Lucknow:
A senior UP Assembly official has informed the Election Commission that he has no legal authority to file an FIR against SP MP Jaya Bachchan following a complaint alleging that she filed a false affidavit during 2004 Rajya Sabha polls.
Acting on a complaint by Congress leader Madan Mohan Shukla in March, the EC had asked the principal secretary of the Assembly to file an FIR under section 195 of the CrPC against 62-year-old Bachchan, by virture of being the Returning Officer (RO) for the polls, officials said in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Section 195 deals with prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants, for offences against public justice and for offences relating to documents given in evidence.
Shukla had alleged that though Bachchan was the chairperson of the UP Film Development Council at the time of filing her nomination in June 2004, she had, in her affidavit, claimed to have resigned from the post.
However, the principal secretary of the Assembly Pradeep Dubey, in his reply to the EC, has expressed his inability to lodge an FIR against Bachchan saying he had no legal authority to initiate proceedings against her.
Dubey said that he had sent a letter to the EC clarifying the situation.
"I have no authority in Jaya Bachchan's case and have sent a letter to the EC in this regard stating that I cannot entertain the complaint. Now the disposal would be done at the EC's level as it is the competent authority to take action," he said.
The Election Commission officials in New Delhi declined to comment on the issue.
Dubey has stated that the Returning Officer is on deputation with the EC only during the election period till the time results are announced and after that he reverts to the administrative control of the Speaker of the state Assembly.
The principal secretary said that being under the administrative control of the Speaker, he had no jurisdiction to initiate prosecution proceedings.
Dubey said that he was not the RO when the election was held in 2004.
Bachchan was disqualified from the membership of the Rajya Sabha in March 2004 for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the UP Film Development Council.
She was again elected to the Rajya Sabha in June 2004 after being re-nominated by the Samajwadi Party.