The Congress leader has been directed to reply to the notice by 11 am on September 8. The Election Commission has issued a notice to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that he was enrolled as a voter in two assembly constituencies in Delhi.
According to the District Election Office (DEO) of New Delhi, Khera’s name appears in the electoral rolls of both the Jangpura and New Delhi assembly segments. The notice has been issued under Section 17 and Section 18 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which prohibit a person from being registered in more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.
Khera has been directed to submit an explanation, along with supporting documents, by 11 am on September 8. The notice said, “as you may be aware, that being registered in the electoral roll in more than one constituency is a penal offence under the Representation of the People Act 1950. You are therefore directed to show cause as to why action should not be taken against you under the said Act.”
Under election law, holding more than one active voter ID is punishable with imprisonment up to one year or a fine, or both. The Election Commission has said it would proceed in accordance with the law once Khera submits his reply or if he fails to respond by the deadline.
Pawan Khera said the poll panel was to be blamed for his name appearing in two assembly segments. Khera said he had shifted out of the New Delhi constituency in 2016 and had followed the procedure to have his name deleted from there.
“I would like to know from the Election Commission who is being made to cast their vote from the New Delhi constituency in my name. I want the CCTV footage. I shifted from there in 2016. I followed the procedure to get my name deleted from there. But why is my name still there?” he told news agency ANI.
“This is exactly what the Congress party is saying. This is the question that we are raising regarding the working of the Election Commission… This list is available to the BJP leaders as well as the EC. Congress keeps asking for the list but never gets it,” Khera said, a reference to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s post on social media on the Congress leader’s name in two electoral rolls. In a post on X, Amit Malviya had alleged that Khera held two active voter IDs registered in Jangpura and New Delhi.
“Rahul Gandhi screamed ‘vote chori’ from the rooftops… it has now emerged that Pawan Khera – who never misses a chance to flaunt his proximity to the Gandhis – holds two active EPIC numbers,” Malviya wrote on X.
He said it was now for the Election Commission to determine whether Khera had voted multiple times. “It is now for the Election Commission to investigate how Pawan Khera holds two active EPIC numbers, and whether he voted multiple times – a clear violation of electoral laws,” he said in his post.
