District Collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh has removed Shabana Shoaib Qureshi from her position as councillor of Ward-7 in Bhopal's Berasia Nagar Palika after investigations revealed she had contested elections using a fraudulent OBC certificate.
The disqualification comes with a six-year ban, during which Qureshi will be ineligible to contest for councillor positions in any Nagar Palika or Nagar Panchayat across Madhya Pradesh.
The investigation began when Parveen Bee, an independent candidate who lost to Qureshi in the elections, filed a petition in the Collector's Court challenging the authenticity of Qureshi's backward class certificate. The petition alleged that Qureshi had submitted a fake OBC certificate issued by the Tehsildar of Tehsil Huzur to qualify for the ward, which was specifically reserved for OBC women candidates.
Following the complaint, the TT Nagar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that the caste certificate was indeed fraudulent.
In his order, Collector Singh noted that Ward-7 had been reserved for OBC women candidates as per the Berasia reservation list. "It is evident that the applicant submitted her nomination form for the councillor position from this ward reserved for OBC women, along with a backward class certificate purportedly issued by SDM Huzur, which has been proven fake during investigation," the order stated.
The electoral contest for Ward-7 had featured multiple candidates including BJP's Nagma B Shanu Ansari, Congress's Farida Idrish Ahmed, NCP's Shabana Shoaib Qureshi, Aam Aadmi Party's Farzana B, and independent candidate Parveen B.
Citing Section 41(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika Act 1961, the Collector ordered Qureshi's immediate removal from the councillor post. Additionally, under Section 41(3) of the same act, she has been barred from contesting municipal elections for six years.
The administration has not yet announced plans for a by-election to fill the now-vacant seat.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
