The Election Commission of India (ECI) after taking a cognisance on the complaint filed by National Council for Civil liberties (NCCl), an Ahmadabad-based NGO against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Medha Patkar from Mumbai North-East Parliamentary constituency, has directed Chief Electoral Officer in Maharashtra to take necessary action against her.
On April 6 NCCl president VK Saxena, filed a complaint to the Returning Officer, Mumbai, against Patkar for concealment of material facts in the affidavit. The Returning Officer (RO), on April 7, on the day of scrutiny, accepted the nomination papers of social activist Patkar without taking into consideration complaint filed by Saxena.
NCCl president again lodged a complaint to the ECI on the next day against the order of the RO. According to Saxena’s complaint, Patkar in her affidavit dated April 3, 2014 to the RO, concealed certain facts.
As per the ECI norms, a candidate requires to disclose the details of deposit, investment including serial no, amount, date of deposit, the scheme, name of the bank etc. “Medha mentioned an amount of Rs25,276 in savings bank account, held with Bank of Maharashtra, but didn’t disclose the account number and name of the branch,” said Saxena in the complaint.
“500 shares of a listed company of market value of Rs48,000, cost of acquisition was Rs1,750.” She has not disclosed the name of the company, Serial number of Shares, name of the scheme and the date of Investment, which is mandatory,” he added.She has mentioned, “Six year NSC, face Value Rs 1 lakh, value as on 31.03.2014, is approximately Rs1, 32,000”. However, she didn’t mention the Serial No. of NSC, date of investment and name of the bank & branch where the amount was invested.
“She has also not disclosed the status of Criminal Case filed against her in the Sessions Court, Badwani in Madhya Pradesh. She also has not disclosed the name of complainant of Criminal Complaint pending in the MM Court, Saket, New Delhi,” says NCCl complaint.
Medha has also not disclosed that she is the founder of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), an organization whose activists are facing more than 100 Criminal cases in Madya Pradesh. Besides, her own associate stated in the Supreme Court that NBA is a “Militant Organization”. She has not disclosed that the Supreme Court in its judgment dated 11th May 2011, virtually blacklisted her organization, NBA, for filing false affidavit in the court.
She has also not disclosed that she is the Main Trustee of a Registered Trust called “JANSAHYOG TRUST” having Registration no E-14477(BOM) and having Registered Office at Mumbai. Medha has also not disclosed that JANSAHYOG TRUST has deposits of several lakhs in its accounts and it has also received a Foreign Remittance of Rs. 17.27, lakh in the year 2002 without having FCRA Registration from the Ministry of Home, Government of India in violation of FCRA act.
Patkar has claimed “I am a divorcee”, however she has not annexed the copy of Court decree to prove her statement. She may be asked to produce the copy of court order by which she was granted divorce.“Medha has also not disclosed that she gave a false testimony against India on October 24, 1989 at Washington, before the Sub-Committee of Natural Resources of US House of Representative. She also didn’t disclose that she was member of World Commission of Dams (WCD), an organization created by western Countries to oppose all dam projects in India and other developing Countries. Enron and ABB gave donation of nearly 1 Million Dollar to WCD. Who funded the purchase of 500 Shares of a listed company, whose name she has not disclosed, is a subject matter of investigation,” the complaint said.