Assam MP files nomination after court faults Scheduled Tribe certificate

Naba Kumar Sarania, Lok Sabha MP from Kokrajhar, protests at Parliament in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

GUWAHATI

Lok Sabha member Naba Kumar Sarania on Friday filed his nomination from Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency a day after the Gauhati High Court upheld an order dismissing his status as a Scheduled Tribe (Plains).

Kokrajhar is one of two parliamentary constituencies in Assam reserved for Scheduled Tribes with the other being Diphu.

“I respect the court’s verdict, although it was not in my favour. We have already initiated steps to approach the court again,” Mr. Sarania said after submitting his papers.

A single-judge Bench of Justice S.K. Medhi on April 18 dismissed his petition and declared him ineligible for contesting from any constituency reserved for STs.

Mr. Sarania found the State Level Scrutiny Committee’s order on January 12 stating that he did not belong to any ST (Plains) category. He challenged the decision by the State’s Department of Tribal Affairs (Plains) that passed an order on January 20 cancelling his ST certificate issued on October 17, 2011.

The MP, a former leader of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), had claimed he belonged to the Kachari community.

He is the founder of the Gana Suraksha Party, which is a partner of the United People’s Party Liberal and the BJP in the government of the Bodoland Territorial Council.