NEW DELHI: Is the Election Commission powerless to disqualify a foreign national, who has got elected as a gram panchayat Mukhiya, despite unimpeachable evidence about his nationality?
This question of law was raised by Bihar state election commission before the SC on Monday. A Nepalese citizen had written to the Nepal govt to cancel his citizenship. But prior to its cancellation, he contested and won the ‘Mukhiya’ election in a Bihar gram panchayat. Patna HC overturned the SEC’s decision to disqualify him saying it was the Union govt which alone can decide citizenship and nationality of a person.
The SEC challenged the HC order before the SC and a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan impleaded Union of India as a party and sought its response by Dec 9. The HC had ruled that SEC did not have the power to decide the disqualification of a candidate either before or after the elections, excluding an election dispute.
As per the SEC appeal, one Biltu Ray aka Bilat Ray aka Bilat Prasad Yadav was a citizen of Nepal in 2006-07 and held a valid Indian passport from Oct 25, 1996, till Oct 24, 2006. He never applied for renewal of the passport after its expiry. In March 2016, he filed an application with Nepalese authorities seeking to relinquish his Nepalese citizenship.
In Oct 2021, he filed his nomination for the post of Mukhiya of Bhaluaha gram panchayat without disclosing that he is a citizen of Nepal. In Dec 2021, he was elected as Mukhiya.