The Calcutta High Court dismissed a case brought by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Alo Rani Sarkar on Friday when it was discovered that she was a Bangladeshi national. Sarkar ran for the West Bengal Assembly in the South Bongaon Constituency in 2021 and went to the Calcutta High Court to challenge the outcome, which proclaimed BJP’s Swapan Majumder the winner. During the proceedings, the Calcutta High Court discovered that Alo Sarkar, a TMC District President, was a Bangladeshi national whose name was on the Bangladesh voter list.
The court reprimanded the TMC leader and declared her not to be a “genuine citizen of India.” The High Court dismissed her case but ordered the Election Commission (EC) to take appropriate action against her.
In India, the principle of “dual citizenship” is not applicable: HC
The Calcutta High Court also noted that the petitioner had filed an application with the Secretary to the Election Commission Secretariat in Dhaka on November 5, 2020, requesting that her Bangladeshi citizenship be revoked on the grounds that her “marital ties with her husband were severed and she returned to India,” but that this had not been done. As a result, she was not eligible to run for office in India.
“In India, the concept of “dual citizenship” does not apply. A person who obtains citizenship in another nation instantly loses their Indian citizenship “In its order, the court stated.
“A copy of this order be given to the Election Commission of India for information and required action in respect of the petitioner’s status in this country as on this date, through the learned Registrar General, High Court, Calcutta,” it added.
The court decided that the petitioner cannot claim to be a legal Indian citizen, noting that her husband is a Bangladeshi national who works as a Professor of Medicine at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College in Barisal.
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