Irani education row: Court seeks documents from poll panel

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) A court here on Tuesday directed the Delhi State Election Commission to furnish documents filed by union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani as part of her election affidavits.

Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh asked the poll panel to bring the documents filed by Irani on the next date of hearing on June 6.

The minister is accused of submitting false and misleading information regarding her educational qualifications in her affidavits in three elections held in 2004, 2011 and 2014.

An official of Delhi University submitted to the court the documents related to Irani's educational qualifications.

Election Commission officials from Gujarat as well as Amethi in Uttar Pradesh also submitted her election affidavits to the court.

The court was hearing a private complaint filed by Ahmer Khan, who alleged that Irani, in her three affidavits filed before the poll panel for the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha polls purportedly gave varying details about her educational qualifications.

Ahmer Khan, in his complaint in April, sought action against the minister for allegedly lying on oath about her educational qualifications.

His counsel K.K. Manan and Anjali Rajput alleged that Irani declared herself to be a 1996 batch B.A. graduate from Delhi University's School of Correspondence in her affidavit filed for the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Delhi's Chandni Chowk constituency.

But in her affidavit for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, when she contested from Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, she stated she did B.Com. (Part I) in 1994 from Delhi University's School of Open Learning.

In yet another affidavit filed on July 11, 2011, for contesting the Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat, she affirmed her highest educational qualification was B.Com (Part I) from Delhi University's School of Correspondence.