The Bombay High Court recently ruled that an MLA cannot be automatically disqualified simply because their caste or tribe certificate is found to be invalid. A division bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and YB Khobragade stated that the process outlined in the Representation of the People Act must be followed to unseat an elected candidate, even when their caste certificate is invalid. This ruling granted relief to Shiv Sena MLA Latabai Sonawane, whose Scheduled Tribe certificate had been declared invalid by the Bombay High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court.
“Merely because the scheduled tribe certificate of the intervenor (Sonawane) has been canceled and the decision has reached finality, the consequences are not automatic. The ordeal of resorting to the election petition under section 80-A of the Representation of the People Act will have to be undergone for unseating a returned candidate to State Legislative Assembly,” the court said.
The Bombay High Court bench, at the start of the case, acknowledged that the petitioner, Jagdishchandra Valvi, had already filed an election petition under Section 80A of the RP Act, which was still pending before the High Court. The Court stated that since the petitioner had already sought a remedy under the law, it would not be appropriate for them to simultaneously seek relief from the Court under Article 226 of the Constitution through a writ petition. The Court, therefore, dismissed the petition on this basis alone. The bench also noted that Sonawane, the MLA in question, was elected as per the Constitution and the RP Act and there were no specific provisions in these laws regarding the presentation of a caste/tribe validity certificate when a candidate contests an election for a seat reserved for a specific category. With these observations, the bench dismissed the plea.
