Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Nov 9: After a court declared the caste certificate produced by a panchayat member as invalid, the defeated candidate is set to be declared as winner. This judgment was delivered by the district chief civil court here on Monday November 8, through which the court has directed that the defeated candidate should be declared as winner.

With this, the election of Shanta Naik, who was declared elected from Ward No. 2 of Mogaru village in Ganjimutt gram panchayat, which was reserved for woman from scheduled tribe, has been declared invalid. Shanta Naik had contested with the support of Congress party, while Rajeevi had submitted nomination papers from the same ward as a BJP-supported candidate. At the time of filing of nomination, Rajeevi had filed objection to the caste certificate produced by Shanta, saying that Shanta’s parents belong to Bovi community, which comes under scheduled caste. Shanta had contended that having been married to a person from Naik community, a scheduled tribe, she had the right to contest from this seat.

By the time the tahsildar of Mangalore taluk cancelled the caste certificate issued to Shanta on April 22, the nomination process had been concluded and hence, her nomination papers could not be rejected. After Shanta got elected in the election held on May 12, Rajeevi approached the court.

While delivering this judgment, the judge of the court, Manjunath, has cited certain past judgments delivered the Supreme Court in such cases. Advocate, K Balaraj Rai, had appeared on behalf of the petitioner.