UP: City council chairperson booked for fabricating age

The newly elected chairperson of Maniyar Nagar Panchayat here has been booked for allegedly fabricating her date of birth while filing candidature for the civic body polls, police said on Friday. The SP candidate had defeated BJPs Buchiya by a margin of 1,609 votes in the Maniyar Nagar Panchayat seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe women.

The newly elected chairperson of Maniyar Nagar Panchayat here has been booked for allegedly fabricating her date of birth while filing candidature for the civic body polls, police said on Friday. According to a complaint by Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Maniram Singh, Samajwadi Party leader Ritu Devi produced her class 8 mark sheet of Naveen Balika Junior High School in Sripur from 2008 as her age proof, which suggested her current age as 32 years. However, records showed that no examinee with her name took an exam at the said school that year, the complaint added. Following allegations against Devi for forging her date of birth, Ballia District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar had ordered the BSA to conduct an investigation, the police said. Ballia City Kotwali SHO Rajeev Singh said that based on Singh's complaint, an FIR was registered on Thursday night against Devi under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 (falsification of documents) and 471 (dishonest use of fake certificate) of the Indian Penal Code. The matter is being probed and appropriate action will be taken, the SHO said. The SP candidate had defeated BJP's Buchiya by a margin of 1,609 votes in the Maniyar Nagar Panchayat seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe women. Devi secured 4,919 votes, while Buchiya got 3,310 votes. A total of seven candidates contested this seat.

Voting for the municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh was held in two phases -- on May 4 and May 11 -- and the results were declared on May 13.