Complaint filed against Gambhir for holding public meet sans permission

NEW DELHI: Police on Saturday lodged a formal complaint against Gautam Gambhir, BJP's East Delhi Lok Sabha seat candidate, for allegedly holding a public meeting in Jangpura without prior permission from authorities, officials said.

The complaint was lodged after East Delhi Returning Officer K Mahesh asked police to take action against the cricketer-turned politician for allegedly violating rules.

"We have initiated action against Gautam Gambhir under sections 28/110 of the Delhi Police Act," Chinmoy Biswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), said.

Police have registered a "kalandra", which is a formal complaint lodged by police in a non-cognisable offence under the act which gives special power to the force, another officer said.

Gambhir did not seek prior permission to hold a public meeting in Janpura on April 25, officials said.

However, Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana claimed that permission was taken for Gambhir's event and it continued somewhat longer than the scheduled duration.

The party's legal department will take appropriate steps in the matter, Khurana said. The Bhartiya Janta Party has pitted Gambhir against AAP's Atishi and senior Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

Gambhir is making his electoral debut from the seat and has been under attack from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over allegations that he had double entries in voters list.

Reacting to the developments, AAP's Atishi tweeted, ""First, Discrepancies in nomination papers. Then, Criminal offence of having 2 voter IDs. Now, FIR for illegal rally (sic),"

My question to Gautam Gambhir: When you don't know the rules, why play the game? (sic) she said on Twitter.

Gambhir landed in a controversy after AAP leader Atishi on Friday filed a complaint against the former cricketer and BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir for allegedly enrolling as a voter in more than one constituency in violation of the Representation of the People Act (RPA).

In a petition filed on Thursday, Atishi has alleged that Gautam Gambhir had provided false information in his nomination papers. Atishi claimed that Gautam Gambhir is a registered voter in Delhi's Karol Bagh as well as Rajinder Nagar, both of which fall under the Central Delhi parliamentary seat. The court will hear the case on May 1.

Gautam Gambhir - a supporter of the BJP government's policies - was welcomed in the party by senior leader Arun Jaitley last month.

The former cricketer is one of the richest candidates in Delhi, with an annual income of over Rs 12 crore. A veteran of 58 Tests and 147 one-day internationals, Gautam Gambhir was a key member of the Indian teams that won the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the One-Day International World Cup in 2011.

A vocal ambassador of the party on Twitter, his social media posts with strong comments on contemporary politics and incidents had inspired talk about his diving into politics.