E-Paper
Ludhiana: FIR registered on MLA’s plaint for forgery
Navneet Chaturvedi, president of the Janata Party, is already facing multiple FIRs following complaints filed by MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
Ashok Parashar Pappi, MLA from Ludhiana Central constituency, has filed a complaint against Navneet Chaturvedi, president of the Janata Party, at division number 2 police station, alleging that Chaturvedi forged his signatures as well on the Rajya Sabha nomination papers. Chaturvedi is already facing multiple FIRs following complaints filed by MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
He had submitted two sets of nomination papers as an independent candidate for the October 24 Rajya Sabha byelection in Punjab. In the first set, filed on October 6, he listed 10 AAP MLAs as proposers without their consent or signatures. The second set, filed on October 13, contained the same names along with signatures that were later proven to be fraudulent.
During the scrutiny on Tuesday, election authorities rejected Chaturvedi’s nomination papers after verifying that the signatures of all 10 MLAs, including MLA Prashar, were forged. The FIR, registered under Sections 318 (4), 338, 336 (3) and 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), emphasises that Chaturvedi’s actions were deliberate attempts to mislead the Election Commission and the public, constituting a criminal offence.
In his complaint, MLA Pappi stated that he came to know about it when he received a picture on his WhatsApp number. It was a list of MLAs with their signatures who proposed the name of Chaturvedi. The MLA said he had never authorised Chaturvedi to use his name. He alleged that the signatures on Form 2C were entirely forged and that Chaturvedi’s actions amounted to electoral fraud, forgery and impersonation.
Police sources confirmed that Navneet Chaturvedi already faced multiple FIRs across Punjab for similar alleged irregularities, highlighting a pattern of fraudulent activity surrounding the Rajya Sabha elections.
