HC sets aside election of Muslim MLA from SC reserved seat

Sanjeev Verma

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday set aside the election of MLA Mohammad Sadiq from Bhadaur (reserved) constituency in Barnala district, holding that the MLA is a Muslim and not competent to contest the election on a Scheduled Caste reserved seat.

The judgment came from Justice Naresh Kumar Sanghi on a petition filed by SAD-BJP candidate and former Punjab IAS officer Darbara Singh Guru, who had lost to Sadiq in the 2012 state assembly elections. The court did not find strength in Sadiq’s defence that though his mother Prassani Devi was a Muslim, he had converted to Sikhism in 2006 and was a “doom”, a Scheduled Caste prevalent among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.

The court said Sadiq had failed to prove that he had adopted Sikhism and thus, continues to be a Muslim.

Sadiq had defeated Guru by a margin of 6,969 votes.

Sadiq now has the option to challenge the judgment before the Supreme Court, and if he loses there as well before the present Assembly’s five-year term comes to an end in 2017, then the Bhadaur (reserved) constituency would have to go for a bypoll.

Source:: Indian Express