A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking directions to the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to strictly scrutinise nominations filed in 44 reserved Assembly constituencies in line with a recent Supreme Court judgment on Scheduled Caste (SC) status and religion.
As reported in The Hindu, the petition was filed by Arjun Sampath of the Indu Makkal Katchi. He argued that Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 clearly restricts SC status to individuals professing Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism, and excludes those who have converted to other religions. He further noted that this legal position was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of India in its judgment dated 24 March 2026.
Quoting the apex court, the petition highlighted: “A person cannot simultaneously profess and practice a religion other than the ones specified in Clause 3 of Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and claim membership of a Scheduled Caste at the same time. A person who professes and practices such religion for personal, social, and spiritual purposes cannot in law, assert membership of a Scheduled Caste for the purpose of securing statutory benefits. The two positions are mutually exclusive and contrary to the Constitutional scheme.”
The Supreme Court had further observed: “No statutory benefit, protection, reservation, or entitlement under the Constitution or under any enactment of Parliament or State legislature that is predicated upon the membership of a Scheduled Caste can be claimed by or extended to any person who, by operation of Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, is not deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. This bar is absolute and admits no exception.”
The petitioner has urged that the CEO must ensure compliance with these legal provisions during the ongoing election process and issue directions to all Returning Officers to accept nominations only from eligible candidates under the law.
The PIL also claimed that nearly 90% of candidates who have filed nominations in the 44 reserved constituencies have allegedly converted to Christianity and may therefore be ineligible to contest. With the last date for filing nominations set for 6 April 2026, and scrutiny scheduled for 7 April 2026, the petitioner argued that immediate action is necessary to prevent ineligible candidates from contesting.
The matter is expected to come up for hearing before the High Court.
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