Alo Rani Sarkar, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) politician who campaigned for West Bengal State Legislative elections in 2021 from the Bangaon Dakshin constituency, has been revealed to be a Bangladeshi national.

The situation was brought to light after she filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court disputing the election results and the win of BJP leader Swapan Majumdar in the stated constituency. Justice Bibek Chaudhuri heard the petition.

The Court noted that Alo Rani Sarkar was a Bangladeshi national at the time of filing the nomination. “It is found that the petitioner had no right to contest the assembly election of 2021 based on the face of the petitioner’s own document,” it stated.

“She shall not be competent to be chosen to fill a seat in the legislature of a State in provisions of Article 173 of the Constitution read with Section 16 of the Representation of People Act, 1950 because she is not a citizen of India,” the Court stated.

The court stated that the TMC politician married a Bangladeshi citizen named Harendra Nath Sarkar in 1980 and lived with him in the neighbouring nation for a few years. She moved to India permanently after her marriage fell apart.

On November 5, 2020, she submitted an application for her name to be removed from the Bangladeshi electoral roll and National Identity Card (NIC), according to her own affidavit. However, it wasn’t until June 29, 2021, that the Senior District Election Officer (Barisal) suggested that Sarkar’s name be removed from Bangladesh’s electoral rolls.

On March 31, 2021, the TMC leader filed her nomination from the Bangaon Dakshin constituency. The voting took place on April 22, 2021, and the results were announced on May 2, 2021.

Alo Rani Sarkar defended herself by claiming that her name had appeared incorrectly on the voter registry of her husband’s hometown. However, it was discovered that she ‘voluntarily’ chose to have her name added to the electoral rolls by submitting her SSC certificate to the authorities.

The TMC politician also claimed that she was born on March 22, 1969, in Baidyabati, West Bengal’s Hooghly district. Under the Citizenship Act of 1955, she claimed to be an Indian citizen by birth.

She did not, however, offer any documentation proving that her parents lived in Baidyabati or that she was born there. The TMC politician claimed in an inquiry report that she is the daughter of Samar Halder and that her ancestors were from Necharabad Upazila in Bangladesh’s Pirojpur district.

She asserted that her mother and brother still live in Necharabad. During the investigation, Sarkar stated that she used to live with her uncle in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas area.

The court ruled, “It is needless to say that the petitioner has claimed to be a citizen of this country by birth. But from the inquiry report on which she relies in her written objection against the application under Order VII Rule 11(d) of the CPC, it is ascertained that her parents used to live in Bangladesh and she came to India with her uncle in her childhood, meaning thereby that the petitioner was born in Bangladesh.”

The date of birth (DOB) of the TMC leader in Indian and Bangladeshi documents differed, according to Justice Bibek Chaudhuri. While her Aadhar/ Pan Card lists her date of birth as March 22, 1969, her National Identity Card (NIC) issued by Bangladeshi authorities lists it as of January 15, 1967.

The court added, “The petitioner also does not fall within the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Therefore, even if the petitioner has a voter identity card, Aadhar card, and passport, the said documents do not prove her citizenship of this country.”

 

 

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