Former Aam Aadmi Party member and whistleblower Neil Terrance Haslam has called out the irregularities in information provided to the Election Commission by five AAP MLAs.
At a press conference held this week, Haslam said, “I have been investigating the affidavits of these AAP MLAs submitted both in 2013 and 2015, and have come across fake PAN card details that four MLAs have submitted to the Election Commission.”
Amongst the four MLAs, three have furnished wrong PAN card details of their spouses, while one Md Ishraque Khan, an MLA from Seelampur, has given incorrect details of his own PAN card in the affidavit to the Election Commission.
The other three MLAs include Kapil Mishra (Cabinet minister and MLA from Karawal Nagar), Fateh Singh (MLA from Gokalpur) and Vijender Garg Vijay (from Rajinder Nagar).
Neil has also accused Fateh Singh of concealing information from the EC in his 2015 affidavit. He said, “Fateh Singh’s 2008 affidavit shows that his wife has 2.5 kg of gold and 5 kg of silver, however, all that gold and silver vanishes as soon as he joins the AAP. His 2015 affidavit makes no mention of that.”
Fateh Singh and Kapil Mishra refused to comment on the matter. However, Md Ishraque said, “I am uneducated and thus got my affidavit filled by someone else. There might be some typing errors from their end, but I will cross-check it and get it rectified as soon as possible.”
When MLA Vijender Garg Vijay was informed of the allegations against him, he said he was unaware about it. “I will have to check the matter,” he said.
Neil has also accused AAP MLA Vishesh Ravi of providing false educational details in his affidavit submitted to the EC. “Ravi has provided different details with regard to his educational qualifications in the affidavit. In 2013, he had said his highest educational qualification was Bachelors of Commerce from Choudhary Charan Singh University in 2008. In 2015, he changed this to pursuing Bachelor of Arts from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. This is a clear case of the violation of the Representation of the People’s Act (RPA).”
When Vishesh Ravi was asked about this discrepancy, he told The Sunday Guardian, “My correct education is what is filled in the 2015 affidavit, the 2013 one was erroneous and I did not know what was filled, so in the new affidavit I corrected it.”
Neil has also written letters to the Election Commission, the Delhi Commissioner of Police, and the Central Bureau of Investigation, seeking action against these MLAs for providing wrongful information to the EC.
The furnishing of wrong information or concealing any information in an affidavit is a punishable offence under Section 125A of the Representation of the People’s Act. The punishment awarded is up to six months of imprisonment or fine or both.