Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Smriti Irani declared in her nomination affidavit on Thursday that she is not a graduate, PTI reported. Irani is contesting against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
In her affidavit form, Irani said she passed secondary school examination in 1991 and senior secondary school examination in 1993. In the category of highest educational qualification, Irani’s form says “Bachelor of Commerce Part-1” from the School of Open Learning (Correspondence) University of Delhi with “three year degree course not completed” in brackets. Reports said that this is the first time Irani has specified that she had “not completed” her three-year degree course.
Irani’s educational records have been under the scanner for a long time. Irani had provided contradictory information about her qualifications in the affidavits she filed for elections in 2004, 2011 and 2014. In 2004, Irani’s nomination affidavit for the Chandni Chowk constituency claimed that she completed a Bachelors Degree in Arts in 1996 through correspondence. But in the 2014 election, Irani’s document mentioned Bachelor of Commerce Part-1, School of Open Learning (Correspondence) University of Delhi, 1994.
At an event in 2014, Irani had also claimed that she had a degree from Yale University.
The Congress has often accused her of making contradictory statements about her educational qualifications. A freelance writer, Ahmed Khan, had filed a case against the minister in 2015. A trial court had dismissed it and said Khan was trying to “harass” the minister. Khan had then challenged the trial court’s ruling in the Delhi High Court.
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