NRI Yashashwini gets HC go-ahead for contesting polls

Mamidala Yashashwini, the Congress candidate for Palakurthi Assembly seat, on Wednesday got a relief in the Telangana High Court with regard to deletion of her name from the electoral list.

The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and N.V. Shravan Kumar, was not inclined to issue directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) or the chief election officer (CEO) on deleting her name in the Achampet electoral list.  

The bench made it clear that once the election process commences, courts cannot interfere in it. In case her name was deleted, she will not be eligible to contest in the elections. It also dismissed a writ petition filed by Kampally Deva assailing a report issued by the district election officer refusing to delete her name.

According to the petitioner, a native of Dindi Chintapalli village, she had stayed in India for only 175 days in the last five years. The NRI cannot be enrolled as a voter in Achampet constituency, which she did in 2018, as an ordinary citizen. Although, there was no bar in contesting from any



constituency even if the individual has no voting rights, the petitioner said that Yashashwini’s voting rights were questionable as she was a NRI.

Yashashwini said that she was a resident of Kothapet in Ranga Reddy district and the statutory authority had not excluded her name from the voter’s list.

Senior counsel L. Ravichander pointed out that the decision-making process was vitiated when the election officer ruled that the application for deletion can be dealt with only after completion of the elections.

He said that the Palakurthy constituency would be burdened with a visitor candidate and that the election is likely to be vitiated for improper acceptance of the nomination.

Senior counsel Avinash Desai, appearing for the chief election commissioner, referred to the latest instructions of the panel, under which there is an embargo on deletion after the issue of poll notification. The bench declared that the issues raised in the writ petition can always be raised in an election petition.