Writ petition claims Assam BJP MLA is not an Indian citizen; Gauhati HC issues notices to govt, ECI

GUWAHATI: A writ petition was filed in the Gauhati High Court by Braja Gopal Sinha and Bijoy Kumar Kanu, claiming that ruling BJP MLA Bijoy Malakar is not an Indian citizen.The court heard the petition on Thursday. Malakar represents the Ratabari seat in the Sribhumi district.According to the synopsis of the petition, the petitioners had, in the last week of October this year, come to know from ‘authentic sources’ that Malakar is not an Indian citizen. “The respondent No 1 (Malakar) and his parents entered India (Assam) after the cut-off date, 25th March 1971. The petitioners have collected all the voters’ lists including the voters’ lists of 1966 and 1971 of Karimganj town and on verification of the voters’ lists, the petitioners found that the name of the respondent No 1 was first enrolled in the supplementary list of 2005 at serial No 318, part No 96, Karimganj North Assembly constituency under House No 15 of main voters list of 2005, without any basis,” the synopsis read.The name of the MLA’s father was not found enrolled in the voters’ list of 2005, 1966 and 1971, the petitioners claimed.It was alleged in the petition that the petitioners had filed representations before the authorities for making an enquiry into Malakar’s citizenship, but no proper enquiry was made. “The District Election Officer, Sribhumi, had submitted the verification report dated 29-11-2025, which is not conclusive about the status of citizenship of the Respondent No 1; no linkage is found with the electoral roll of 1966 and/or 1971 and hence, this writ petition,” the synopsis further read.Advocate Abdul Karim Azad, counsel for the petitioners, said that the court issued notices to the Assam government, the central government and the Election Commission seeking a clarification on the matter.



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