Nagaon: The Gauhati High Court declared that the present Member of Parliament from the Kokrajhar constituency in Assam, Naba Kumar Sarania, is ineligible to contest elections.
Sarania was to seek re-election from Kokrajhar. The Gauhati high Court dismissed a petition Sarania challenging a January 12 order of the state-level caste scrutiny committee (SLSC) that cancelled the Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate issued to him in 2011.
Sarania, a former militant turned politician, is a two-term Lok Sabha member from Kokrajhar. Kokrajhar is due to vote on May 7.Justice SK Medhi said the court didn’t find any “illegality or impropriety” in the SLSC order that quashed Sarania’s ST (Plains) certificate through a reasoned order.”There is not even an iota of evidence or material brought on record by the petitioner at any stage of the proceedings which are prior to the year 2011 pertaining to his claim to belonging to ST(P),” the court observed.
Sarania has served as an independent candidate and later formed the Gana Suraksha Party in 2014.
The court noted that Sarania’s father, who was in government service, also never claimed to be from the Bodo/Bodo Kachari community.