Modi degree row: Names spelt 'slightly differently' in admission form, reveals GU

Amid claims by the Aam Aadmi Party that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degrees and marksheets had "glaring discrepancies", the Gujarat University on Monday said he had "slightly changed" his name, dropping 'kumar' from it.

The university said Modi changed his name from 'Narendrakumar Damodardas Modi', which he used in admission form for MA Part I, to 'Narendra Damodardas Modi' in MA Part II but everything is "genuine".

Acting Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University, Mahesh Patel told PTI, "Since he (Modi) had taken admission in MA Part I in 1981 on the basis of his DU degree, he used the name Narendrakumar Damodardas Modi. But when filling MA Part II form, he dropped 'kumar' and wrote Narendra Damodardas Modi in the form.

"So his degree was issued on the basis of his name in MA Part II. Everything is genuine. Since there was no computerised system and everything was to be done manually, a candidate could charge his name slightly. Now that we have computerised system in place, so whatever the name of the candidate filled in admission form carries on in the second part as well," he said.

Patel said Modi obtained 237 marks out of 400 in MA Part I and 262 marks out of 400 in MA Part II.

He received 499 out of 800, or 62.3 per cent marks in his MA, the VC said.

Modi took admission in GU in 1981 as an external candidate for Political Science course and he passed in 1983 with first class, he said.

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party released copies of Modi's BA and MA degrees in response to Aam Aadmi Party's allegations questioning his degree from Delhi University.

However, the AAP hit back saying the documents were "forged" and had "glaring discrepancies" in them.

AAP leader Ashutosh addressed a press conference in which he claimed Modi's name did not match in the BA marksheet and that of the MA degree and claimed that there were discrepancies in the year of passing.