New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response of AAP MLA Preeti Tomar on a plea challenging her election from the Tri Nagar assembly constituency on the ground that she allegedly gave false declaration about her educational qualifications in the nomination form, a lawyer associated with the case said.
Preeti is the wife of Jitender Singh Tomar, a former cabinet minister in the Delhi government, who was found guilty by the high court for furnishing a fake degree in his election nomination of 2015 and his candidature was cancelled that year. Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notice to Preeti and the Returning Officer (RO) and sought their stand by the next date of hearing on December 9, said advocate Anil Soni, who represented the petitioner.
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The court also directed the RO to preserve the AAP MLA's nomination papers, which contain her declaration regarding her educational qualifications, he said. The order came on the election petition moved by Tri Nagar constituent Naveen Parashar, who has alleged that Preeti misrepresented herself to have "MSc and BEd passed" and "thus, was successful in exercising undue influence over the voters, which amounts to corrupt practice within the meaning of the Representation of the Peoples Act".
The petition further alleges that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA was not even a graduate. The plea alleges that Chaudhary Charan Singh University, from where the AAP MLA claims to have completed her BEd in 1994, did not have that course in that year.
PTI
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