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ECI for criminal proceedings against Punjab minister Joshi
GS Paul
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 4
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, to initiate criminal proceedings against Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi and his family members for having allegedly enrolled themselves “deliberately” at several places in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts and for contesting Assembly and civic bodies elections from different places.

The ECI also told the Chief Electoral Officer to take disciplinary action against the Electoral Registration Officer and other officers who were responsible for violating several clauses of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1950 and submit a report within a month.

Two city-based lawyers Sandeep Gorsi (also a Congress worker) of Sundernagar and Vaneet Mahajan of Sehaj Enclave had approached the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) with documents to prove that the minister, who belongs to the BJP, had violated Sections 17 & 18 of the RP Act. Taking cognisance of it, the ECI told the Chief Electoral Officer to file a complaint (a copy of which is with The Tribune) under Section 31 of the RP Act against Joshi and his family members. The ECI has also fixed the responsibility of electoral registration officer Ashol Bhatia and laboratory assistant Pradeep Kumar. The latter expired on October 11, 2010.

Meanwhile, Anil Joshi claimed that the ECI has just ordered an inquiry and not any criminal proceedings.

“The complainants are twisting the facts. An inquiry in this case had already been conducted at the state level. It had given me a clean chit. Now, if the ECI intends to initiate another enquiry, I am ready to face it,” he said. But complainant Sandeep Gorsi showed voter lists of two constituencies in Amritsar on which names of Anil Joshi, his wife and mother featured. Earlier, the two advocates had accused Anil Joshi of aiding his family in getting dual voter I-cards in two districts -- Amritsar and Tarn Taran. They had forwarded a joint complaint in this connection to the Election Commission of India.

From the ECI, the complaint was forwarded to the State Election Commission to the Deputy Commissioner, but the probe didn’t yield any result.

On the voter list of Amritsar (North) constituency in 2012, the names and photos of Anil Joshi, his wife Monika Joshi, mother Pushpa Rani, brothers Rajesh Joshi and Vijay Joshi are at serial number 498, 501, 494, 500 and 497, respectively. On the electoral roll of Tarn Taran Assembly constituency 2012, Pushpa Rani is shown at serial number 400, Rajesh Joshi at 403, Vijay Joshi at 401, Punam Joshi at 402, Mamta at 405, Varender Joshi at 407 and Jyoti Joshi at 404.