Dual vote case: Court issues bailable warrants against Anil Joshi, his wife

Saturday, 10/05/2014

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AMRITSAR: A local court issued bailable war rants ag ainst local bodies and medical education minister, Anil Joshi, his wife Monica and seven other relatives after they failed to appear before it in the ‘dual vote’ case.

The warrants were issued by the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Youkti Goel when the case came up for hearing here on Friday. The CJM fixed June 11 as the next date of hearing in the case.

This order comes close on the heels of a non-bailable warrants which were issued against the minister in two separate defamation cases and another related to destruction of private property. Joshi has failed to get relief in these cases so far, though his application for anticipatory bail is to come up for hearing in the court of the district sessions judge on May 12.

SECOND NON-APPEARANCE

This was the second successive non-appearance of the Joshi clan in the CJM’s court in the ‘dual vote’ case. On April 9 when the case first came up for hearing, the minister and his family members failed to present themselves in the court despite having been directed to do so through an order passed on February 25.

In its February 25 order, the court had issued notices to the minister and his rela-tives after the additional deputy commissioner (development), Pardeep Sabharwal, filed a criminal complaint against the minister and his relatives in the court under sections 17, 18 and 31 of the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA). The complaint was filed on the directions of the Election Commission (EC).

Besides the minister and his wife, the others mentioned in the complaint are his brother, Rajesh Kumar, who is a member of the municipal committee (MC), Tarn Taran, Puspa Rani, the mother of the minister, and relatives-- Vijay Kumar, Punam Joshi, Mamta, Varinder and Jyoti.

The EC had directed the Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) to file a complaint under the RPA against the minister and the others for having enrolled as voters at more than one place.

The orders were issued in response to a representation submitted to the EC’s office in New Delhi in November 2012 by two city based advocates-Sandeep Gorsi and Vaneet Mahajan.

The two lawyers, on the basis of records pertaining to the electoral rolls from 2006 to 2013, had pointed out that Joshi and his wife Monica were listed as voters from Amritsar North and Amritsar East assembly constituencies while his mother was listed as a voter from the two above constituencies as well as from Tarn Taran, the ancestral town of the Joshi family. All others were listed as voters from Amritsar Nor th and Tarn Taran.

Joshi won, as a BJP candidate, from the Amritsar North constituency in 2007 assembly elections and again in 2012, while his brother Rajesh Joshi was elected as a member of the municipal committee (MC) of Tarn Taran.

The two advocates had action against the minister and his brother Rajesh Joshi, for their making false declarations at the time of filing of nomination.