Sonia is a citizen of India: SC

By T. Padmanabha Rao

NEW DELHI, Sept. 12. The Supreme Court today sustained the decision of the Allahabad High Court - though for reasons somewhat different from those assigned by the High Court - ``dismissing two election petitions at the preliminary stage'' challenging the election of the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, to the Lok Sabha in October 1999, from the Amethi parliamentary constituency.

Delivering the judgment, Mr. Justice R.C. Lahoti, on scrutiny of the pleadings in the case, said: ``it must be held that the respondent (Ms. Sonia Gandhi) by virtue of the certificate granted to her under Section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act, which certificate has not been cancelled, withdrawn or annulled till date, is ``citizen of India''.

``The (election) petitions are filed nearly two decades after the grant of citizenship to the respondent'' and ``at no point of time did the petitioners even challenge the inclusion of her name in the electoral roll,'' the Bench added.

The Bench, which included the Chief Justice, Dr. A.S. Anand and Mr. Justice Doraiswamy Raju found ``force in the submission of Mr. Milon Banerjee (senior counsel for Ms. Gandhi) that since the election-petitioner himself has admitted that the respondent (Ms. Gandhi) was ``granted Indian citizenship'' on April 30, 1983, and the respondent has in her affidavit filed in the High Court in support of her application - (seeking dismissal of the election petition at the preliminary stage) - submitted that she is a citizen of India and there was no illegality in her enrolment in the ``electoral rolls'' and acquiring citizenship of India and that the challenge to her citizenship of India was misconceived.''

Both the election petitioners, Mr. Hari Shankar Jain and Mr. Hari Krishna Lal (appellants), who admitted Ms. Gandhi having acquired ``Indian citizenship'' by registration under Section 5(1)(c) of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, on the ground of her having married Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, a citizen of India (later Prime Minister of India), however, disputed the validity of the ``certificate of citizenship'' issued to Ms. Gandhi and submitted that she, being an ``Italian citizen'', did not satisfy the prerequisites for entitlement to registration as a ``citizen of India'' and even otherwise, ``could not have become a citizen of India and is not a citizen of India''.

The Bench was, however, ``of the opinion that a plea (in a given case) that a ``returned candidate'' is not a citizen of India and hence not qualified, or is disqualified for being a candidate in the election can be raised in an election petition before the High Court in spite of the returned candidate holding a certificate of citizenship by registration under Section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act. ``A plea as to constitutional validity of any law (like, for instance, Section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act) can, in appropriate cases, also be raised and heard in an election petition (in a given instance) where it is necessary to decide the election dispute,'' the Bench observed.

Dismissing the two connected group of appeals from the appellants against the High Court's judgment, the Bench noted that ``the (election) petitions are hopelessly vague and completely bald in the allegations made, most of which could not possibly be within the `personal knowledge' of the petitioners but still verified as `true' to their knowledge, without indicating the source.''

The Bench held that ``such pleadings cannot amount to disclosing `cause of action' and are required to be rejected/dismissed,'' under relevant provision of Code of Civil Procedure.

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