Citizenship under scanner

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Feb. 25: Following an instruction from the state chief electoral officer Mr Debasish Sen, the Malda district magistrate Mr Sridhar Ghosh today appointed a magistrate to verify the citizenship status of Dr AN Khan Choudhury, elder brother of the Malda Congress MP Mr AH Khan Choudhury.

The CEO, Mr Sen, yesterday asked the district magistrate over phone to verify Dr Khan Choudhury's citizenship status following a report ~ ‘A Swiss citizen with an Indian voter card!’ published in the 24 February 2009 edition of The Statesman.

“The election commission has taken up the matter. We had asked Dr AN Khan Choudhury to show documents in support of his Indian citizenship but he did not turn up today. We have assigned a magistrate to inquire into the matter,” said the DM Mr Ghosh. The Malda DM added that the district election officials will verify how Dr Khan Choudhury, who is still a Swiss citizen, registered his name in part No. 40, serial number 324, of the English Bazaar Assembly constituency voters’ list. (Epic No. 2994127). The matter came to light after the Malda MP, Mr AH Khan Choudhury wrote a letter to the joint secretary (foreigners) under the Union home ministry on 22 December 2008, regarding the resumption of his brother's Indian citizenship under Section 8 (2) of the Citizenship Act 1955.

Dr Khan Choudhury is one of the proposed Congress candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from North Malda Parliamentary constituency. His supporters today claimed that Dr AN Khan Choudhury had registered his name in the voters’ list in 1995 with a special permission from the then CEO of West Bengal. He had also contested in the Malda Parliamentary seat against his elder brother late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury.

It is learnt that Dr Khan Choudhury left for Kolkata last evening and would visit New Delhi on emergency work related to the resumption of his Indian citizenship.