The Hyderabad police have registered a case against a newly elected BJP Corporator for allegedly filing false information in his election affidavit to contest the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Rakesh Jaiswal, the BJP Corporator from Jambagh, ward number 77, is accused of allegedly hiding details about this third child and owning non-agricultural lands in the election affidavit.
The complaint was filed by the AIMIM candidate Jadala Ravindra for the Jambagh ward with the ABIDS police station. The complainant alleged that the BJP Corporator has three children, Akash Jaiswal, Aakrithi Jaiswal and Srijitha Jaiswal, but had only mentioned the names of two of his children. The AIMIM leader accused Rakesh Jaiswal of misleading the Telangana State Election Commission. The complaint also accused Rakesh of submitting a false statement about his tax details and not holding any Non-Agricultural Land in his name.
Under Section 21 B of the GHMC Act 2009, those with more than two children are barred from contesting the municipal elections. If the candidate is found to have more than two children, it leads to disqualification of the election result.
Rakesh Jaiswal, when asked about the complaint filed against him, alleged, “The complaint was filed by a loser candidate. They (AIMIM) always do this. Earlier they filed a case against another BJP candidate, now they have filed a case against me. I have filed in the affidavit that I have two children.” When asked how many children he has, the Corporator cut the call and was unreachable afterwards.
C Anjaiah, the Station House Officer with the ABIDS police station which is investigating the case, said it has not yet been established if Rakesh Jaiswal has indeed falsified his election affidavit. “We booked the case based on directions from the Telangana High Court. We are yet to establish if he has three children,” said the officer, who added that they have sought copies of the affidavit filed by Rakesh. “It will take a couple of days to finish the inquiry,” he said.
The police have booked a case under section 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for falsification of a statement made in a declaration which is by law receivable as evidence.
Last October, the Telangana government had plans to amend the GHMC Act to remove the two children norm for contesting candidates. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)-led government, however, dropped the plans the same month.