GUWAHATI: Peace is proving to be elusive to BJP’s Gauhati LS seat candidate Queen Ojha even after she came clean in the recent controversy surrounding her educational qualification.
The candidate drew flak from her opponents for “falsifying” documents on her educational qualification which she had submitted along with her nomination to the returning officer of the LS polls in Amingaon, Guwahati.
However, the documents were declared to be true by the concerned presiding officer following a scrutiny that was carried out in the presence of the candidate and other party members.
For the scrutiny, Ojha submitted a fresh affidavit providing a new set of information on her education qualification.
This was objected by Ojha’s opponent and another contender of the Gauhati LS seat, Upamanyu Hazarika, who raised a complaint to the Election Commission demanding cancellation of Ojha’s nomination.
Hazarika, an independent candidate for the seat, said, “Mrs Ojha has falsified her educational qualification as stated in the nomination form by Mrs Ojha on her own admission. She has filed two affidavits notarized on the same day.
“In one she has stated that in the year 2011 she has passed out her HS from Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU) and in the other affidavit she has passed her BPP in 2012 from KKHSOU.”
Hazarika further added, “Same day two affidavits and on the same subject how can there be two different versions of education qualification? Either one of the two has to be correct and not both.
“And this is a false statement under Sec 125 A of Representation of People's Act 1951. It is an election offence for which the Returning Officer must reject her candidature nomination and this is a demand registered by me.”
Meanwhile, Queen Ojha expressed her content over the outcome of the examination of her documents.
Ojha said before the media, “From today onwards, I have to ride on a horse to meet each and every person. People are waiting to meet me.
“As a candidate of the party, now my only goal is to gift my constituency (Gauhati) to Modiji. I never hid anything. The problem in the affidavit occurred because I did not check it properly.
“There was some technical error that we had rectified after following proper rules and regulations.”
After the controversy regarding Ojha’s educational qualification emerged following the submission of her nomination on 30th March, the Election Commission, on 4th April, decided to seek a report on Ojha from concerned authorities.
The column under which she gave that information is marked for the candidate to provide details of his/her highest school/university education with full name of the certificate/diploma/degree course and the year of completion of the course.
However, according to KKHSOU vice-chancellor, Dr Hitesh Deka, the university never offered a “higher secondary” (HS) course or any course that is equivalent to HS.
Deka told this correspondent, “The university previously offered a course called “Bachelor Preparatory Programme” (BPP) for the candidates who had failed in their HSLC or HS but wanted to enroll for a degree course.
“Maybe, other universities are still providing it, but we suspended the BPP course two years back.”
The Congress candidate for the Guwahati LS seat, Bobbeeta Sharma, also criticized Ojha for providing “false” documents before the Election Commission.