Description

Urdu-Speaking community in Bangladesh were de facto stateless and were not allowed to exercise any right related to citizenship since the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. In 2001 ten members from the community filed a writ petition against the Election Commissioner under article 102 (2) of the Constitution for the right of enrollment in the electoral roll and to be registered as voters. In 2003, it was decided by the Court that the petitioners were the citizens of Bangladesh as per the Citizenship Act 1951 and the President's Order 1972, hence should be enrolled as voters. In this case, the community members who were born post independence (some in 1977), section 4 (citizenship by birth, jus soli) was invoked and affirmed.