The petition challenging election has been moved by Tri Nagar constituent Naveen Parashar.
AAP MLA Preeti Tomar on Friday refuted in the Delhi High Court the allegation that she gave a false declaration regarding her educational qualifications in her nomination form, saying her MSc and BEd degrees were issued in her maiden name which she changed after her marriage.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA has claimed that prior to her marriage to former AAP MLA Jitender Singh Tomar, her maiden name was Kumari Tulsa Solanki and she was enrolled under that name in the Raghunath Girls Degree College which is affiliated with the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, earlier known as Meerut University.
She has also claimed, in her response to the petition challenging her election, that she was issued the BSc and MSc degrees in 1988 and 1990, respectively, from the Meerut University and the BEd degree from Chaudhary Charan Singh University in 1995.
After her marriage in 1998, she had changed her name to Preeti Tomar, the reply filed through advocate Kush Sharma has said and added that the change was announced in 2017 in two daily newspapers.
Subsequently, she again changed her name to Preeti Jitender Tomar in March 2020, her reply has claimed.
Jitender Singh Tomar, a former cabinet minister in the Delhi government, was found guilty by the high court of furnishing a fake degree in his election nomination of 2015 and his election as AAP MLA that year was set aside
The petition challenging election of Mr Tomar's wife has been moved by Tri Nagar constituent Naveen Parashar, represented by advocate Anil Soni, who has alleged that she has misrepresented herself to be "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".
Opposing the allegation, the AAP MLA in her reply has contended that the election petition has been filed with the malafide intention to defame and harass her and deserves to be dismissed with heavy costs.
Her reply has also contended that the petition was not filed within 45 days of the election, which concluded on February 11, 2020, as provided under the Representation of the People Act of 1951 and was filed in September last year after a delay of 166 days.
The petition by Mr Parashar has alleged that Chaudhary Charan Singh University, from where the AAP MLA claimed to have completed her BEd in 1994, did not have that course in that year.