UP minister, Raghuraj Pratap Singh a.k.a. Raja Bhaiyya, has kicked up another controversy this time over the alleged false affidavit given regarding his age in the Assembly elections.
According to the affidavit submitted by Raja Bhaiyya at the time of his nomination for the Assembly poll, his present age is 38 years.
Raja Bhaiyya had won his first elections in 1993 from the Kunda Assembly seat in Pratapgarh district and if the current affidavit is to be believed, then he was 19 years at that time which means he was six years underage when he contested his first elections.
If he was above 25 years of age at that time which is the minimum requisite age for contesting polls, then his age as of now should be 45 years.
Raja Bhaiyya was not available for comment but his aides refused to comment on the discrepancy in the date of birth saying that “what matters is that he has won with a thumping majority each time in elections.”
While the EC officials refrained from commenting on the issue on the grounds that they had no complaints on the issue, sources said that a PIL was being prepared to seek Raja Bhaiyya’s disqualification on the grounds that he submitted a false affidavit regarding his age.
The induction of Raja Bhaiyya, who is better known for his criminal antecedents, in the Akhilesh Yadav government has already attracted flak for the chief minister who laid emphasis on a clean government.
The chief minister further attracted criticism when he allocated the jail portfolio to Raja Bhaiyya, who has already spent 26 months in jail during the two BSP regimes.