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Bihar deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad grew by 12 years in a five-year interval between 2015 and 2020, as per ballot affidavits he submitted to the Election Commission.
In his 2015 ballot affidavit, the four-term Katihar MLA had said his age as 52. However, within the simply concluded meeting polls, he talked about himself to be 64 years previous. In his debut electoral battle in 2005, Prasad in his ballot affidavit had reportedly talked about that he was 48 years previous, which elevated by only one yr to 49 in his 2010 election affidavit.
“My date of birth is January 5, 1956. It is mentioned in my matriculation certificate and I stand by it. As far as election affidavits are concerned, there could have been clerical errors in calculating my age,” Tarkishore Prasad was quoted saying by a Kolkata each day.
Prasad shouldn’t be alone; as many as a dozen candidates with discrepancies of their declared ages have come to mild.
Take the case of the RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav. According to his ballot affidavit, he’s older by a yr to his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav.
Tejashwi, who submitted his ballot affidavit for the Raghopur meeting seat, has declared his age as 31 years. On the opposite hand, elder brother Tej Pratap, who contested from Hasanpur, declared his age as 30 years.
In the 2015 meeting polls too, Tej Pratap Yadav had declared his age as 25 years whereas an affidavit filed by his youthful brother Tejashwi confirmed him as finishing 26 years.
At that point the BJP had urged the Election Commission to probe Tejashwi Yadav’s papers.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s former minister Jai Kumar Singh is one other instance. Contesting in 2015 from the Dinara meeting seat in Rohtas district, he talked about his age as 46 within the ballot affidavit. However, within the newest 2020 ballot affidavit, he declared himself as a 56-year-old contestant, i.e., an increase of 10 years in a span of 5 years.
RJD candidate and runner-up from Bhojpur district’s Barhara seat, Saroj Yadav’s case is extra baffling. He grew to become youthful by three years between 2015 and 2020. In his 2015 affidavit, he talked about that he had accomplished 33 years, whereas in his newest affidavit he says that he’s simply 30 years previous.
Dr Nikki Hembram, BJP’s candidate and now MLA from Katoria (reserved) seat, has not aged a bit up to now 5 years, as per her ballot affidavit. In 2015 she talked about her age as 42 years, which has remained the identical in her newest 2020 ballot affidavit.
Ramanand Mandal, JD(U) candidate and runner-up from Suryagarha seat in Lakhisarai district, and Gyanendra Singh, BJP candidate and winner from Barh constituency, too, have age discrepancies of their ballot affidavits.
“How can a person forget his date and year of birth?” questions Rajiv Kumar, Bihar state coordinator for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). “If he or she cannot remember his or her date of birth, it just shows one of two things- either he or she is careless or simply thinks of themselves to be above the law.”
In many instances, advocates for the candidates fill the affidavit they usually merely signal over it with out even going via it, feels Kumar, who performed a key position in analysing these information.
Kumar is backed by Prof Trilochan Sastry, the chairman of ADR. “I believe it is carelessness on the candidate’s behalf,” he says. Sastry additional identified that one can’t get too severe about minor deviations in declaring age or earnings. “5 per cent less or 5 per cent more” that’s it; nonetheless “if there is major omission like not declaring a murder case despite having a case, then the Election Commission can take action,” says Sastry.
If it’s identified to the EC and if the ballot panel is supplied with documentary proof, it has the ability to behave towards the erring candidate. However, legally the one levelling the accusation has to show that such omission within the affidavit would have affected the result of the election, says Sastry. “But that is very hard to prove,” he cautions.
According to Section 125A in The Representation of the People Act, 1951, if a candidate offers false info which he is aware of or has purpose to imagine to be false, or conceals any info, in his nomination, she or he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a time period which can prolong to 6 months, or with superb, or with each.
What precisely is the quantity of candidates who’ve discrepancies of their age declaration? “It is hard to give an exact number as one will have to go through all the affidavits filed before the EC. But these are surely just the tip of the iceberg,” says Rajiv Kumar.
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