Kathmandu. A Nepali woman named Kiran Devi, who won a local election in the Manichowk Panchayat in India in 2018, has been denied the right to take up her duties in her office. The decision was given by the Patna High Court, citing that PAN card, ‘adhaar’ card or a voter’s ID cannot be considered as a definite proof of Indian citizenship. It also added that simply giving up a foreign citizenship does not qualify an individual to gain citizenship in India.

According to an article in The Times of India, she was given a 33-page judgement on the basis of the Indian Constitution and the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. Kiran Devi married an Indian citizen, Ashok Prasad Gupta in 2003 and had renounced her Nepalese citizenship in 2016. She also got her name enrolled in the voting lists in 2008 and has her children registered according to the Registration of Birth and Deaths Act, 1969 in India. Dissatisfied with her current situation, she took it up to the high court, challenging the decision of the State Election Commission to disqualify her. But the high court has dismissed her petition, citing that she is neither an Indian citizen as of yet nor does she hold a Nepalese citizenship.

It has advised her to take her case to the central government that is authorized to resolve this issue under the Citizenship Act and seventh schedule of the constitution.