NEW DELHI: Claiming that AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal is not a resident of Delhi, NGO Maulik Bharat Trust has challenged his application for a change of address ahead of assembly elections. The NGO has written to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting him not to issue Kejriwal a voter ID from B K Dutt colony.

In its letter to the CEC, dated January 13, 2015, the NGO has challenged Kejriwal's application for change of address from Tilak Marg to B K Dutt colony. A few days back, AAP had withdrawn its first application in which Kejriwal had applied for a change of address from Tilak Marg to Vittalbhai Patel House on Rafi Marg.

This has given BJP an opportunity to attack AAP. "This is double standards. He is provided police protection by Ghaziabad Police, but he claims he lives in Delhi. How is this possible?" said Praveen Shankar Kapoor, media convenor of Delhi BJP.

Members of Maulik Bharat Trust say the new application should also be cancelled on the same grounds. "We have got an RTI reply from Ghaziabad Police in which it has stated that he lives in Kaushambi (Ghaziabad). We had given adequate proof to the election commission based on which his first application was cancelled on January 9. He later filed another application for change of address on the same day," said Ajay Aggarwal, secretary of Maulik Bharat Trust.

But AAP sources rubbished the charges, saying that there was no confusion regarding this issue. "The present application is regarding change of address from Tilak Marg to BK Dutt Colony. We applied for change of address to this location about 8-10 days back. We have rented two rooms here. The one on the ground floor is the office while the first floor room is residential, where Kejriwal often stays. These rooms have been with the party since the past two years. Earlier we had applied for change of address to Vitthalbhai Patel House on Rafi Marg. The government has allotted the party a suite in this building where one room is an office and the other is a rest room. The allotment was made in the name of the party convener and secretary. The election commission told us that an office address cannot be used for voter I-card and we withdrew the application from here," said party sources.

Kejriwal contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections as a registered voter of 41, Hanuman Road, the party's headquarters at that point of time. Subsequently, when he became chief minister and shifted home to Tilak Lane, the address was changed and he cast his vote for Lok Sabha elections from that address. Now that he has vacated that house as well, he has applied for a change in address. Kejriwal's family, meanwhile, has been living in Girnar Apartments in Kaushambi which is a district of Ghaziabad. The house has been allotted to his wife, an IRS officer.

In its letter to the CEC, Maulik Bharat has claimed: "Kejriwal has declared to have shifted from the address of assembly constituency 40 (New Delhi), Part No 111 at serial no 515. The application was rejected by your office. In the fresh application filed by Kejriwal, he claims to be an 'ordinarily resident' of K 87, B K Dutt Colony (Karbala), Lodhi Road, New Delhi. The various notices served before and the documents of the UP Police confirming he is a resident of Ghaziabad, UP substantiate that he under no stretch of imagination is an ordinary resident of New Delhi."

Meanwhile, a senior official of Delhi election office said that all such applications are processed through a proper process and will be dissolved with 7-10 days. During this period anyone can challenge the application.