‘Entitled to all consequential benefits': Supreme Court upholds Kerala CPI(M) MLA A Raja's 2021 election from reserved seat
The Supreme Court Tuesday set aside the Kerala High Court order, which declared as void the election of Kerala CPI(M) legislator A Raja, saying he was a converted Christian and could not have contested from the seat reserved for the Scheduled Caste category.
A bench of Justices A S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and A G Masih granted the relief while hearing Raja's appeal challenging the March 23, 2023, order of the Kerala High Court.
Raja had won from the Devikulam Assembly constituency, an SC reserved seat, in Kerala's Idukki district in 2021.
'The impugned judgment rendered by the High Court is set aside, and the election petition stands dismissed. The appellant is entitled to all consequential benefits as a member of the Legislative Assembly for the entire period,' Justice Amanullah said while reading from the judgment.
The Kerala High Court, which examined witness testimonies and other documentary evidence, said in 2023 that Raja was not a member of the 'Hindu Parayan' community within the state, but was instead professing Christianity.
'All these would sufficiently show that the respondent was actually professing Christianity at the time when he had submitted his nomination and converted to Christianity long before its submission. As such, after the conversion, he cannot claim as a member of the Hindu religion. On that score also, the Returning Officer ought to have rejected his nomination,' the High Court had said.
'In short, on both the grounds, it is clear that the respondent is not a member of 'Hindu Parayan' within the State of Kerala and not qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala reserved for Scheduled Caste – the Legislative Assembly Seat of 088 Devikulam Legislative Constituency and hence the election of respondent as the returned candidate for the said Constituency (088 Devikulam Legislative Constituency) in the year 2021 (06/04/2021) is declared void under Section 98 of Representation of People Act, 1951,' the court added.
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