Sikh leader forgery case remains unsolved

Wellington, NZ:  Jurors remain deadlocked in the case of a Sikh leader in New Zealand who had been charged with using forged election documents in a bid to win a local body poll three years ago.

Daljit Singh, a former Labour Party candidate, who was running for elections to the Otara-Papatoetoe local board in Auckland Council in 2010, was charged in the high court in Auckland with a total of 38 counts of using the forged documents, Radio New Zealand reported on Friday.

Seven other men, who helped Daljit, are also on trial for the same charges, but on fewer counts.

Daljit Singh, a real estate agent and senior member of the Supreme Sikh Council, has pleaded not guilty in the case.

The court heard that Daljit had falsely changed addresses of a large number of people on the Electoral Enrollment Centre’s website so that they came under his constituency, the Otara-Papatoetoe board.

According to the report, most of the people whose address Daljit changed were Sikhs with the surname Singh.

The prosecutor also told the court that the Electoral Enrollment Centre had contacted the police when they found anomalies in the addresses “of people being registered in one electorate” and that “forms were being downloaded from just a couple of computers”.

Source: The  Tribune