Ashok Nagar BJP MLA Jajpal Singh Jajji is likely to lose his membership in the Madhya Pradesh state Assembly, with the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday quashing his caste certificate and issuing a direction that the copy of the order is sent to the Speaker of the Assembly for ‘necessary information and further action.’
The bench of Justice G.S. Ahluwalia mentioned the landmark ‘Madhuri Patil’ judgment of the Supreme Court while directing the sending of the copy of the judgment to the Assembly Speaker. In the Madhuri Patil case, the Supreme Court had upheld the cancellation of the college admission of the petitioner taken on the basis of a forged caste certificate.
In the order, judge Ahluwalia said that Jajji had failed to prove that he belongs to “Nat”- that is Scheduled Caste (SC) category and ordered that the caste certificate issued by the sub-divisional officer, Ashok Nagar be quashed and confiscated with immediate effect.
The High Court bench also directed the superintendent of police (SP) of Ashok Nagar to lodge an FIR against Jajji and inquire into the basis used by the MLA to claim that he belonged to the scheduled caste category. Jajji is a supporter of union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and crossed over to BJP along with Scindia in March 2020.
The order came in response to a writ petition by former BJP MLA Ladduram Kori, whom Jajji defeated as a Congress candidate in the 2018 Assembly polls at Ashok Nagar constituency.
Ashok Nagar is a reserved Assembly constituency and Jajji had contested the elections for the seat by presenting a scheduled caste certificate.
Though the petition pertains to the 2018 polls and Jajji later got re-elected in the same constituency on BJP ticket in November 2020 by-polls, the court order will hold true for his current membership of Assembly as he used the same caste certificate for the by-polls.
Reacting to the court order on social media, Jajji said, “Whatever good or bad has happened in life till date, I have accepted (it with) the blessings of Tarwale Balaji; this is also accepted. Hail Tarwale Balaji.” He however later said that he would move the Supreme Court in the matter.
Congress media cell chief, K.K. Mishra, while speaking to The Week said that the order of the High Court was worth welcoming as Jajji had used different caste certificates in different elections in the past. “During the Kamal Nath government tenure, the high power scrutiny committee had found his certificate invalid, but then he crossed over to BJP and the ruling party has been protecting him till now. Now that the High Court has quashed Jajji’s caste certificate, we want to ask why the ruling party tries to save such persons who use fake documents to fight elections. The BJP tried to protect former Member of Parliament of Betul, Jyoti Dhurve, and former minister Gyan Singh too in this way,” Mishra said.
Rahul Singh Lodhi’s election set aside too
The issue of Jajji comes close on the heels of the Jabalpur High Court setting aside and declaring void the 2018 election of BJP leader Rahul Singh Lodhi as Member of the Legislative Assembly from Khargapur constituency after finding him at fault for furnishing wrong information in his nomination papers.
In an order last week, the HC had said that Lodhi must not be allowed any benefits of the 2018 election, as it had been declared void. Lodhi is a nephew of senior BJP leader Uma Bharti.
What did the court say in the Jajji case?
In its order, the High Court bench said “Thus, this Court is of the considered opinion, that the conclusion 56 drawn by the High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee with regard to the correctness of Caste Certificate, on the basis of one Jamabandi (Khasra) of village Khara, Tahsil Tarn Taran, Dist. Amritsar is contrary to the judgments passed by the Supreme Court, but even otherwise, the respondent no. 5 (Jajji) could not produce any document/evidence before the High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee to show that he belongs to “Nat” in State of Madhya Pradesh also."
“Thus, the conclusion drawn by the High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee, only on the basis of Jamabandi (Khasra) of village Khara, Tehsil Tarn Taran, Distt. Amritsar is perverse and contrary to judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Ranjana Kumari (Supra) as well as other judgments. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 18-12-2019 passed by High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee is quashed and it is held that respondent no. 5 has failed to prove that he belongs to “Nat” i.e., Scheduled Caste. As a consequence thereof, the Caste Certificate issued by Sub-Divisional Officer, Ashok Nagar that respondent no. 5 Jajpal Singh “Jajji” belongs to “Nat' Caste is hereby quashed and is confiscated with immediate effect.”
“Accordingly, the Superintendent of Police, Ashok Nagar is directed to immediately lodge a FIR against the respondent no. 5 Jajpal Singh “Jajji” Since, the respondent no. 5 is a sitting MLA having been elected from Ashok Nagar Constituency No.32 which is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste, therefore, the Registry of this Court is directed to immediately send a copy of this Judgment to Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, State of Madhya Pradesh for necessary information and further action in the light of Judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Madhuri Patil (Supra).”
