Meeting without EC nod, fresh bouncer for Gautam Gambhir

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When contacted, DCP (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said: “We have received a complaint from the election commission on Friday against Gautam Gambhir for conducting a meeting in Lajpat Nagar on Thursday. We took action under the Delhi Police Act and filed a kalandara against him after issuing a challan.”

However, District Election Officer (DEO) East K Mahesh said he had asked the police to invoke Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code — disobedience to order promulgated by public servant — and that they had not done so.

This comes a day after AAP’s East Delhi candidate Atishi filed a criminal case against Gambhir at a Delhi court for allegedly being registered as voter in two different parts of the city, which is a punishable offence under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

Read | EC directs Delhi police to file FIR against Gautam Gambhir for rally without permission

Earlier this week, the AAP had sought rejection of Gambhir’s nomination over a technical discrepancy in his affidavits, but the poll officer dismissed the objection for not being of a substantial nature.

After Saturday’s developments, Atishi took a jibe at Gambhir by tweeting, “First, discrepancies in nomination papers. Then, criminal offence of having 2 voter IDs. Now, FIR for illegal rally. My question to Gautam Gambhir: When you don’t know the rules, why play the game?”

Also read | BJP parachuted celebrity… we weren’t planning anything against Gambhir: Atishi

While Gambhir did not respond to the EC’s intervention, a representative said, “We will respond once we receive a notice from the EC. Our legal team is looking into it. We will deal with it as per legal procedures.”

Meanwhile, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Congress’s candidate in the East Delhi contest, responded to the developments by tweeting, “We have one candidate who the EC is recommending an FIR against and another one who is doing nothing but pointing fingers. If they can’t be trusted to connect with the people in the middle of the election, how can they be trusted to be there for them if they’re elected.”