A disturbing case is unfolding in Punjab where a fraud has been alleged in the nomination process for the Rajya Sabha elections. Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and in-charge of national media, Anurag Dhanda, has alleged that a man named Navneet Chaturvedi filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections with the forged signatures of 10 AAP MLAs. After the alleged fraud came to light, the nomination was canceled and an FIR was registered against the accused, but what happened next ramped up the political storm.
Dhanda Attacks BJP and Amit Shah
Anurag Dhanda, in a post on his official X (Twitter) account, attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Center and, specifically, Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He claimed that despite the FIR being filed, the Chandigarh Police allegedly stopped the police from arresting the accused, Chaturvedi.
Dhanda stated,
“A fraudster named Navneet Chaturvedi filed a Rajya Sabha nomination by forging the signatures of Punjab MLAs. The nomination was rejected, and police registered an FIR, but when the police came to arrest him, Amit Shah’s Chandigarh Police did not allow it. The SSP Chandigarh herself went to the station and rescued him. The fraudulent has been taking shelter at the BJP’s behest at the Chandigarh police headquarters.”
His post went viral on social media, inflaming a raw political discourse.
“From Vote Theft to Rajya Sabha Loot.”
David noted the parallels between this and the hullabaloo about the Chandigarh Mayoral Election, “Do you remember the mayoral election of Chandigarh? That was vote theft. Now the BJP has reached the loot of Rajya Sabha elections.”
This statement signals the brewing tensions between AAP and BJP around election integrity and misuse of power.
Who Is Navneet Chaturvedi?
According to reports, Navneet Chaturvedi, who’s been accused of fraud, is from Jaipur, Rajasthan. He allegedly acted as Janata Party president and filed nomination papers with false signatures from 10 AAP members of the legislative assembly. After the cheating was discovered, the election commission invalidated the nomination and registered a police report.
Ongoing investigations are to uncover how the forged signatures were registered and if any other actors were cooperatively participating in the scheme.
A New Political Flashpoint
Since then, the incident has reached a new political flashpoint, where AAP is accusing the BJP of protecting those who engaged in electoral fraud. BJP is yet to issue a formal response to the allegations.
While the investigation continues, this incident has caused significant political controversy in Punjab, as well as raised issues of security and transparency in the Rajya Sabha nomination process in India.
