MLA to appeal against HC order
TRS MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh on Wednesday, said that he would appeal against the HC judgement setting aside his election over a poll petition pertaining to his citizenship.
“I will appeal to the Supreme Court. I have not gone through the complete judgement as yet. I am sure I will get justice,” Mr Ramesh told Deccan Chronicle over phone from Germany.
He said that he had applied for Indian citizenship as per rules. “It’s wrong to say I submitted falsified documents. The Home ministry has checked the documents,” he claimed, adding that he got Indian citizenship on February, 3, 2009 as per the rules which stat- ed that one should have ordinarily resided for 12 months in the country at the time of application.
However, the Centre changed the rule on February 28, 2009 stating that one should stay “continuously” for 12 months for grant of citizenship.
“I was born in Karimnagar in 1956. My parents are Indians, I have no criminal record and before making an application, I was in India for a staggered period of 12 months. I got the citizenship then,” he said.
A PhD holder, Mr Ramesh had married a German, Maria, and has been shuttling between India and Germany since 1976. He had voluntarily obtained German citizenship in 1993. He was a senior research fellow at Humboldt University, Germany.
Congress nominee Adi Srinivas, the petitioner who lost to Mr Ramesh in the elections by a narrow margin of 1,800 votes, meanwhile, hailed the High Court judgement saying that it had increased his faith in the judiciary.
The AP High Court on Wednesday declared that the election of TRS MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh from Vemulawada constituency in Karimnagar district was illegal and ruled that he was not a citizen of India.
The Union ministry of home affairs had issued a show-cause notice to Mr Ramesh in July 2009 and had conducted an inquiry into the complaint and found that there was prima facie allegations against the complainant. The ministry had also directed the collector and superintendent of police to inquire into the allegations.
Earlier Mr Ramesh had been elected from the Vemulawada constituency in 2009 elections as a TD candidate. He had later resigned from the party over the Telangana issue and had contested the ensuing by-poll.
After examining the facts, the judge found that Mr Ramesh had failed to follow the one year stay rule to obtain citizenship and had also failed to produce relevant information before the HC.