Calcutta High Court rejects TMC leader’s election petition over citizenship

A recent controversy erupted in West Bengal’s political circles after the Calcutta Excessive Court docket rejected an election petition of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Alo Rani Sarkar on grounds that she held ‘twin citizenship’ and her identify figured in Bangladesh’s electoral roll.

Justice Bibek Chaudhuri of the Calcutta Excessive Court docket in his order on Might 20 additionally directed a duplicate of the order to be despatched to the Election Fee of India for taking needed motion “in respect of the petitioner’s standing on this nation as on this date”. 

“Within the instantaneous case, the petitioner admitted that she acquired citizenship of Bangladesh mistakenly. Nonetheless, the identify of the petitioner nonetheless exists within the Electoral Roll of Bangladesh. I’m in settlement with the realized advocate for the respondent that the precept of ‘Twin Citizenship’ isn’t relevant in India. Due to this fact, the petitioner can’t declare to be a citizen of India when her identify appeared within the Electoral Roll of Bangladesh. The related date is the date of submitting nomination paper by the petitioner. It’s admitted from the paperwork filed by the petitioner that on the date of submitting of the nomination paper by her, she was a Bangladeshi nationwide,” Justice Chauduri stated.

Ms. Sarkar misplaced to the Bharatiya Janata Occasion’s (BJP) Swapan Majumdar within the 2021 Meeting polls by a margin of two,004 votes. She filed an election petition earlier than the Excessive Court docket difficult the ballot outcome.  Mr. Majumdar filed an utility earlier than the courtroom that Ms. Sarkar isn’t a citizen of India and thus her petition didn’t stand. The petitioner, nonetheless, argued earlier than the courtroom that it was after her marriage to a Bangladeshi citizen that her identify had figured in that nation’s voter listing.

“It’s evidently that as quickly because the petitioner’s identify was recorded within the electoral roll of Bangladesh and she or he was enrolled as a citizen of Bangladesh, her citizenship of India robotically ceases to exist,” the courtroom had noticed within the order.

Referring to the Excessive Court docket order, Chief of the Opposition within the State Meeting Suvendu Adhikari stated that the Trinamool Congress was compromising with the “sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”.  Mr. Adhikari posted on Twitter: “TMC is responsible of violating the Sub-section 5 of Part 29A of The Illustration of Individuals’s Act. Making an attempt to get a international Nationwide elected, they did not bear allegiance to the Structure of India by compromising the sovereignty, unity & integrity of India.”

Reacting to the developments, Ms. Sarkar stated that every one her relations had come to India quickly after the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971. She stated that she would strategy a Division Bench towards the order.