PIL against Nitish based on falsehood: EC

The Election Commission has contended before the Supreme Court that a PIL filed against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not disclosing a criminal case in his poll affidavit was based on "false and incorrect" assertions.

The commission said Nitish did not contest any Legislative Council election in 2013.

Neither did he fight for the Legislative Assembly elections in 2012 and 2015, so the assertions made by the petitioner is evidently incorrect, the commision submitted.

The petitioner, advocate M L Sharma, had "levelled completely false, unjustified and unverified allegations and has cast aspersion on the functioning of the EC, which is the constitutional authority by deliberately stating incorrect facts and without producing any cogent evidence," the commision said.

Sharma had sought a CBI probe against Nitish, contending that he faced criminal case related to the killing of a local Congress leader, Sitaram Singh, and injuring four others ahead of the Lok Sabha by-poll to Barh constituency in 1991.

He claimed that Nitish did not disclose the criminal case that was pending against him in affidavits since 2004, except in one affidavit for the 2012 polls.

Maintaining that it is not responsible for conducting any inquiry or investigation, the commission said the documents provided by the petitioner did not disclose any cause of action.