Ahead of scrutiny of nomination papers submitted by Rahul Gandhi from Amethi constituency, objections have been raised against his nomination. Four separate objections were raised citing discrepancies in nomination papers submitted by Rahul Gandhi in various Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi’s nomination paper was to be scrutinised today, but that has been postponed to 22th April following the objections. Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer Rahul Kaushik sought time from the Returning Officer of Amethi to counter the objections.
One of the persons to file objections is Dhruv Lal, an independent candidate from Amethi. In the petition submitted with the returning officer, he states that in the 2004 nomination paper, Rahul Gandhi had stated that he had done Senior Secondary from CBSE in 1989, and M.Phil from Trinity College in 1995. But his affidavits for the subsequent elections state that he had done BA from Rollins College in Florida in 1994 also, apart from the two qualifications mentioned in 2004 affidavit.
He also mentions that the subject of Rahul Gandhi’s M.Phil has been mentioned as “Development Economics” and “Development Studies” in different affidavits, thereby the candidate has made purposefully false Declaration. The petitioner asks that Rahul Gandhi should be asked to produce his original certificate.
The petition also states that all the affidavits by Rahul Gandhi say that he passed M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge University in the Year 1995. Claiming that it is false a declaration the petitioner says that the candidate has claimed to have passed M. Phil in the year 2004-2005, and copy of Certificate issued by the University of Cambridge as available in public domain.
The petition filed by Dhruv Lal alleges that Rahul Gandhi has made false declaration about his identity, as the Bachelor of Arts certificate issued by Rollins College and M.Phil certificates issued by University of Cambridge (Trinity College) describe the person as “Raul Vinci” and not “Rahul Gandhi”. Therefore, either Rahul Gandhi did not obtain the educational qualifications mentioned in his affidavits, or his name is Raul Vinci and not Rahul Gandhi. And in either case, the nomination should be rejected, the petitioner states.
The petitioner also alleges that Rahul Gandhi has made a false declaration about his nationality. It states that Rahul Gandhi held shares in a company named Backops Limited, Britain. The Memorandum of Association and Annual Return of the company in the year 2005 had mentioned Rahul Gandhi’s nationality as “British” and his UK address was mentioned. As the candidate is not a citizen of India, his nomination deserves to be rejected, the petition says.
The petitioner adds that Rahul Gandhi has concealed information regarding ownership of property in UK and profits earned from Backops Limited.
Following the objections, the scrutiny of Rahul Gandhi’s nomination paper has been rescheduled for 10:30 AM on 22nd April, which was originally scheduled for 10:30 AM on 20th April.
