The Election Commission has sent a notice to newly-elected MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, who is jailed in a terror financing case, citing significant discrepancies in his election expenditure report for the Baramulla Assembly constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Election officials have been asked to respond within two days.
The notice was served on Tuesday by the Deputy District Election Officer, Baramulla, who highlighted that while the expenditure record submitted by Rashid mentioned Rs 21 lakh, the actual amount recorded in the shadow register kept by the observer was Rs 13.78 lakh.
Rashid, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 on terror financing charges and is in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, was granted two-hour parole to take oath as a member of the Indian Lok Sabha on July 5. He had sought interim bail or parole to discharge his duties as a member of Parliament.
The notice asked Rashid or his representative to appear before the District Expenditure Monitoring Committee within two days, resolve the discrepancies and submit the expenditure report to the Election Commission of India within the deadline.
According to the notice, failure to comply with the election expense reporting requirement may result in disqualification from the Election Commission for three years under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Elected as an independent candidate, Rashid defeated Congress leader Omar Abdullah in the recent Lok Sabha elections and won the Baramulla seat.
During India’s Lok Sabha elections, questions were raised as to why Rashid’s debts had dropped so much and his assets had increased over the past five years while he was in prison.
According to his 2024 election affidavit, the former MLA’s assets have been valued at Rs 1.55 crore, up from Rs 8 crore in 2019. This includes 41,072 sq ft of non-agricultural land in his hometown Rangate and a house in Srinagar worth Rs 9 crore.
Rashid, a science graduate with a degree in civil engineering, declared a home loan of Rs 1.131 lakh and a Kisan credit card loan of Rs 3.11 lakh as liabilities.
Five years ago, he had declared a house in Srinagar’s posh Jawaharnagar area, which he had bought in 2017, as his only asset and claimed to owe Rs 6 million on a home loan from a bank.
Rashid won from Langate Assembly constituency in 2008 and 2014. He contested the 2019 Assembly elections but lost.
On October 7, 2017, he hosted a beef party on the lawns of the MLA hostel in Srinagar and created a huge controversy by saying, “Courts and Parliament cannot stop people from eating what they want to eat.” The next day, he was assaulted by BJP MLAs inside the Assembly.
According to the NIA FIR, the case against Rashid was registered for raising, receiving and collecting money through illegal means to fund separatist and militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for creating chaos in the Valley by pelting stones at security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.
His name emerged during questioning of businessman and accomplice Zahoor Watali.
A special Delhi court later rejected Rashid’s bail application, finding that despite him having received unaccounted money from Watali, there were already sufficient grounds to prima facie charge sheet against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
