Rajiv Roy, J.—Heard Mr. Dhananjay Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Amit Srivastava, learned Senior Counsel with Ms. Mallika Mazumdar for the Respondent No. 6 and learned counsel for Election Commission and State.

2. The writ petition has been filed for the grant of following reliefs;—

“(i) an appropriate writ/s, order/s, direction/s in the nature of Certiorari be issued, to quash the order dated 01/04/2024 contained in memo no. 19/2023/685, passed in Case no.-19/2023, (Annexure-9) by the learned State Election Commissioner, Bihar (respondent no.-4).

(ii) for proper declaration that, the petitioner is a Citizen of India by virtue of Article 5 of the Indian Constitution, and by virtue of the same he was eligible for contesting the election.

(iii) an appropriate direction to the respondents not to interfere in the functioning of the petitioner as Mukhiya of Bhaluaha Gram Panchayat.

(iv) a other relief/reliefs petitioner found entitled in law, be granted to him.”

3. The brief facts of the case is/are as follows :

4. The petitioner got elected on the post of ‘Mukhiya’ from the Bhaluaha Gram Panchayat, Sonbarsa Block under the Sitamarhi District, Bihar, securing 2043 votes defeating his nearest rival candidate, Mukesh Kumar Sah (Respondent no. 6).

5. The petitioner claims that he is the permanent resident of India having been born in the village Larkwa, under the Sonbarsa block of Sitamarhi District. His father, late Ram Bhaju Rai alias Bhaju Rai was also a permanent Indian Citizen and had never acquired citizenship of any other country till his death.

6. The petitioner claims that neither he nor any of his family member was a native of Nepal or owned properties there. One of the ancestral properties of the petitioner is situated at Village Bherahiya Larkwa. The further claim is that wife of the petitioner, Gandhi Devi having her Adhaar Card as also the election photo identity card.

7. Further, he got his education and passed the Secondary School Examination in 1986 from Bihar School Examination Board, Patna as a regular student of S.N.J. High School, Sonbarsa.

8. It is his case that he holds a valid Election photo identity card as also a permanent Account Number being AONPRXXXXR besides the Aadhar Card issued by the UIDAI. The petitioner further claimed that he was holder of Indian Passport between 25/10/1996 to 24.10.2006

9. The case is that in the year 2021, the Panchayat Elections were declared and the petitioner filed his nomination for the post of ‘Mukhiya’ for Bhaluaha Gram Panchayat. After scrutiny, his nomination paper was declared valid as no objection was filed against the said nomination. After the voting took place and election result declared, he emerged as the returned candidate.

10. Respondent no. 6 who was also contesting the election and lost thereafter filed Complaint Case no. 19/2023 before the State Election Commission, Patna (henceforth for short ‘the Commission’) alleging that the petitioner is/was a native of Nepal and thus ineligible to contest the election.

11. After registering the aforesaid case, ‘the Commission’ sought report from the District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrate, Sitamarhi who verified the documents annexed with the complaint from the office of the Consulate General of India, at Birgunj, Nepal. In response thereto, the Consulate General of India, Birgunj, Nepal sent four letters to the District Election Officer, Sitamarhi which in turn were submitted to ‘the Commission’.

12. The petitioner too appeared and narrated that:—

(i) he well as the respondent no. 6 are residents of same Gram Panchayat, situated at India- Nepal border having easy access to both the countries.

(ii) further, it is a common practice that residents of the border area visit Nepal for their livelihood,

(iii) similarly, the villagers of Nepal also visit India for their livelihood and residents of both the countries have relatives across the border.

(iv) the petitioner was running a small grain shop in village- Pipariya