Rules bent to fit in youngest MP in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Much as dynastic politics has become commonplace, first-time MP Hamdullah Sayeed, son of late P M Sayeed, has several distinctions to his credit.

At 27, he is the youngest MP in the 15th Lok Sabha. He represents the smallest constituency, Lakshadweep, which according to the 2001 census has a population of 60,595. But what is unprecedented about his election is that a law had been specially amended to pave the way for it.

This is because Lakshadweep is governed by Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Union Territories) Order 1951 which, in its original form, disqualified from contesting anybody who was not born in those tiny islands. Hamdullah did not fulfil this condition as he was born in Karnataka and brought up in New Delhi.

Conscious that every seat was going to count in a hung Lok Sabha, the Manmohan Singh government pushed an amendment to that special law in December 2008 so that Hamdullah could inherit the legacy of his father who had passed away in 2005.

The amendment dispensed with the requirement of the candidate being born in Lakshadweep; it was enough if both his parents were born there.