AAP embarrassed? ‘Contestant from Lucknow’ Javed Jafri is not even a registered voter!

Lucknow: What could be more embarrassing for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) than one of the candidates of the party not even being a registered voter? Well, the party had to put up Adarsh Shastri, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, as a ‘covering candidate' for the original nominee Javed Jafri. Reportedly, the step was taken after fearing that Javed Jafri’s papers might have some anomalies. Javed Jafri, who was contesting the elections from Lucknow, was not a registered voter. An email sent from the ID aapkiasliat@gmail.com to several mediapersons late on Tuesday night, accused Jafri of using 'jugad' (manipulation) to get himself registered as a voter in Lucknow. However, senior AAP leaders explained the situation as a precautionary measure. There are reports that Shastri, who is also contesting from Allahabad, was asked to reach Lucknow overnight to file nomination as covering candidate. Jafri came to collectorate to file nomination along with wife Habiba and AAP volunteers carrying placard, on Wednesday. Shastri arrived after half an hour, along with another group of supporters and told the mediapersons (when asked) that he was there on the instructions of the party high command and would be filing nomination as a covering candidate. According to media reports, Javed Jafri had last voted in 2008 due to which his name got deleted from the voter list due to some reason and since then he was not registered as a voter anywhere in India. Meanwhile, AAP’s Lucknow spokesperson Vaibhav Maheshwari rubbished all allegations, saying that Jafri’s name has been registered as a voter from Mohanlalganj constituency and his ID card no is TXQ4684809.