Source - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-am-a-sikh-not-a-muslim-sadique-to-hc/999074/
Adding twist to the petition challenging his election from the Bhadaur Assembly constituency in the January polls, Punjabi singer and MLA Mohammad Sadique on Thursday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he was a Sikh and not a Muslim.
Sadique filed the reply in response to a petition filed by former state principal secretary Darbara Singh Guru, who had lost to Sadique in the polls by around 7,000 votes. Guru had claimed that as Sadique was a Muslim, he could not have availed the Scheduled Caste reservation quota and contested from Bhadaur — a reserved constituency.
Stating that he belongs to the “doom” class, Sadique submitted that had he embraced Sikhism in 2006. In his reply, Sadique also raised the issue of “discrimination on the basis of religion”. Terming the clause, which restricts the benefit of reservation only to Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs as “unconstitutional”, Sadique stated that such “discrimination” is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He also questioned the rationale of confining reservation for contesting in elections to a handful of castes.
In his petition, Guru has challenged Sadique’s SC status and sought that the election be set aside and fresh polls be ordered in Bhadaur.
The case will now come up for resumed hearing on September 21.
Adding twist to the petition challenging his election from the Bhadaur Assembly constituency in the January polls, Punjabi singer and MLA Mohammad Sadique on Thursday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he was a Sikh and not a Muslim.
Sadique filed the reply in response to a petition filed by former state principal secretary Darbara Singh Guru, who had lost to Sadique in the polls by around 7,000 votes. Guru had claimed that as Sadique was a Muslim, he could not have availed the Scheduled Caste reservation quota and contested from Bhadaur — a reserved constituency.
Stating that he belongs to the “doom” class, Sadique submitted that had he embraced Sikhism in 2006. In his reply, Sadique also raised the issue of “discrimination on the basis of religion”. Terming the clause, which restricts the benefit of reservation only to Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs as “unconstitutional”, Sadique stated that such “discrimination” is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He also questioned the rationale of confining reservation for contesting in elections to a handful of castes.
In his petition, Guru has challenged Sadique’s SC status and sought that the election be set aside and fresh polls be ordered in Bhadaur.
The case will now come up for resumed hearing on September 21.
