The Supreme Court on Tuesday of Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate A Raja from Kerala’s Devikulam constituency in the 2021 Assembly elections, Live Law reported.

In doing so, the court overturned a 2023 Kerala High Court judgement declaring Raja’s

A Bench of Justices AS Oka and Ahsanuddin Amanullah held that Raja was entitled to all benefits as a legislator and set aside the petition filed by his rival candidate D Kumar.

Kumar, a Congress candidate, had alleged that Raja was not qualified to contest from the Devikulam seat in the state’s Idukki district as it was reserved for the Scheduled Caste community. Raja’s Christian identity made him ineligible to contest from the seat reserved for Hindus, Kumar claimed.

In 2023, the High Court ruled that Raja was “professing Christianity at the time when he had submitted his nomination and converted to Christianity long before its submission”, Live Law reported.

“As such, after the conversion, he cannot claim as a member of Hindu religion,” the court remarked after considering , and the family and baptism registers of the Church of South India .

Raja then approached the Supreme Court, arguing that he belonged to the – a Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu – and had a caste certificate issued...