New Delhi, January 11: Supreme Court has issued notice on a petition by Suman Rathod, TDP MLA, whose election was set aside by the AP High Court on the ground that she was not a Scheduled Tribe candidate to have contested election from the reserved constituency. A Bench comprising justice J M Panchal and justice H L Gokhale also stayed the High Court order.
Senior counsels for the petitioner A K Gangulay and Guntur Prabhakar told the Bench that Suman Rathod belongs to the Banjara tribe and her parents are from Jaroor Tanda of neighbouring Nanded district in Maharashtra.
She married Ramesh Rathod, a Lambada in 1971, of Tadihatnoor village in Adilabad district and has been residing at Tadihatnoor ever since.
She contested the byelection from Khanapur (ST) constituency in 2008 and won the election. She again contested from the same constituency in 2009 on a TDP ticket and won the election by defeating Ajameera Hari Naik.
Naik moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court on June 29, 2009, by filing an election petition averring that she was not a Scheduled Tribe candidate and hence cannot contest the election from the reserved constituency.
On November 22, 2010, the High Court set aside the election of Suman Rathod.
The petitioner averred that the Banjara is a synonym of Sugali and Lambada and all three are one and the same. That her husband is their relative and she married him as per tribal customs and practices and she is an ST for all practical purposes.
–Agencies