100 corporators in dock for forgery
Cases have been filed against the corporators for allegedly submitting false
affidavits to the Election Commission and leaving out details of their
criminal background
SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI
At least 100 BMC corporators will have less time for the public as they
will be busy fighting cases against them in the Small Causes Court.
Of the 227 corporators elected in the February elections, 100, mostly
from the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, have been dragged to the court on
various charges, including use of false affidavits.
According to data prepared by the BMC’s legal department, the grounds on
which their elections have been challenged include use of fake caste
certificates, pending criminal cases, spending funds beyond the limit set by
the state Election Commission, constructing illegal buildings and violation
of the election code of conduct.
The cases are yet to come up for hearing, as the court is closed for
summer vacation. It will open in June.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner B Marathe told Mumbai Mirror that this is
the first time in the history of the BMC that such a large number of
corporators have been dragged to court.
“Every year, there are similar cases against corporators, but the number
never crosses 30,” he said.
In the previous BMC term, 15 corporators had been disqualified as they
had contested on seats reserved for a particular category, using fake caste
certificates.
“We will investigate the details submitted by the candidates in the
affidavits and also the allegations levelled against them in the
complaints,” Marathe said.
During the election, the BMC had appointed a committee to scrutinise
caste certificates and other documents submitted by the candidates. Despite
that, cases have been filed against 100 elected corporators for using fake
documents, purposely leaving out details of their criminal background and
violating election code of conduct.
“The accepted documents will be again crosschecked by the BMC and
according to the court and the state Election Commission’s order, action
will be taken against the guilty corporators,” said B Marathe, the deputy
municipal commissioner.