Supreme Court Stays Order Of Kerala High Court That Annuled CPI(M) MLA A Raja's Election From Reserved Constituency

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the order of the Kerala High Court that had declared the election of CPI(M) MLA A. Raja from Devikulam reserved constituency as void, on the ground that a practising Christian could not be a Scheduled Caste member.

Raja had approached the Apex Court challenging the order of the High Court declaring his election to the assembly as void. The Apex Court while granting temporary relief to the MLA, imposed the condition that that he could not vote on any motion in the Legislative Assembly or receive any allowances or monetary benefits that are typically given to MLAs

A division bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia imposed the following conditions on Raja:

(i) The appellant shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly;

(ii) The appellant shall, however, not be entitled to vote on any motion in the Legislative Assembly. He shall also not be entitled to vote in his capacity as a Member of the Legislative Assembly on any other matter;

(iii) The appellant shall not be entitled to receive any allowance or monetary benefits in any other form which is admissible to a Member of the Legislative Assembly.

Senior Advocate K. V. Viswanathan appeared for Raja before the Supreme Court.

The Kerala High Court on 20th March 2023 had annulled the CPM MLA’s election stating that he is not a member of 'Hindu Parayan' within the State of Kerala and thus not qualified to be chosen to fill the Devikulam Assembly constituency that had been reserved for Scheduled Caste among Hindus.

The High Court had passed the order in an election petition filed by D. Kumar, in 2020 challenging Raja's election on the ground that the constituency was reserved for Scheduled Caste among Hindus and the latter was not a person belonging to Scheduled Caste among Hindus within the State of Kerala, but was a Christian, thus violating Section 5 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951.

The High Court had considered whether Raja could claim the benefit of Scheduled Caste in relation to State of Kerala when it had been admitted that his parents had migrated from Tamil Nadu. As per Section 5 of the Act of 1951, in order to be able to contest or fill a seat in the Legislative Assembly reserved for the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, such person has to be a member of any of the Scheduled Caste or Tribe in that State, and such person also has to be an elector for any Assembly Constituency in that State, the High Court had observed in this regard.

Contrary to Raja’s claim that his grandparents were residents of Kerala as on the date of commencement of the Order, 1950, the High Court had observed that the documents on record did not indicate an actual migration of Raja’s grandparents to Kerala with all its intent, prior to the commencement of the Order.

The Court had also perused the Family Register, Baptism Register, and Burial Register kept by CSI Church, Kundala, Kerala and noted that there had been certain overwritings, corrections, and erasure of earlier entries. It also observed that the photographs of Raja’s wedding resembled that of a Christian marriage.

"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 Hindu religion.” The high court had observed in its March 2023 order.

Case Title: A Raja V D Kumar

Click here to read the order