Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio puts the record straight

I am deeply pained at the various allegations appearing in the media regarding my educational qualification. An unfortunate picture is portrayed in the press that I had deliberately procured a B.A. (Hon.) certificate from Kohima College on 04.12.2012. Therefore, to set the record right it is my solemn obligation to make this requisite clarification.
1. I graduated from the Kohima Arts College, NEHU, in the year 1978.
2. In the year 2012, since my degree certificate could not be traced, my office had requested the Kohima College authorities to issue a provisional degree certificate and accordingly the provisional certificate was issued by the College dated 04.12.2012 which was kept in our records.
3. No request was made whatsoever to issue a provisional certificate mentioning my qualification as B.A. (Hon.).
4. In the said provisional certificate in the second line it is mentioned that “appeared in the B.A. (New/Part-II Pass Course/Honours in …………. Examinations),” it appears that at the time of issuing the certificate instead of B.A. Pass course they ticked B.A. (Hon.). After the said provisional certificate was issued it was placed in the file and the error that had inadvertently crept in went unnoticed. Thereafter, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly elections were held in the year 2013 whereupon all entries made in the nomination paper/affidavit submitted to the returning officer was supervised by my Personal Secretary who was attached to me for over a decade, and who was well aware of my qualifications. Therefore, he supervised the entries in the educational qualification column correctly as B.A. Pass as was done in all my previous elections. I would like to point out that those who were spreading this misinformation against me have not adverted to this fact.
5. In the meanwhile I contested the Lok Sabha elections 2014. On 19.03.2014 I submitted the requisite documents along with the affidavit pertaining to my educational qualification. Those who supervised the details of the typed entries went by the erroneous certificate inadvertently issued by Kohima College. While signing the papers/affidavit I had no reason to believe that this error had crept in and, therefore, accordingly the papers were sent to the returning officer.
6. The error committed in the provisional certificate by Kohima College came to my knowledge in October, 2015 and pursuant to the same I issued a communication dated 08.10.2015 wherein I have categorically informed them that “I have studied and graduated from Kohima College in the year 1978 under roll no. 436. I did not take Honours in the Political Science as entered in the document attached. You are requested to rectify the error and issue a correct one at the earliest.” On 09.10.2015, the Kohima College issued a corrigendum clarifying that the B.A. (Hon.) certificate issued to me on 04.12.2012 had an inadvertent error and that I had actually cleared B.A. and not B.A. with Political Science as mentioned in the provisional Certificate. On receipt of these details I submitted an affidavit to the Chief Election Officer, Nagaland giving the factual picture supported with all the documents which led to the error committed by the Kohima College and also the corrigendum issued by them.
7. It appears that the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland on 17.10.2015, forwarded these documents along with my affidavit to the Commissioner, Nagaland with a copy to the Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Kohima for information. Till such time there was not even a complaint against me. In the RTI application dated 08.12.2015 it appears that a question was raised as to whether I had made any application for obtaining Political Science Honours Certificate. The response given in the RTI is as under: “No application for Political Science Honours Certificate was received.” This fact has been willfully suppressed. On 28.01.2016 the concerned officer even sent these communications to the Principal Secretary, Election Commission of India with a copy to the Secretary, Election Commission of India.
8. In the first place, if there is any iota of truth in this then there was no necessity for me to inform the College authorities about the error more so in view of the fact that there was no complaint pending against me from any person. It may be worthwhile to point out that in all the edition of Who’s Who publication of Nagaland Legislative Assembly since 1989 till date, my qualification is shown as B.A. Pass in my profile/bio-data. Even in the bio-data submitted to the Lok Sabha my educational qualification is shown as B.A. and not B.A. (Hon) Political Science. In the detailed Performa in the Lok Sabha dated 11.06.2014 my educational qualification has been shown as B.A. If at all I was trying to give a false picture about my educational qualification then even in these records I would have shown that I had passed B.A. (Hon.) and not B.A., something which I have never done.
9. I hope this clarification given by me will put to rest the matter and if anybody still derives pleasure in creating confusion they are welcome to do so as I have satisfied my conscience and I stand by my statement. To my detractors, whoever they may be, I have no misgivings against them and I wish them well.
Sd/-
( NEIPHIU RIO )