Commonwealth Citizenship, Immigration Status, and Electoral Eligibility: A Legal Analysis of Q Manivannan’s Election to the Scottish Parliament

Abstract

Received: 10/08/2026, Accepted: 14/09/2026, Published: 16/09/2026

The election of Q Manivannan to the Scottish Parliament in 2026 provides a useful case study for examining the relationship between nationality, immigration status, devolved electoral law, and constitutional allegiance. This article argues that the legal position cannot be explained merely by reference to Commonwealth citizenship. The decisive development is the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025, which extended candidacy rights at Scottish elections to foreign nationals holding limited leave to remain, subject to the wider statutory qualifications and disqualifications. The analysis therefore distinguishes nationality-based eligibility from immigration permission and from the separate question of whether an elected office is treated as employment under UK immigration rules. Current Home Office Immigration Rules expressly provide that standing for or filling an elected post in local or devolved government or legislatures is not employment for immigration-rule purposes. The article further develops the comparative constitutional dimension by examining Articles 9, 84 and 173 of the Constitution of India, the Citizenship Act 1955, and section 84 of the Scotland Act 1998 concerning the oath of allegiance. It argues that the UK and Indian systems locate political membership within different constitutional logics: Scotland permits a limited form of electoral inclusion that is not coextensive with citizenship, whereas India links legislative eligibility and the constitutional consequences of foreign citizenship to Indian citizenship. The case consequently illuminates a broader constitutional divergence between residence-based democratic inclusion and citizenship-based political membership