Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court today issued notices to the state government, the Election Commission of India, the Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly and the respondent Bijoy Malakar, currently the MLA of L.A. 1, Ratabari (SC) constituency in the Sribhumi district. The notices are made returnable within four weeks.
Justice Kardak Ete ordered that notices be issued in a writ petition (WP(C)/7368/2025) filed by several petitioners challenging the election of Malakar with the contention that he is not entitled to hold the public office, as he is not an Indian citizen. The petitioners filed this present application seeking to invoke the Writ of Warranto against Bijoy Malakar, who was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of L.A. 1, Ratabari (SC) Constituency, in the last General Election to the 15th Assam Legislative Assembly held in 2021.
According to the petition, in the last week of October, 2025, the petitioners came to know from authentic sources that MLA Bijoy Malakar is not an Indian citizen. Malakar and his parents entered Assam after the cut-off date of March 25, 1971. The petitioners collected all the voters’ lists, including the voters’ lists of 1966 and 1971 of Karimganj Town, and on verification of the voters’ lists, the petitioners found that the name of Malakar was first enrolled in the Supplementary list of 2005 at Serial No. 318, Part No. 96 under L.A. 3, Karimganj North Assembly Constituency, under House No. 15 of the main voters’ list of 2005.
However, the petition pointed out that the name of Malakar’s father was not found enrolled in the voters’ list of 2005 and prior to 2005, particularly in the voters’ lists of 1966 and 1971. In the Voter List of 2025, the name of Malakar’s father is found enrolled at serial no. 467, Part No. 161 under L.A. 123, Karimganj North Constituency, but the name of Malakar’s mother is not found to be enrolled in any of the voters’ lists.
The petitioners further stated that they have filed representations before the authorities for making an enquiry into the citizenship of Malakar, but no proper enquiry was made by the respondent authorities. The District Election Officer, Sribhumi, had submitted the verification report on November 29, 2025, which is not conclusive with regard to the status of citizenship of Malakar; no linkage is found with the electoral roll of 1966 and/or 1971, and hence the petitioners filed this writ petition.
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