The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Tuesday referred a complaint regarding alleged discrepancies in the affidavit of Jammu-Reasi Parliamentary constituency BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma to the Election Commission for “appropriate action”. J&K Joint CEO in a communique to B C Patra, Secretary, EC, said “kindly find enclosed herewith a representation along with its annexures received from Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, advocate of the J&K High Court, regarding the subject cited above for appropriate action by the Commission”. On April 12, Ahmed had submitted a comprehensive representation with the J&K CEO’s office against the Returning Officer Sachin Kumar Vaishya, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, accusing him of failing to take action on his complaint on April 4, against Kishore, regarding alleged discrepancies in his affidavits dated March 23, 2019 and March 30, 2024. Ahmed’s representation was forwarded to the EC on April 15, 2024. Elaborating on his complaint, he pointed out that Kishore, in his affidavit dated March 23, 2019, had mentioned his current liability towards the banks/financial institutions to the tune of Rs 34,53,14,232. However, in the latest affidavit, he has mentioned his current liability to the tune of Rs 20,42,956.81. According to Ahmed, the Returning Officer at the time of scrutiny under Section 36 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 was under an obligation to consider and decide the objections raised by directing the candidate concerned to clarify the mismatch/variation as projected by the objector. However, Ahmed said the Returning Officer informed him on April 7 to approach court thereby not considering his objections. He accused the Returning Officer of “shunning his responsibility” which also amounts to dereliction of duties under Section 36 of Representation of People Act, 1951.
