The Telangana High Court on Monday upheld the Union government’s decision to revoke the Indian citizenship of Chennamaneni Ramesh, a former MLA of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, reported Bar and Bench.

In November 2019, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled Ramesh’s Indian citizenship for allegedly concealing facts about his visits abroad during the year preceding his application. According to the Citizenship Act, 1955, a person who applies for Indian citizenship should be present in India at least for 12 months before the date of application.

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The action was based on a complaint by state Congress leader Adi Srinivas, whom Ramesh defeated in the 2009 Assembly elections in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Srinivas stated that Ramesh had retained his German citizenship and travelled to Germany in the year preceding the date of his application for Indian citizenship.

On Monday, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the High Court imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Ramesh for suppressing facts related to his German citizenship, reported The Hindu.

Of the total, the court ordered Rs 25 lakh to be paid to Srinivas, while the remaining Rs 5 lakh would be paid to Telangana State Legal Services Authority.

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Reddy said that Ramesh’s actions since 2009 had denied genuine Indian citizens the right to contest elections, reported The Times of India.

Ramesh had acquired an Indian citizenship in 2009. The same year, he was elected for the first time from the Vemulawada seats on a Telugu Desam party ticket.

He won the bye-election to the seat in 2010 on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi) ticket and retained the constituency in the 2014 and 2019 Assembly polls.

Srinivas won the Vemulawada seat in the 2023 Telangana Assembly election, defeating Bharat Rashtra Samithi nominee Chalimeda Laxmi Narasimha Rao.