Calcutta HC Dismisses TMC Leader’s Plea Against 2021 Election Result Over Bangladeshi Citizenship

A petition by Trinamool Congress leader Alo Rani Sarkar challenging the election result of the Bangaon Dakshin constituency in West Bengal polls 2021 has been dismissed by the Calcutta High Court on the grounds that her name also appears in the voters’ list in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Sarkar had lost the election to BJP’s Swapan Majumdar by little more than 2,000 votes and had challenged the poll result in the Calcutta HC. Dismissing her plea, the High Court on Friday said Sarkar cannot declare herself an Indian citizen since India’s laws do not allow for dual citizenship.

A single bench of Justice Bibek Chaudhuri also asked the Election Commission to take necessary action against the TMC leader depending on her citizenship status.

“The court has come to this conclusion that the petitioner filed the election petition claiming to be a citizen of India. She filed nomination papers as a citizen of India. She contested the election as a citizen of India. But from the documents filed and relied on by the petitioner in her affidavit-in-opposition, it is ascertained that in the month of June 2021, her application for deletion of her name from the electoral roll of Bangladesh was under consideration before the appropriate authority of the Election Commission of Bangladesh,” Justice Chaudhuri said.

“I am in agreement with the learned advocate for the respondent that the principle of ‘Dual Citizenship’ is not applicable in India. Therefore, the petitioner cannot claim to be a citizen of India when her name appeared in the electoral roll of Bangladesh.”

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari cited the Calcutta HC judgment to accuse the ruling TMC of “helping illegal Bangladeshi immigrants settle” in the state.

“TMC has outdone themselves this time !!! … TMC leaders are known for helping illegal Bangladeshi immigrants settle in WB & getting hold of Voter Identity cards to increase their voter base. But selecting a candidate who isn’t even an Indian is unprecedented,” Adhikari, who had defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in the Assembly election, said.

The BJP leader added that he was expecting action from the Election Commission on the issue.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, lawyers for BJP’s Swapan Majumdar told the court that the petitioner’s husband, Dr Harendra Nath Sarkar, was a professor of medicine at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College in Bangladesh’s Barisal. The respondent also reportedly showed the court a copy of Alo Rani Sarkar’s purported Bangladeshi national identity card.

Sarkar’s lawyers, meanwhile, reportedly told the court that she was born in Bengal’s Hooghly district in 1969 and became a Bangladeshi citizen after marriage in 1980. They added that she returned to India after separating from her husband.

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