J-K Junior Education Minister Agha Mehmood today resigned alleging that NC’s Budgam candidate was under-aged. Mehmood was a hot contender for the seat.Mehmood alleged that Aga Roohullah was 20 years old but his date of birth was forged to show he is 26, a year more than the minimum age to fight polls. The forgery, he claimed, was made by the correction committee of the education board on the state government’s directions. Mehmood said Roohullah was born in 1982. ‘‘The board has now shown his year of birth as 1976,’’ he said, announcing that he had filed papers as an independent from Budgam. Sources claimed the correction committee changed the date of birth two days ago on the basis of a certificate by the Jamia Babul Illim, Budgam. The Jamia’s chief organiser is Roohullah’s uncle A.S. Hassan. The correction committee ignored the records of the prestigious Tyndale Biscoe (which puts the date of birth as August 12, 1982) where Roohullah studied from 1990 to 1999.District Election Officer of Budgam, Baseer Khan, said: ‘‘He (Roohullah) was 20 and we changed it after he submitted a new date of birth certificate issued by the Board, which shows him as 26.’’ Deputy Chief Electoral Officer B.S. Jamwal said the records have been called for and a verification has started.
