File Photo: AAP legislator Bhavna Gaur has been accused of furnishing false information in her election affidavit.
A Delhi court today summoned as accused AAP MLA Bhavna Gaur in a complaint seeking criminal prosecution of the legislator for allegedly furnishing false details about her educational qualifications in affidavits for the Delhi assembly polls.
"After perusal of the entire material on record and considering admissions made by the complainant (Samarendra Nath Verma), the court finds prima facie sufficient grounds to proceed against accused Bhavna Gaur for committing offence under section 125A of Representation of People's Act (dealing with penalty for filing false affidavit).
"Accordingly, accused Bhavna Gaur is summoned for offence under section 125A of Representation of People's Act... returnable on October 1, 2015," Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma said.
Earlier, the court had recorded the statements of the complainant and an election official as pre-summoning evidence in the matter.
The complaint had alleged discrepancies in details related to educational qualifications in Ms Gaur's affidavits filed with the Election Commission in last two Assembly polls held in December 2013 and February 2015.
The offence under Section 125A of the Act entails a jail term of up to six months or fine or both.
As per the complaint, during the 2013 Assembly polls Ms Gaur, an MLA from Palam constituency, had mentioned her highest qualification as 12th while during the elections held in 2015, she mentioned her highest educational qualification as BA and B.Ed in her affidavit filed along with her nomination paper.
"The complainant failed to understand, how just within a span of 14 months(period between filing of her first affidavit in 2013 and 2015), she obtained additional qualifications of BA and B.Ed., whereas normal time required for finishing the aforesaid courses taken together would be five years (three years for BA and two years for B.Ed.)," the complaint said.
"The accused (Gaur) must have filed false affidavit related to her qualifications either on November 12, 2013, or on January 15, 2015, before the Returning officer in that only one version on oath on her qualifications can be correct," it said.