Plea In Madras High Court Seeks Allowing Only Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists To Contest From Constituencies Earmarked For SC Category

A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court to direct all Returning Officers to ensure that only those professing Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism are permitted to contest in elections from constituencies earmarked for the Scheduled Caste community. The plea has been filed by Arjunan Sampath, founding president of the Indu Makkal Katchi (IMK). In his plea, Sampath has submitted that as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950, issued under Article 341(1) of the Constitution, only persons professing the Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist religion should be deemed to be members of the Scheduled Caste community. Sampath submitted that as per the last delimitation order, there are 44 constituencies in Tamil Nadu that have been reserved for the Scheduled Caste community. He added that for the upcoming assembly elections in the State, several political parties have announced their candidates for these 44 constituencies. However, he submitted that as per reliable sources, 90% of the candidates do not profess Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism and have converted to Christianity. It has been submitted that, as per Section 33(2) of the Representation of People Act 1951, a candidate will be qualified to contest in a reserved seat only after declaring in his nomination paper that he belongs to the particular scheduled caste community. He submitted that the returning officer is duty bound to conduct scrutiny and examine the nomination papers with respect to caste determinations. He submitted that the any candidate, who has openly declared and converted to Christianity should not be permitted to contest from reserved constituency and his candidature should not be accepted by the returning officer. Sampath cited recent judgment of the Supreme Court, in which it was held that only those belonging to Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism can be deemed to be a Scheduled Caste member and no one, except a person belonging to the SC community, can enjoy the benefit granted to members of SC community under the Constitution. Thus, Sampath sought directions to the Chief Electoral Officer to issue appropriate orders to the Returning Officers to strictly scrutinise the nomination papers of the candidates for the Scheduled Caste reserved constituencies in the State of Tamil Nadu. Case Title: Arjunan Sampath v. The Chief Electoral Officer Case No: WP 13425 of 2026

Plea In Madras High Court Seeks Allowing Only Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists To Contest From Constituencies Earmarked For SC Category

Upasana Sajeev

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