Mr Ramesh obtained Indian citizenship through a fraudulent manner
Supreme Court of India
Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Vemulavada TRS MLA, Chennamaneni Ramesh asking how he could cast his vote in the MLC polls held in Aug. despite a conditional stay on his election as MLA pending before it.
The bench headed by Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh had admitted a petition filed by Adi Srinivas, the unsuccessful candidate from Vemulavada questioning the MLA casting his vote in MLC polls while the SC conditional stay order on the dual citizenship controversy and subsequently AP High Court declared his election as void was very much in vogue.
Admitting the petition Justice Sen asked the Counsel of respondent Chennamaneni Ramesh that how can the MLA violate the stay order conditions granted by the Court and cast his vote in the MLC elections held in Aug. this year. The Counsel for the MLA had argued that Mr Ramesh got elected again in 2014 general elections as such the conditions of the stay order granted earlier in 2013 would not apply for him. Not satisfying with the respondent’s argument, the bench directed the MLA to file his reply within a week and counter response by the petitioner and posted the matter for next hearing after two weeks.
The facts of the case as per the petition was, Mr Ramesh obtained Indian citizenship through a fraudulent manner by giving false information. As per Section 5(1) of Indian Citizenship Act, a person can apply for Indian citizenship if he resides in India for a continuous period of 365 days. However after applying for the citizenship Mr Ramesh stayed only 91 days in India and thus violated the Act but fraudulently obtained the citizenship based on which he got his candidature cleared in for 2009 elections and was elected to AP Assembly.
The High Court of AP had declared his election as void due to the reason that he obtained citizenship in a fraudulent manner. However in 2013 Mr Ramesh went to Supreme Court and obtained conditional stay order on the HC judgement. As per the conditions of stay orders, Mr Ramesh could participate in Assembly proceedings but could not vote. Meanwhile Mr Ramesh again got elected from Vemulavada constituency from TRS party and recently he participated in the MLC voting and cast his vote. After collecting evidence on his participation in voting, Mr Adi Srinivas approached the Apex court.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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