Aalo Rani Sarkar’s name appears in Bangladesh’s voter list; Dual citizenship is not applicable in India, the court said
Aalo Rani Sarkar’s name appears in Bangladesh’s voter list; Dual citizenship is not applicable in India, the court said
A fresh controversy erupted in political circles in West Bengal after the Calcutta High Court dismissed an election petition by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Aalo Rani Sarkar on the grounds that she had ‘dual citizenship’ and was named Bangladeshi. is on the voter list.
Justice Vivek Choudhary of the Calcutta High Court, in his order on May 20, directed the Election Commission of India to send a copy of the order to the Election Commission of India “with respect to the status of the petitioner in this country on this date” for taking necessary action.
“In the present case, the petitioner has admitted that he has acquired Bangladesh citizenship by mistake. However, the name of the petitioner still exists in the electoral roll of Bangladesh. I agree with learned counsel for the respondent that the principle of ‘dual citizenship’ does not apply in India. Therefore, the petitioner cannot claim to be a citizen of India when his/her name appeared in the voter list of Bangladesh. The relevant date is the date of filing of nomination papers by the petitioner. It is accepted from the documents filed by the petitioner that on the date of filing of nomination papers, she was a Bangladeshi citizen,” Justice Chowdhury said.
Ms Sarkar lost in the 2021 assembly elections to Swapna Majumdar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of 2,004 votes. He filed an election petition before the High Court challenging the election result. Mr. Majumdar filed an application before the court that Ms. Sarkar is not a citizen of India and thus her petition is not tenable. However, the petitioner argued before the court that after her marriage to a Bangladeshi national, her name appeared in the electoral roll of that country.
“Needless to say that as soon as the name of the petitioner is entered in the electoral roll of Bangladesh and he is enrolled as a citizen of Bangladesh, his Indian citizenship automatically ceases to exist,” the court said in its order. ”
Referring to the High Court order, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari said the Trinamool Congress was compromising on the “sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”. Mr Adhikari posted on Twitter: “TMC is guilty of violation of sub-section 5 of section 29A of the Representation of the People Act. In trying to get a foreign national elected, he failed to abide by the Constitution of India by compromising on the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
Responding to the developments, Ms Sarkar said all members of her family had come to India soon after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. She said she would approach a division bench against the order.