Kashmere Gate,etc.