An FIR has been registered against a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district and the Samajwadi Party candidate from Aonla Lok Sabha constituency following allegations that the former falsely claimed to be Bahujan Samaj Party’s nominee from the seat by forging signatures and stamps on his nomination papers.
The case was filed on the complaint of Abid Ali, the BSP candidate from the constituency. While Satyaveer Singh of Shahjahanpur allegedly submitted the unauthorised papers, Samajwadi Party candidate Neeraj Maurya is accused of being involved in the conspiracy.
Bareilly Circle Officer Pankaj Srivastava said an investigation is underway in the case but no one has been arrested yet. “We are collecting documentary evidence on the basis of which further action will be taken,” the Bareilly Circle Officer said.
The Aonla constituency will go to the polls in the third phase of the parliamentary elections on May 7.
BSP’s Bareilly district president Rajeev Kumar Singh said Abid Ali submitted his nomination paper from the seat on April 18. But on the last date of filing of nominations, Satyaveer Singh filed his papers from the seat, claiming to be the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, Rajeev Kumar said.
“Upon learning of the matter, we promptly raised the issue with the returning officer for Aonla, Jag Pravesh. We informed him that Satyaveer was neither our candidate nor was he associated with our party,” Kumar said.
A complaint was filed with the Election Commission in this connection, prompting the returning officer to conduct an inquiry into the matter. Following the probe, Abid Ali was declared the BSP’s official candidate from the seat.
“The returning officer also talked to BSP president Mayawati through video conference to end the confusion. Our party chief confirmed that she authorised only Abid Ali as BSP candidate from the Aonla seat. She denied knowing Satyaveer Singh. Our party chief also sent a letter to the returning officer that she had not authorised anyone other than Abid Ali,” he added.
Satyaveer’s nomination papers were subsequently invalidated.
The FIR was registered under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 125-A of the Representation of the People Act, the police said.
Neeraj Maurya could not be contacted for comment.
