A Delhi BJP functionary on Monday approached the court seeking criminal proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita accusing her of maintaining her name in electoral rolls of two constituencies, days after AAP candidate Atishi filed a criminal case of a similar nature against her rival Gautam Gambhir.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana filed the complaint in Tiz Hazari against Sunita, a former IRS officer, claiming that her name appears in the electoral rolls of Sahibabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Chandni Chowk (Delhi) Assembly constituencies. Having names in two electoral rolls is a criminal offence.
Khurana's complaint comes days after AAP East Delhi candidate Atishi filed a complaint in the same court against her BJP rival Gambhir, accusing him of having his name in two seats and not mentioning this in his affidavit. Atishi urged the court to nullify his nomination.
In his petition, Khurana said Sunita is "well educated and involved in electoral politics directly or indirectly is well acquainted with the procedure of maintaining electoral roll."
"That the accused being highly qualified and holding responsible post in the Income Tax Department being an IRS officer, is privy to the consequences of committing electoral offences and has deliberately and intentionally made false statement before the authority at time of inclusion of the name in the electoral roll from another constituency...(she) intentionally didn't remove her name...," the petition said.
Khurana said he came to know about the issue on April 27 only.
According to Section 17 of Representation of Peoples Act 1950, no person is entitled to be enrolled as a voter in more than one constituency while Section 31 makes a false declaration in the matter of inclusion or exclusion of voter rolls punishable with up to one year in prison. Any such declarations made in order to obtain registration as a voter in two or more constituencies is a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both.
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