Judge R R Nangre today ruled that that Nandepalli could not continue to represent Dharavi (ward 67) in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) because he does not have any document to prove that he or his father was a domicile of Maharashtra since 1950, a pre-requisite for contesting elections from a reserved constituency.

According to a state circular dated August 24, 1995, a candidate can contest panchayati and corporation elections from a reserved constituency only if there is proof of his being a domiciled Maharashtrian since 1950. However, this condition does not apply to constituencies that fall in the general category.

``In the last elections held in Februray 1997, Nandepalli had received 6,381votes, while I got 6063. However, since I knew that Nandepalli was born in Karnataka (in village `Nandepalli', district Gulbarga) I immediately filed a case in the small causes court,'' Shinde told Newsline today.

He added that the only proof Nandepalli produced before the court was a rent receipt of 1948. ``However, the judge noted that the receipt was not proper since it did not have any name of the landlord and was thus not admissible as a proof of his domicile status,'' Shinde said.

However, there is a twist in the tale. It so turns out that Shinde too does not have the proof of his being a domiciled Maharashtrian and thus ineligible to take over from Nandepalli. The unexpected winner of this legal tussle between Nandepalli and Shinde is Mahadeo Narayane of Shiv Sena who has stood third in the 1997 election and is now poised to replace Nandepalli. When Nandepalli was contacted today he said: ``It's a sad day for me as my right to serve the people has been snatched. It is ironic that though the stateof Mahrashtra was formed in 1960, the domicile condition for us is for year 1950!.'' To make matters worse, the judge also told him that there was no provision to appeal in a higher court.