Every voter has a fundamental right to know the educational qualification of a candidate, who has a duty not to lie about his or her academic past, the Supreme Court has held.
“Every voter has a fundamental right to know about the educational qualification of a candidate. There is a duty cast on the candidates to give correct information about their educational qualifications,” a Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave and L. Nageswara Rao held in a recent judgment.
The verdict came on appeals filed by Mairembam Prithviraj alias Prithviraj Singh and Pukhrem Sharatchandra Singh against each other challenging the judgment of the Manipur High Court. The HC had declared as “void” the election of Mr. Prithviraj in the 2012 polls on an NCP ticket against Congress nominee Mr. Sharatchandra from the Moirang Assembly seat in Manipur. It was alleged that Mr. Prithviraj, in his nomination papers, had said he was an MBA, which was found to be incorrect.
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Upholding the HC verdict, Justice Rao said the apex court was not “in dispute that the Appellant did not study MBA in Mysore University” and the plea that it was a “clerical error” could not be accepted. “Since 2008, the Appellant was making the statement that he has an MBA degree. The information provided by him in the affidavit filed in Form 26 would amount to a false declaration. The said false declaration cannot be said to be a defect which is not substantial ... ,” the judgment said.