"One cannot claim to be Hindu scheduled caste after conversion to Christianity": Kerala High Court sets aside election of CPI(M) MLA A Raja

The Kerala High Court on Monday set aside the election of Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate A Raja from Devikulam constituency in the 2021 State assembly election as void under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. [D Kumar v A Raja]..Justice P Somarajan held that Devikulam was a seat reserved for scheduled caste (SC) community and since Raja was professing Christianity at the time of his nomination, he could not have contested for the seat reserved for SC community.Raja could not have raised claim of belonging to Hindu religion after conversion to Christianity, the Court underscored.“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. On that score also, the returning officer ought to have rejected his nomination. In short, on both the grounds, it is clear that the respondent is not a member of “Hindu Parayan” within the State of Kerala and not qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala reserved for Scheduled Caste – the Legislative Assembly Seat of 088 Devikulam Legislative Constituency and hence the election of respondent as the returned candidate for the said constituency in the year 2021 (06/04/2021) is declared void under Section 98 of Representation of People Act, 1951,” the judgment said..The judgment was passed on an election petition filed by Congress candidate D Kumar challenging Raja’s election on the ground that the Constituency seat filled by him was reserved for SC among Hindus within the State of Kerala.The petitioner contended that since Raja was a Christian, he violated the Representation of the People Act by occupying the seat reserved for Hindus.He pointed out that even though he had raised this objection before the returning officer, it was rejected without assigning a reason and thereby Raja won the election within a margin of 7,848 votes.The counsel for Raja argued that he belonged to the Hindu Parayan community which is a scheduled caste in relation to Tamil Nadu and that he would be eligible for reservation for scheduled caste in Kerala because his grandparents had migrated to Kerala and had continued as Hindus before 1950. His parents had not actually converted to Christianity and he was never baptised, it was contended. .However, the Court went through various documents like Raja's wedding photographs, family register of CSI Church, baptism registers of the church, etc., and concluded that Raja was actually professing Christianity at the time when he had submitted his nomination and converted to Christianity long before its submission.Therefore, the Court allowed the Election Petition and declared Raja’s 2021 election to be void..The petitioner was represented by advocates M Narendra Kumar and MJ Sajitha.The respondents were represented by Senior advocate T Krishnanunni and advocates Raghuraj, Deepu Lal Mohan (Standing Counsel of Election Commission of India) and KS Bharathan (Advocate Commissioner). .[Read Judgment]